Showing posts with label Single. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Single. Show all posts

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Data-linked diagrams: Multiple data graphics with a single shape

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Yana Terukhova is a Product Marketing Manager on the Microsoft Visio team.

Visio makes it easy to build visually compelling organization charts and enhance them to meet your specific business needs. You can create a data-linked diagram connected to your organization’s key business indicators and then make sure your information is always current by linking it from an external source. Then you can display the information with data graphics. You can bring even more business insight into your diagram by showing multiple data graphics with a single shape.

Shapes can be associated with a single data point—for example, the percent of budget spent by employee—but you can also create diagrams where each shape shows multiple data points, such as the number of employees in each department, sales attainment for employees in revenue-generating roles or other metrics that are important in your organization.

There are a few different ways to do this, but the most simple is to add multiple data elements to a single data graphic. For example, if we wanted to show the number of employees in each department on our organization chart, we could edit our existing data graphic and add a text call out under the main shape.

Visio allows you to specify where you’d like data graphics to show up on shapes--just uncheck the Use default position box and select a position that is better suited to what you are hoping to achieve.  In this case, we chose the Center, Below Shape position.

If you want to change the fill of the data graphic, select that element and change the fill as you would for any other shape.

With our organization chart we can create a diagram that represents multiple dimensions of data in an easy-to-follow format. The first thing to think about is whether the Coin diagram type is the best way of representing data. In situations where I’m showing multiple data graphics per person, I like to use shapes that are open. In this case, I’ll switch to the Bound style. (Go to the Org Chart tab to select the shape style that best fits your needs.)

You may need to use the height and width controls to make the shapes large enough hold the data graphics you’d like. Once you have the shapes looking the way you’d like, you can use the layout controls to adjust spacing between shapes.

Considering the amount and variety of information we want to display on this diagram, and that the data graphics are usually very visual and colorful, we can switch to Simple design for the diagram itself. (Go to the Design tab to select the design style that best fits your needs.) This way we can read our business-intelligent diagram most effectively.

Using Ashima as an example, you can see we added three additional shapes to the organization chart, grouped them, and applied data graphics to them:

Note that not every data graphic needs to be applied to every shape. In the organization chart example, only some employees produce revenue, so they have sales metrics attached to their names, while other employees do not.

Here is our final dynamic data-linked diagram:

Use Visio Services to share your diagram with others and make it available to everyone, from nearly any device.

–Yana Terukhova, Product Marketing Manager


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Monday, February 25, 2013

Review: Get software directly from the vendor with a single click with DDownloads

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Setting up a new PC can be a daunting task. Getting it out of the box and plugged in is the easy part. The challenge comes from tracking down all those little patches, utilities, and other minor software that you accumulated through the years on your old PC. Free utility DDownloads (free) helps you out by giving you easy access to hundreds of popular applications, tools, and utilities, directly from official sources.

The Home screen gives you quick access to all the main features.

It is tempting to compare DDownloads to Ninite, an online service that streamlines the installation of nearly 100 apps. What sets DDownloads apart is that has a larger selection of software (500 vs Ninite's 94), and it gives you far more control over the installation because, by default, it does not automate app installation. This can be especially important if your PC has an SSD drive, in which case you may prefer to install applications somewhere other than the default location.

The application opens to a home screen that gives you quick access to basic features, such as the various software categories, and advanced features such as silent installation and batch installation. The Windows Starter Kit provides you with a list of links for very common apps and utilities such as Adobe Flash, Adobe Reader, Microsoft .NET and Silverlight, Oracle Java runtimes, and so on.

When browsing the application databases, clicking the name of an application will show the URL for the download page in the bottom-right corner. Some applications do not allow direct links to the download, so instead DDownloads sends the URL to your Web browser, and your browser will then download the file. If you are the suspicious type, you can right-click the application name and select "Copy Download Link to Clipboard" and manually paste it into your Web browser. If the link is dead, you can use the handy "Copy App Name to Clipboard" function to try to track the app down the old-fashioned way.

DDownloads offers several advanced features as well. While it primarily lists software from a list provided by DDownloads.net, you can also add your own favorites to the list. If an application allows silent installation, DDownloads makes it very simple to do so. Technicians will be pleased to find a list of free testing apps, such as Memtest86+ and WireShark.

The organization of the apps in DDownloads can be a little confusing, and the sparse documentation doesn't help. However, after consulting with the author, I received some clarification.

This screenshot shows a portion of the software categories available in DDownloads.

There are three major download lists: "Get Apps," "Portable Apps," and "Slim Apps." Apps in the "Get Apps" section are general-audience applications. Installers are linked when available, but some apps don't have installers so an archive file (like ZIP) is linked instead. Apps in the "Portable Apps" section are self-contained apps meant to be run directly off a USB thumb drive without needing an installer of any kind. Lastly, apps in the "Slim Apps" section are apps that are not ad-supported in any way, and do not install third-party toolbars.

Besides the sparse documentation, the only other complaint I have is that the advanced features are not very easy to use. As an example, suppose you want to perform a silent install of Exact Audio Copy, a free and easy-to-use CD ripping tool. First, you download the app, which arrives with a filename eac-1.0beta3.exe. Then you move that file to the DInstalls folder in the DDownloads directory. Next you have to rename it to "Exact Audio Copy.exe," and then you can use DDownloads to perform the silent install automatically. These instructions are found in a readme.txt file included with DDownloads, but otherwise are not provided anywhere else. In a recent update, an autodetect feature was added to the Install Manager that eliminates the need to rename the installer filename, but it still has to be done manually.

These rough edges, while potentially frustrating, are pretty common with any new software, and DDownloads is just getting started. The application list grows as more users contribute their suggestions, and the developer is very responsive when it comes to fixing issues. As the project continues to mature, I expect the documentation to improve and the advanced features to become smoother to use; but even in its current state, DDownloads is an excellent tool.

Note: The Download button on the Product Information page takes you to the vendor's site, where you can download the latest version of the software.

Nathanael Strong

Nathanael is a freelance writer who lives with his family in Caldwell, Idaho. Besides writing about software, he also specializes in eBook conversions.
More by Nathanael Strong


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Monday, March 12, 2012

ADPS Single Edition発表

ADPS Single Edition?? « ??????? function clearSearch() {document.search_form.s.value = "";} .recentcomments a{display:inline !important;padding:0 !important;margin:0 !important;}adobe.com      ??????? / ADPS Single Edition??by Takashi Iwamoto  

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Thursday, February 16, 2012

Open Several Photographs into a Single Photoshop Document

Open Several Photographs into a Single Photoshop Document « Julieanne Kost's Blog function clearSearch() {document.search_form.s.value = "";} Julieanne Kost's Blog / Open Several Photographs into a Single Photoshop DocumentADDITIONAL INFORMATIONBio, Contact and Artists StatementLightroom Video TutorialsPhotoshop Video TutorialsSchedule of EventsAdditional ResourcesPortfoliowww.jkost.comby Julieanne KostEdit In (1)Layers (102)  

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