Currently, ChartBuilder is only fully functional in Google Chrome or Apple Safari browsers. It is recommended you create your charts from one of these browsers. Of course, after you've exported your chart image, you can upload it to your blog via whatever your browser preference.
ChartBuilder
Don't leave good numbers in your notebook. ChartBuilder is a tool for reporters. It helps quickly turn otherwise-unused data into style-compliant, web-friendly charts that can supplement blogs or social media posts. Not every chart can or should be built with ChartBuilder, but in a majority of cases, simple bar, line or scatter plot charts can be created by reporters on deadline as easily as Copy/Paste. Follow these steps:
1. Paste your data from Excel
Your paste should include JUST ONE row for column names and the rows of the data you want to chart. If your data has a date column, make sure it's named "Date". Reformat currency and percent data as a raw number, without the currency or percent symbol, for example, 2.23, not $2.23.
Warning: Data is Invalid
Data Check
If ChartBuilder was able to parse your data, it will be formatted correctly below:
| Header |
|---|
| Data |
2. Series Options
Choose a color and geometry type for each series class. The small checkboxes at right create an independent axis for the series class. Generally, leave these unchecked, unless you're comparing trends across different scales, for example, unemployment rate v. stimulus spending.
3. Chart Options
Something like "SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics"
4. Right Axis Options
(Often should be 0)
5. Bottom Axis Options
These options help format dates along the X axis.
No options available
This tool is under development. There will be bugs. If you find one and want to help fix it, take a screenshot and send an email to jmcclure@dallasnews.com.
ChartBuilder was designed and built by staff at Quartz and has been made available as an open-source product under the MIT license. Other changes were made by the Dallas Morning News.