Subdividing a Bar to Emphasize One Component in Excel 2007:-


Excel offers a stacked bar chart type. This type allows you to break a bar, such as total sales, to show components.

In the top chart in the Figure (given below), only one component is called out. The subject of the chart is this one component of product cost, showing how Company A has a significant cost advantage. You should use this chart type sparingly. The reader of the chart is able to make a judgment about the size of the black bar for the major subcomponent. The reader of the chart is also able to make a judgment about the total size of the bar. It is difficult to make a judgment about the size of the white component of the bars. Can you tell which company has the lowest “other cost”? (It is Company B.)



(A stacked bar chart allows the reader to judge the size of the total bar and the first component bar. Beyond that, it’s difficult to make a comparison from one bar to the next.)

The problem becomes worse if you try to show more than two components in the stacked bar chart. The bottom chart in the above Figure, for example, is trying to compare the costs of four major components, but the reader won’t be able to learn anything about the additional components.