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AR Tutorials - Adding Charts To Your Posts

More often than not, numerical data is best presented visually, in a chart.

There's no question, a good chart can have tremendous visual impact and make boring data come alive.

So, a good 3d bar graph or pie chart can really help when it comes to illustrating numbers. Stephanie Edwards-Musa wanted to know if there was an easy way to get create chart graphics for inclusion in posts here on ActiveRain.

There is.

Google To The Rescue

The recently updated spreadsheet application from Google has a very cool feature that allows you to export charts to an image file (PNG) to use wherever you see fit. The graphic you see here in this post was created using a Google spreadsheet. Here is a link to the actual Tom And Jerry spreadsheet.

The video simply walks through the steps required to go from data to chart to graphic. It's ridiculously simple. And, the tool gives you visual feedback on the changes you make to your chart as you go.

Here's the video:

And For My Fellow MAC Users Out There... iWork's Numbers has amazing charting features.

iWork 08 Numbers Chart

Example 3d Chart from Apple's iWork '08.

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Posted by Jeff Turner on 10/17/2007 12:34 PM

Comments (81)

artutorials, video, tutorials, jeff turner, activerain community support

Originally posted at: Turner's Perspective: AR Tutorials - Adding Charts To Your Posts

Post is included in group: Tech Corner
Post is included in group: Real Estate Technology
Post is included in group: HELP/FAQ (Read 'Purpose Statement' Carefully!)
Post is included in group: Gadgets, Tools, & Extras
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81 Comments on AR Tutorials - Adding Charts To Your Posts

OCT

2007

Very informative....thanks for the post, I'm going to see if I can graph some poor statistics.....maybe we can fluff the numbers with google as well.

Ryan... everything looks better with a pretty chart... even bad numbers.

Veoh apprears to be having problems today. The videos are sometimes viewable and sometimes not. Be patient, I've not seen this from them before, so I can only assume they are working on something on their end. If this continues, I will load the videos into another player.

Wicked thanks Jeff. You read my mind. This was one of the ones I was waiting for.

You rock!

It's so cool to learn from all these tech-y AR members! Thanks for this great post on charts.. nice video.

Jen... timing was right. :)

Jan... thank you!

Jeff, THANK YOU!! :) This helps a ton. I'll play around with web site tonight.

I always remembered Jerry as the more industrious of the two. Apparently Web 2.0 now favors Tom! Sharing docs online could have some interesting uses.

Thanks Jeff... Took a quick look but it didn't allow my to paste data, I'll try importing from Excel later to see if the graphic output quality is better than what I have been using.

This is awesome stuff. I agree that charts speak louder than words. Thanks.

Another great Video Jeff!

I charted Mike Mueller's Productivity while watching Jeff Turner's Videos and I was off the chart!

Oops , I had it upside down.

Oh well.

Nicely Done!

Jeff, I had made a few charts in the Google spreadsheet and couldn't figure out how to save it as a picture image. :) Thanks again for your help!!!

Too cool Jeff! Thanks so much for the tutorials. They are really helpful and I am reading every one!

This is great, really like this tool!, Thanks Jeff!

Jeff - THANK YOU! This is great information! I have looked at the Google spreadsheets, but haven't played with them yet. But you can bet I'll be looking into them further very soon! Thanks again!

Bookmarked and gave a 5. This stuff is good. Keep it up.

OCT

2007

RATING=5!!! You're always a wealth of great info!!

If you need more advanced charts (outside the Google spreadsheet as images), you can also use the free online charting service:

www.chartAll.com

Charts can be created from manually typed data, Google spreadsheets, data linked from url, etc.

Includes basic charts, XY charts, XYZ 3D charts, Gauges, Geographical (mapping / GIS) charts, financial OHLC, and much more.

regards
david
www.chartAll.com

David... I just went and checked out ChartAll.com. Interesting concept. I think the interface needs some serious work, but it worked as advertised. Inputing the data in your form field is a bit non-intuitive if you're used to spreadsheets, but since you can link to a google spreadsheet or upload one... that should be a major issue. It was a bit frustrating not knowing how changing the variables on the right impacted chart design.

Another great post Jeff.

This was so helpful Jeff. I really appreciate being able to see the application through a video.

Jeff, I have been waiting for a tutorial like this on charts to add to my endless list of stuff to learn....Good stuff!

Thanks! ginger

Nancy... thank you.

Lola... yes, watching the actions helps a great deal.

Ginger... glad to be of assstance!

OCT

2007

Mike.. very funny!

Stephanie... my pleasure.

John... you're right, it will be very interesting.

Dan, Dave, Stephanie, Joanne, Ana, Carol, Fran and Susie... thank you!

OCT

2007

Good post. What I found particularly interesting is that Apple's graphics look so much better than I'm ever able to produce. I think I'm developing Apple-envy.

Sharon, nothing compares to how a Mac deals with graphics. I've seen the symptoms of Apple envy before... you may want to see someone about that. :)

Jeff,

Thank you for this helpful tip. I wish I had read it 10 minutes ago before I fought converting my Excel chart into an image file to post on my latest post. Oh well. Thank you for helping make our lives a little bit easier. Simple is so much better than the workaround.

Graphs always bring numbers to life. Why we don't use them more often probably has to do with just not knowing how to set them up. In Excel it's real easy. Now 3-D graphs - they are cool! I liked the comment about endless stuff to learn. Do you ever feel like your head has hit saturation and is about to explode? Maybe we really do have unlimited capacity when it comes to learning. Exercise those neurons and synapses!

OCT

2007

Dale... simple is almost always better.

Gary... yes, I'm feeling that way right now! :)

OCT

2007

Jeff, thanks for the inspiration. I really need to add more pics and graphs to all my sites.

Frank... it really does make a difference in how someone perceives the information. I blog without a graphic can be daunting on first glance, especially if the text is not formatted well.

NOV

2007

Jeff, I think I ate too much halloween candy. I played with google docs for awhile, but I must be missing something. When I tried to save my excel spreadsheet, not even a graph, google docs wouldn't let me save as a png file or jpg file. I'm totally confused. This is my url http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?hl=en&key=o17892890853128455455.296674657115419011# of the document I created. How do I insert it in my next blog.

Please help.... i

NOV

2007

Judy, I believe you can only save the graph as a png file, not the entire excel document, but I will double check. I don't have permission to open the link above, so I'll check on one of my own docs.

Thanks, Jeff. I'll have to give this a try.

NOV

2007

Terry... my pleasure.

Jeff, I think you are right, it only copies the graph not the excel document. Thanks again

No problem, Judy. I am in Las Vegas right now at a Starbucks and was just about to go test it again! :) You've saved me the trouble.

DEC

2007

I don't know how to say thanks again other than saying thanks again. I have viewed all but one of your tutorials (i well be viewing the last one next) and I have learned so much in the last hour, I am so exited, I can't wait to go and implement what you have taught me. 8)

Wow, this is very cool stuff. I didn't know that could be done with Googles spreadsheet application. Thanks for sharing.

i like that. I will have to try it as well

DEC

2007

This is some great stuff. I have bookmarked for later use. Thanks for sharing. What I like about your posts is that you always give us something to work with to improve our presence. Thanks for that.

DEC

2007

Jeff,

Thank you for the again for your efforts to make this simple for all of us!

DEC

2007

Has anyone told you that you rock recently? Sometimes your stuff wooshes over my head but when I am looking for it, there is a major "AHA" moment!

Thanks Jeff!

Jeff - thanks again for your efforts on educating all us AR people. More great info from an AR legend thanks again...

Jeff, thank you for this tip. It is WAY too easy, and very helpful to me.

DEC

2007

Rob, Craig, Donald, Rosemary, Rick, Renee, Lewis and Gary... thank you. I'm glad this stuff resonates. I enjoy doing it, so knowing others gain makes it even better.

Jeff, I just happened on this. Love it and will definitely give it a try. Thanks, as always, for your good stuff! You can tell you love what you do, and we all benefit.

Jeff - This is definitely something I was looking for. I greatly appreciate you sharing this information. It looks simple, but I may be calling you when I try it the first time if I can't get it to work. Have a fabulous week!!

JAN

2008

Jeff, I have been reading through a lot of your posts tonight trying to really pick up some great information. I had to stop here because my brain was full and didn't want to get information constipation. I have to take a second to thank you for all the tips you are providing here to help us all become more technologically savy. I'll be back.

JAN

2008

Teri and Meg... thank you.

Stephen... it's truly my pleasure. Nice to connect with you on Twitter.

MAR

2008

Jeff, I knew I could count on you. I got really frustrated yesterday because I made some great statistical charts on Excel but I couldn't just cut and paste them to my blogs without loosing the color, borders etc. Is there a way to do this or should I just use Google Docs? Thanks!

Very iteesting Jeff..... bubble was ett neat too

MAR

2008

Jeff-I am fairly new to the rain, have read several of your posts and have really enjoyed them. Thanks for sharing.

Jeff, I am looking forward to learning and applying some of your techniques. You are so generous with your time and knowledge. THANKYOU!!

MAY

2008

I continue to be suprised by how much good info can be found on Active Rain. Very cool. I found the Google Docs application but I've already customized these very nice graphs in excel. Is there any way to save those as a png file? They aren't bad considering I don't have a MAC. Thanks for your help.

JUL

2008

Well, it's not the greatest graph in the world, but thanks to you I have my first graph in one of my posts - Southeast Valley Foreclosures...

This literally took about 3 minutes, and I have now discovered something new. Thanks again for helping me find such a great tool.

JUL

2008

Thanks Jeff! I'll have to revist Google Docs for graphing. If anyone has trouble with a png file, I've had some success with using a screen capture ap (jpg) and then saving to Irfanview to crop my market data graphs.

Jeff, this is great, we are visual creatures by nature and this is a great tool. When I go to listing appointments I hand Sellers a graph and it gives them a quick overview of the market trend for the past year or whatever it might be. It gets the point across very quickly.

AUG

2008

Someone just clued me in to this post. Thank you for this great instruction and all that you post that is so helpful! I will practice and see if I can put some graphs in my blog and on my website. Thank you!!!

OCT

2008

Thank you for your great instructions on this...I was just trying to do this last week and could not figure it out.

Thanks we have been using Excel and it is more complicated than the Google thanks for the tutorial.

Hey David,

Thanks for the information. As a Science Teacher with a lot of Math emphasis, I love the graphs. I like to use them as often as possible. I like the Tom and Jerry. Graphs do not have to be boring.

OCT

2008

You're all very welcome. Google just updated the toolbar for this feature as well, so it should be a bit easier to navigate as well.

OCT

2008

Confession: I've have a graph phobia. I have been blogging for 2 years and have never, ever, ever created a graph because I've convinced myself that it would take me too long to learn how- HA! Leave it to you to prove me wrong, and show me why I'm wrong. So this evening I take the plunge! I think.

These tutorials are so helpful to me, Jeff. I've used a few of them for stuff that would have taken me a long frustrating time to figure out on my own.

Thanks so much!

Mrs. Lussier... if I'd have known, I would have taken my laptop down to the bar in Las Vegas and showed you right there and then. I'm honored to play any role at all in your continued success!!!

OCT

2008

>I would have taken my laptop down to the bar in Las Vegas and showed you right there and then.

Yes, I believe that. Exactly why I didn't tell you! ;-D

You are a smart woman. :)

OCT

2008

Jeff I have a problem, I don't know if I can incorporate all the great info in my AR posts...

Paul, you're killin' me right now. :)

OCT

2008

Thanks for the great tool. I'm playing with it and will perfect my charts ... in time. I can see where this will have great applications for blogging.

OCT

2008

I oversee 7 real estate offices and provide our agents with a broad range of statistics and graphs so I wanted to suggest a great site for making fantastic "totally free" graphs of any data you might put together http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx

You can export in various formats but the most useful is the SVG export option for those of you with Adobe Illustrator experience you will be able to open the SVG in Illustrator and manipulate each and every part of the charts, graphs and data to look exactly as you want it.

SVG(Scalable Vector Graphics) The fantastic thing about the SVG option on this free graph site is that the graph is a Vector which means you can scale it up to the size of a dining table if you like with no loss in the print resolution. There are some free SVG editors out there as well.

Mark Passerby
www.PovVideotours.com

I find it amazing that this post is almost a year old and still getting comments at this pace.

Jon, I think the integration in the google docs suite makes it a winner.

NOV

2008

I never realized that google docs could do that! I am trying to make my blog posts stand out more and have more visuals and this is GREAT!!!

NOV

2008

NOV

2008

NOV

2008

NOV

DEC

Yesterday I struggled with Google Charts for a couple of hours to get a reasonably nice looking bar chart displayed. Today I found this post - wish I had known about it earlier, because by comparison, creating charts with Google Spreadsheets is a real time saver for static information. I think Google Charts (and a little programming) would be the way to go if your information changes and you want your chart to update dynamically.

DEC

MAR

Excellent! I was wondering why I couldn't just paste the carts for my market reports into my blog. This will help me immensely. Thanks for the help!

MAR

Jeff - I just did an AR search on making charts and this came up. I want to start adding charts and graphs to my market reports and never knew how. Thanks for the tutorial.

JUL

Hi and thanks for the great post! I will have to add some charts to my posts in the near future. Very informative. thx again!

AUG

Thank you Jeff. I was again considering putting some charts on my posts this evening and I remembered what a great tutorial you had presented several months ago about how to simply do so. I have watched it again and will use your instruction to start adding charts. I am again very appreciative of your sharing your expertise.

OCT

I finally created my first chart using this tutorial!!!!! I had bookmarked this post sometime ago, and today finally got around to playing around with this. Now I feel more comfortable talking about market stats on my blog. Thanks so much Jeff!!!

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