Briefle words · Data & charts
Sorted bars
Also called ranked order
Arranging a bar chart's categories from largest to smallest value so the ranking can be read from position alone.
Say it to an AI
Horizontal bar chart of last month's help-center tickets by topic, answering 'which topics generate the most tickets'. Use sorted bars in ranked order, largest first, with the count at the end of each bar and the top topic darker; topics are nominal categories, so don't default to alphabetical.
How an expert would brief the stronger version of “Support topics chart”.
See it
Try it as a puzzle →Ticket breakdown in the support analytics of an online-course platform.
Why: B runs 312, 228, 184, 146, 133, 97, 61 top to bottom; A's bars jump between long and short.
More ways experts use it
Chart of exit-survey reasons for Q3, seven answers summing to 100%. Use a horizontal bar chart with sorted bars, largest first, full reason text on the left and the percentage at the end of each bar; a pie chart can't carry seven long labels or separate 9% from 7%.
Churn reasons chart · Data & charts
Related words
Room 1 · Essentials
Learn “Sorted bars” in a five-minute lesson