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Is profit holding up? |
the shape of the last month |
chart |
bars, with the unsettled tail shaded |
the trend is the answer, no value is |
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When should ads run? |
the shape of a day |
chart |
ACoS line over spend bars |
a 24-number table is unreadable, the curve is obvious |
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What runs out before the container lands? |
two dates compared |
chart |
bars against an arrival line |
comparing dates is what a length is for |
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Every chart on this canvas draws its own uncertainty. The profit bars shade the last four days because Amazon fees are still arriving against those orders and always will be at this point in the week — an unshaded line would show a rally that is partly just unbilled fees. A chart that hides what is provisional is worse than a table, because it is more persuasive.
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What did this order cost me? |
eleven exact figures |
table |
the fee breakdown, to the cent |
nobody reads a value off a bar, they read it off a row |
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Which keywords are worth more bid? |
to sort and to act |
table |
sortable rows with a sparkline column |
the action is per row; a scatter cannot be acted on |
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How does this month compare? |
one number and a direction |
neither |
a figure with a delta beside it |
two numbers do not need axes |
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The rule this board is arguing for. A table gives values, a chart gives shape, and most questions in this app want a value — which is why 130 boards are tables and three are charts. When a reader needs to read a number off a picture, the picture was the wrong answer: put a sparkline in the row instead, where the exact figure is right next to it.
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