KPI Color and Map Label Enhancements

[Jennell_McIntire]

In this blog post, I will discuss some of the color enhancements that have been added to the KPI chart and the Map chart in Qlik Sense SaaS. Both allow you to further customize the visualizations in an app. Let’s begin with the KPI chart. A KPI is a key performance indicator and is often used to highlight an important metric. In Qlik Sense SaaS, you can now change the background color of a KPI. In the past, KPIs always had a white background and users had the ability to change the color of the metric.

Now, users can also change the background color of the KPI. In the Presentation section of the Properties Panel, in Styling, the background color can be set. The background can be set to a single color, or an expression can be used to set the color. This is nice if you want to make the KPI stand out on the sheet based on a condition or an expression.

Here is what the KPI looks like with a background color.

Notice that the label of the KPI color cannot be changed so make sure you select a background color that does not hide the label. In the KPIs above, the label  of the KPI on the right is easier to read than the one on the left. Also keep in mind that you have the option to hide the KPI label. I would recommend doing this only if the KPI metric being displayed is clear to the user without the label.

Another new color related feature added to Qlik Sense SaaS is the color of the labels used in a Map. Users can now change the label coloring to Light or Dark or they keep it set to Auto. This setting is found in the Presentation section of the Properties Panel. To use this feature, the map must be showing the labels.

When set to Auto, the labels will change depending on the base map being used. If the base map is darker, then a light label tends to be used and if the base map is lighter, a dark label color tends to be used. Users now have the option to set this regardless of the base map color. So depending on the map and the coloring you are using in the map; you may prefer a light label even if the background is light like in the map below. The key is to go with the option that is best read by the user. Usually that is this the option with the most contrast.

This is just a few of the visualization enhancements that have been made in Qlik Sense SaaS. Learn more about the KPI background color enhancements as well as other KPI improvements in Michael Tarallo’s SaaS in 60 video. You can check out the entire SaaS in 60 video series here to learn more about new product features.

Thanks,

Jennell

[barnabyd]

Thanks Jennell,

I think Qlik is heading down a good path here, where the default settings are the best settings 99% of the time but there are options to tweak them in the 1% of cases that require it.

Cheers,

Barnaby.

[sogloqlik]

Hi Jennell.

I am sorry but this is just bizarre.

the background color for KPI is something that lots of customers have been waiting for but what we got eventually is a semi solution because the background color is limited by the label color which is fixed. If I want the users to see the label, I cannot use dark colors for the background.

Somebody did not think it through. It is a half-baked solution.

Regards,

Motty

[barnabyd]

G'day Motty,

I think Qlik is trying to "hold our hand" a bit too much. For the beginners, we want something that is easy to build something really good. We have this now, but for the experts like us, we want something to give us the freedom to tailor everything to make it look great. These extra features are being added very sparingly as if Qlik is afraid to let go of our hand and let us explore what is possible. The result is that we can't create anything really bad, but we also can't push the limits of what is great.

Compare this with QlikView, where everything was customisable. I saw some awful dashboards and some really brilliant dashboards. The challenge is to guide the beginner without limiting the expert. QlikView did not guide the beginner but Qlik Sense really limits the expert.

Cheers, Barnaby. 

[sogloqlik]

Hi Barnaby.

I don't know whether Qlik are trying to "hold our hands" and because we move to Qliksense from SAP I don't know what it "feels like" working with QlikView (although I've heard many complaints similar to yours from colleagues who used to work with QlikView before switching to sense), and After working for over five years with sense I think I can understand some of Qlik point of view that in today's world, which requires changing dashboards rapidly, and with the self-service, the design is less important than flexibility and being "on time" with new dashboards.

BUT, there are some things that are basic - like this one or... sorting pivot table by mouse click (Something that SAP gave to their customers over 20 years ago). no matter what you wrote, write or will write about it here, Qlik won't change their mind about the importance of those little but very highly needed features.... and at  the end of the day, the result is that our client, the users, will not use this tool as much as they should or will look for other solutions.

cheers