Sparklines are
tiny charts, usually displayed with no axes or grids. Sparklines display trends direction; changes
of temperature, rates or prices, in a simplified and condensed form. Sometimes they are shown inline or put
together in a table cells. Most of the charts are supposed to show as much information as possible, but
sparklines are designed to show as less as possible without loss of information content.
There are a number of series types which can be included in sparkline charts. One of them is column series.
In this dashboard we have a layout table with seven columns. First is for regions
(states), then the value of the monthly sales volume in dollars, then there is a column with line sparklines, showing the trend; the fourth column shows the plan progress in
percents; the next contains sparklines with 12 columns in each, where each column represents monthly sales. The
sixth column is gross margin in dollars; and the last contains column sparklines, were each represents
profit trends for each month of the next year.
