Scale of x axis in Numbers if uneven
Is there a way to make a bar chart when the x-axis scale is not linear--that is, when some values are skipped in my data, I want them to be skipped in the chart. I do not want a scatter chart, however.
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Hi kfkolonel,
A "Bar chart", whether the bars are horizontal or vertical, is a "Category chart." All category charts allot equal space on the category axis to each category.
For your year long chart, that means you have 365 categories to place on that axis. For a US Letter size page in portrait orientation, your category axis for a vertical bar chart is 7.5" long, minus any space taken by labels for the vertical 'Values" axis.
That's a tiny bit more than 2 hundredths of an inch (about half a millimetre) width to hold one day's bar (AND the space separating it from the next day's bar).
Scatter charts have two value axes, so dates are automatically spaced proportionally according to their values, rather than equally like categories.
Here's a quick example of a 'bar' chart constructed using a 2D scatter chart as the base.
The 'bars' are negative error bars set to 100% of the data point value.
As it's a 'quick' example, I've done no tweaks to it other than setting the data-point symbol to none, setting 100% negative only error bars, setting the thickness of those bars to 3 pt, and rotating the x axis labels to left 90°. Several other adjustments are available. Explore!
Regards,
Barry