Fever Charts
Fever charts represent data that continuously changes over time. An example of data that would fit into a fever chart is stock market prices. If you want to compare the performance of two stocks, Pepsi(PEP) and Coke(KO), over the last year then you would use a fever chart.
In your blank workbook you will want to enter your data across rows.
Begin with your time frame. If you are looking at data over a year, you may want to use months or seasons. If you are looking at data over a month, you may want to use days or weeks.
In your first cell enter the time degree label. This means if you are plotting data by days, then enter Day. If you are plotting data by months, enter Month, etc.
Fill out the remainder of the time frame row by entering the specific values of time. This means if you are plotting data by months, enter the months. (i.e. Jan, Feb, March, April, etc.)
In the cell below your time degree label enter the label for the entity that owns the data. This means if you are plotting Pepsi stock prices, enter Pepsi of PEP.
Fill out the remainder of the row with your data for the corresponding month (For this example, the price of Pepsi stock in January was $30.25. In February it was $32.00. In March it was $29.75). You will want to have more data points than this for a good chart or graph, but this is just an example to get you started.
In the next row, fill in the data for your second entity for each corresponding month. In the example it would be Coke or KO.
If you have more data repeat this process until you’ve entered all of the entities.
Once your data is completely entered, highlight all of the cells where you’ve typed information by clicking and dragging over the cells. The cells should change color, then click on the Chart Wizard icon.
If you can’t find the Chart Wizard icon, you can always click on Insert -> Chart
The Chart Wizard dialog box should pop onto your screen. Notice that the dialog box says step 1 of 4. This is a little deceiving because there are several steps within some of the steps.
The first thing you’ll want to do is select the chart type. Microsoft Excel calls a fever chart a line chart. Select the Line chart type.
You now need to select the chart sub-type. For basic fever charts you will want to use the basic line chart or the line with data markers displayed at each data value. Choosing a chart sub-type also depends on the type of data you have collected. Working with the Chart Wizard in Excel takes some practice. When you are first starting out, make some tweaks to your options to get a feel for what you think works best. There’s no single option for every single type of data. For the example data, we will use the line with data markers displayed at each data value chart.
To view a sample of what your chart will look like, press and hold the Press and Hold to View Sample button. This will give you a rough look at what your chart will look like.
Once you have selected the chart sub-type that you want, click Next
Step 2 of the Chart Wizard un der the data range tab wants to know in which way you entered your data. For the example, the data is entered in rows. If your data is also entered in rows, make sure the rows options is selected.
Click Next
Step 3 of the Chart Wizard has several different tabs. In the first tab, Titles, enter the title of your chart. Once you’ve entered the chart title you can click in another field and the title you entered will now appear on the example.
Do the same for the X and y axis labels. If you have a common time frame, like months, you probably won’t need a label, because Jan, Feb, March, etc. is pretty self-explanatory. Putting a Month label will just eat up valuable real estate within your chart.
In the Axes tab you can turn off the values for the X and Y axis. You probably want to leave those values on, but if you think your chart doesn’t need them, then you can take them off.
In the Gridlines tab you can turn the X and Y axis major and minor gridlines on or off. For the most part you will want to stick with just the major gridlines of the Y axis, but again it’s whatever works best for your chart.
In the Legend tab you can turn the legend on or off and change its position within your chart.
In the Data Labels tab you can show the value of your points along the lines. If the values are unclear you may want to use value labels. If you use value labels, make sure they don’t clutter up the chart.
In the Data Table tab you can turn the data table on or off. Using a data table is another way to clarify your data points without cluttering up your chart. The only problem with a data table is if you have a whole bunch of entities with data, then you’re going to have a super long table. A super long table will take away from the visual appeal of your chart.
Click Next
Step four asks where you want your chart to be placed. You can choose to have an entirely news sheet created or to simply have the chart embedded into the sheet with your original data. Since your chart will be used for the web, you can simply embed it as in object in your original sheet.
Click Finish
Your chart should appear in your original sheet. You can make adjustments to the color or other formatting options of the text, background, or lines by double-clicking on the specific area you want to change. For example, if you want to change the color of your headline text from black to blue then you’d double-click on the headline. The Formatting Chart Area dialog box will open. You can adjust the format much like formatting in Word or Photoshop.
If you need to get back into the Chart Wizard you can simply click on the Chart Wizard icon again to make adjustments to your chart.
When you’re satisfied with the appearance of your chart, then you’re ready to move to the Cleaning Up Charts tutorial.