When the
SAS BI Dashboard draws the indicators within a dashboard, the indicators
are wrapped into rows or columns based on the width or height specified
for the individual indicators and the dimensions of the container.
For example, if a dashboard has ten indicators with a width of 180
pixels each, the total required width for the dashboard portlet is
1800 pixels. If the dashboard is only 1000 pixels wide, then two rows
of indicators appear. If the first indicator is 900 pixels wide, then
three rows of indicators appear.
The indicator
width is specified when you define the display for an indicator.
There
are two more sizing factors that affect the display of a dashboard.
All of these factors interact in different ways to determine how a
dashboard is laid out. All of the factors are described in this table:
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Where to Specify the
Values
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Dashboard portlet dimensions
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This factor specifies
the dimensions of the dashboard portlet.
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Never ignored. If the
content is larger than the portlet’s dimensions, scroll bars
appear.
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The dimensions are specified
when you define the display for an indicator.
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This factor specifies
the preferred dimensions of the indicator.
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The width is ignored
when a graph display type specifies the Output type as Image or a
gauge width is larger. For example, if a KPI display contains more
than one gauge, the gauges are wrapped into rows according to the
width of the indicator. The height is ignored.
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Graph display, bar chart
with reference lines display, and range map display dimensions
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The dimensions are specified
when you define the indicator display.
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This factor specifies
the dimensions of a graph inside of an indicator.
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Never ignored. If a
graph display type specifies the Output type as HTML and there is
more content than the dimensions allow, scroll bars appear.
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This factor specifies
the dimensions of a dynamic gauge. A dynamic gauge grows to fill the
space as long as the gauge image scaling remains 1:1. The gauge is
always centered in the available space. For example, a dynamic gauge
that is 100x200 does not grow, and white space is added around the
gauge until the dimensions are at least 200x400.
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Based
on these factors and how they control the appearance of a dashboard,
here are some guidelines that are important to good dashboard layout:
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With a dynamic gauge, you can use
disproportionate dimensions to create extra white space around a gauge.
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A single KPI display that contains
multiple gauges will manage the horizontal alignment correctly. But
if there are several different indicators, each with just one dynamic
gauge, then you might need to manipulate the heights of the various
dynamic gauges to correctly align the indicators.
This problem often
occurs when the title of one indicator has two lines of text and the
adjacent indicators have only one line of text. The extra line of
text causes the indicator to be positioned farther down the page than
the rest of the indicators in the row. By setting the height for that
one indicator to less than the heights of the others, you can get
the whole dashboard properly aligned.
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An indicator width that is less
than the dynamic gauge width or graph width causes scroll bars to
appear in the dashboard portlet. If you want everything to wrap nicely,
ensure that the indicator width is larger than the dynamic gauge width
or the graph width.
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To vertically align several graphs,
specify the same width for all of the indicators in the column.