A dashboard is more than a collection of worksheets in a grid. It's a coordinated argument: the eye lands on the headline, scans the supporting evidence, drills into specifics via interactions. The mechanics of getting there well — layout, actions, device support — are what separate dashboards that get used from dashboards that get demoed once.
Layout containers
- Tiled: the default. Worksheets snap to a grid; the dashboard auto-arranges.
- Floating: worksheets sit at absolute positions. Use rarely — they break on resize and on mobile.
- Horizontal / Vertical layout containers: nest worksheets in containers that flow in one direction. The professional pattern. Lets you set 'this row is fixed at 200px, next row fills the remainder'.
- Sizing: Fixed Size (pixels), Automatic (fills container), Range (min/max). Range is the responsive choice.
Dashboard actions
- Filter action: clicking a mark filters another worksheet to that selection. Most-used action.
- Highlight action: clicking a mark dims the rest of the dashboard. Useful for guided exploration.
- URL action: opens an external link with the clicked-value as a parameter. Used for drilldown to source systems.
- Set action: clicking changes a set membership. Powers cohort comparison views.
- Parameter action: clicking sets a parameter value. Lets a chart click drive another chart's metric or scope.
The five-question discipline (revisited)
Every dashboard should answer these before building: (1) Who is the audience? (2) What decision will they make? (3) What 3-5 metrics matter? (4) How often will they look? (5) Who owns it long-term? Repeat this before opening Tableau. Most dashboards fail not because of bad Tableau skills but because none of these questions were answered.
Device-specific layouts
Tableau supports separate layouts for desktop, tablet, and phone within a single dashboard. Layout → Device Designer. Most teams build the desktop view first, then design a phone view that shows the headline + 1-2 charts (not all 8). Without this, a dashboard squeezed onto a phone is unreadable.
Exercise
Take any single-sheet view and turn it into a dashboard with: (1) a title row, (2) a KPI row with three big numbers, (3) the main chart filling the bottom 60%. Use vertical and horizontal containers, no floating elements. Now add a phone layout that shows only the title + the headline KPI + the main chart. Resize the browser — does it adapt cleanly?