Recently, while collaborating with Dinushki De Livera on a work dashboard, we encountered a common question: What Size should the dashboard be? I had initially set the dimensions to 1400 x 800 pixels, but Dinushki suggested that 1200 x 800 might be a better fit, feeling the former was slightly too wide. This sparked my curiosity, leading me to investigate the dashboard sizes used by other data visualization professionals. I decided to download some of my favorite business dashboards from Tableau Public to analyze their dimensions, partly hoping to validate my initial choice. However, my informal research revealed a surprising lack of consistency; dashboard sizes varied significantly across the board.
This observation prompted me to pose a question to the Tableau community on both Twitter and LinkedIn: “What is your standard size for a dashboard?” I anticipated a degree of uniformity in responses, but the reality was far from it. Intrigued by the diverse answers, I, being a data enthusiast, decided to collect and analyze the responses. Within approximately five hours, I had gathered 50 responses, providing a substantial dataset for a quick exploration.
The analysis of these 50 responses revealed a remarkable diversity: 28 unique dashboard sizes were mentioned. Among these, only 8 sizes were suggested more than once. The most frequently cited size was 1600 x 900 (mentioned 8 times), followed by 1200 x 800 and 1400 x 800, each mentioned 5 times. Interestingly, the latter two were the very sizes Dinushki and I were debating. (For transparency, I didn’t include my own preference in the initial count, but if I had, 1400 x 800 would have ranked second). This unexpected variation was so compelling that I created an interactive dashboard on Tableau Public titled “What Size Dashboard do You Use?“. This dashboard visually ranks the popularity of different sizes and overlays each size against a 1600 x 900 template for easy comparison. Users can even click on the size examples to navigate to a live dashboard of that specific dimension.
The sheer variety of responses – 28 unique sizes from just 50 participants – ignited my curiosity further. This led me to delve into research regarding screen resolutions and dashboard design best practices. While I’m not a definitive expert in screen resolution intricacies or optimization, I felt compelled to share my findings and insights with the wider community, especially regarding the question of what size dashboard is most effective.
Automatic Sizing vs. Fixed Dimensions for Dashboards
Let’s first address the concept of automatic sizing in platforms like Tableau. Personally, I tend to avoid automatic sizing for dashboards. Designing a dashboard with fixed dimensions is already a complex task, and attempting to create one that dynamically adjusts to various screen sizes introduces another layer of difficulty. In fact, achieving a truly effective automatic resizing dashboard that maintains design integrity across all devices is, in my opinion, practically unattainable. Therefore, this discussion will primarily focus on dashboards designed with fixed sizes.
Furthermore, this article will not delve into the specifics of mobile-first dashboard design. While strategies exist to optimize dashboards for both desktop and mobile viewing, our current focus is on dashboard dimensions intended for a range of devices, including tablets, laptops, and desktop monitors, primarily considering a fixed-size approach.
The Rationale Behind Dashboard Size Choices
Many respondents to my query about what size dashboard they prefer also provided justifications for their choices. A recurring reason for favoring 1600 x 900 was its seamless integration with PowerPoint presentations. Several others opted for smaller sizes, but often maintained the 16:9 aspect ratio, likely for similar presentation compatibility. My personal preference leans towards 1400 x 800 for most dashboards. I generally adhere to a height of 800 pixels because it conveniently fits within the visible area in Tableau Desktop without requiring vertical scrolling during development. I then adjust the width, typically between 1200 and 1600 pixels, depending on the dashboard’s content and layout needs.
Screen Resolution Considerations for Dashboard Design
Upon observing the popularity of the 1600 x 900 size among respondents, my immediate concern was its compatibility with prevalent screen resolutions. It’s crucial to remember the direct relationship between dashboard size and screen resolution: a 1600 x 900 dashboard is ideally suited for a screen with a 1600 x 900 resolution. To investigate this further, I consulted screen resolution statistics for the United States, sourced from Stats Counter for the period of December 2021 to December 2022.
It’s important to note that resolution data was unavailable for approximately one-third of screens in the sample, so we must focus on the remaining 67.6% for which data was available. Among this known portion, only 13.3% of screens possessed a resolution of 1600 x 900 or greater, sufficient to perfectly display a 1600 x 900 dashboard. Slightly more, 21.0%, could accommodate a 1400 x 800 dashboard. These figures suggest that a significant majority of screens in the US during that period might not fully support these larger dashboard dimensions without some form of adjustment.
It’s also worth mentioning that a 1600 x 900 dashboard won’t precisely fit a 1600 x 900 resolution screen perfectly. The browser interface elements and operating system chrome around the dashboard typically introduce scrollbars, meaning the effective dashboard size needs to be slightly smaller than the nominal screen resolution to avoid scrollbars.
These observations indicate that numerous dashboard sizes might not be optimally suited for the most common screen resolutions. Could there be an “optimal” size purely from a screen resolution standpoint? A 1280 x 720 dashboard, for example, would fit approximately 29.0% of the screens in the known 67.6% sample. This is a noticeable improvement in compatibility. However, if we solely pursued maximum screen compatibility, we might logically reduce dashboard sizes to something extremely small, like 100 x 100, to fit virtually every screen. This approach is clearly impractical because while universally compatible, such a tiny dashboard would be too small to convey meaningful information effectively.
The crucial aspect is finding a balance: maximizing the proportion of users whose screens can display the dashboard without adjustments, while simultaneously ensuring the dashboard is large enough to present data in a useful and insightful manner. The 1280 x 720 size presents a compelling compromise. It’s reasonably sized to accommodate a significant amount of information and is compatible with a larger segment of screens (nearly half of the statistically known screen population). Furthermore, it adheres to the 16:9 aspect ratio, which is advantageous for exporting to PowerPoint, requiring only a simple size adjustment for optimal presentation.
It’s important to consider the context of your audience. The screen resolution statistics cited might not perfectly reflect the devices used within specific organizations. For dashboards intended for internal use, the technology infrastructure is often more current than average consumer setups, potentially involving higher screen resolutions. Therefore, a valuable step could be to consult with your IT department to gather data on the prevalent screen resolutions within your company. This internal data can provide more precise guidance on selecting an appropriate dashboard size.
Insights from Data Visualization Professionals
To broaden my perspective beyond screen resolution statistics and personal preferences, I sought out insights from other data visualization practitioners regarding what size dashboards they typically use. Unsurprisingly, the opinions were diverse, mirroring the responses to my initial social media query. Older articles and discussions tended to recommend smaller dashboard sizes, while more recent content sometimes suggests larger dimensions. This reinforces the conclusion that there is no universally agreed-upon “best” dashboard size.
Final Considerations on Dashboard Dimensions
So, what have we learned about dashboard size? Perhaps the most significant takeaway is the absence of a definitive answer. It’s unlikely that reading this discussion will drastically alter your established dashboard size preferences. The key principle appears to be balance. We need to balance the need for a dashboard to be sufficiently large to be effective in communicating data insights with the practical constraint of ensuring it fits comfortably on a reasonable range of screen resolutions. It’s also worth remembering that if a dashboard doesn’t perfectly fit a user’s screen, users can adjust their browser zoom level to less than 100% to make it fit. However, this is not ideal as it reduces the legibility of all dashboard elements. Alternatively, users can simply utilize scrollbars, which, while not optimal, is a common and accepted navigation method. Dashboard overflow isn’t necessarily a critical failure.
Ultimately, I will likely continue to primarily use 1400 x 800 as my standard dashboard size, based on the rationale outlined earlier. However, the 1280 x 720 option is undeniably appealing due to its slightly smaller footprint, improved screen compatibility, and adherence to the 16:9 aspect ratio.
I hope this somewhat rambling exploration has offered some rational insights into the question of dashboard sizing. Thank you for reading. If you’re interested in seeing the distribution of dashboard sizes and comparing them visually, please visit my “Dashboard Sizes” dashboard on Tableau Public.
Thanks!
Kevin Flerlage, March 6, 2023
