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Spice Up
Those Graphs
Why use drab bar charts, line charts, and pie charts, when Can you display your information pictorially? This article will focus on how to use pictures to illustrate your charts using Microsoft Excel 5.0.
|
Region |
Car Sales |
Population |
|
Southeast |
8,942,340 |
33,440,000 |
|
Southwest |
9,980,340 |
23,499,800 |
|
Northeast |
9,345,990 |
58,900,340 |
|
Northwest |
7,423,340 |
23,499,940 |
|
West Coast |
10,934,230 |
53,423,440 |
In our example, we will create a graph for an automobile manufacturer who would like to graph automobile sales for the company per region against the population for each region. We will illustrate the car sales with stacks of cars and the population with stacks of people.
1. The first step in this process is to create the graph. Select the table by dragging over it with the mouse. Be sure to select the first row with the titles in it.
2. Next, click on the graph wizard icon on your toolbar at the top of the screen.
3. Draw a square with the mouse in which the graph will appear.
4. The graph wizard will start by asking you for the cells to graph. You don't need to change this if you selected the data and titles properly in step one. Click Next on the dialog box.
5. From the selection of graphs, choose the Column type, and click next.
6. For our example, select #6 in the list of column graph types and click Next.
7. Choose Data Series in Rows, Use First 1 Columns for Category X Axis Labels, and use First 1 Rows for legend text. Click Next.
8. Make sure you have selected "Yes" for Add a Legend, and enter the titles for the graph. Click Finish to complete the graph.
Adding Pictures to the Graph
Now that you have the graph created, we are ready to add the pictures to the data series.
1. First select the graph by double clicking on it. Then, click once on one of the bars for the population. This should place selection squares on each of the bars for population. If it doesn't, click somewhere else on the graph and then click in the center of one of the population bars to select the entire series.
2. Choose Insert, Picture from the menu. Then change to the appropriate directory for a graphic that you would like to use. In this example, we used a file we created with Microsoft Paintbrush and saved as a .bmp file. Select the desired graphic file and click OK. This will give you the man stretched to the size of the various bars for population.
3. The graph looks better if you stack the pictures. To do this you need to bring up the properties for the series by