Best of the Tableau Web ... January 2015

Don't you hate it when people wish you a happy new year when it's already deep into January?

Well, happy new year from all the way in early February! I haven't had a chance to say it until now. I have the honor (and very serious responsibility) of curating January's batch of Best of the Tableau Web.

When I'm not busy writing the Best of the Web blog post, I'm managing one of the best product marketing teams in the world.

I'm lucky to count among my team: Michelle Wallace, whom many of you already know as the voice behind @tableau; Kathleen Goepferd, the brains and artistry behind Tableau's growing collection of customer stories; Tracy Fitzgerald, the fearless leader building Tableau's enormously successful Community; Lauren Rogers, the busy and beloved woman you have to thank if you've ever attended one of the hundreds of worldwide Tableau User Groups; and the friendly but ever-focused Kathryn Holtz, whom you probably consider a best friend if you've ever been a customer speaker at one of the Tableau Conferences. (Seriously. You may have asked her to be in your wedding. It's that kind of closeness. Also, the Call for Speakers for TC15 opens sooooon--stay tuned!)

But, to quote Alanis Morisette, enough about me; let's talk about you for a minute. This month, the Tableau community produced insightful, easy-to-understand tutorials around the upcoming release of Tableau 9.0; dug deeper into what's possible with Tableau and R; and even produced a handy list of Tableau-approved bloggers that proved enormously valuable when I sat down to create this post. (It's truly a symbiotic relationship we have with the community.)

Here's a sneak peak at one of the best LOD tutorials we've come across yet, courtesy of Craig Bloodworth:

So, to steal a phrase my British colleague Andy Cotgreave used in his detailed instructions for how to write a Best of Tableau Web blog post: Right-o! Let's get on with it, shall we?

New on 9.0

The Last Data Bender Understanding Level of Detail Expressions, Part 1 (plus catch Part 2 and Part 3!)
Craig Bloodworth Tableau v9 Level of Detail Calculations (YouTube tutorial)
Tableau Zen Tableau 9.0 and Regular Expressions
Tableau Love NodeJS & Multipart POSTs against Tableau’s REST API in 9
VizPainter Favorite New Tableau 9.0 Features

Tips & Tricks

Viz Wiz Tableau Tip: One Metric; Two Number Formats
Interworks Let's Math it Out in Tableau
Redheaded Stepdata Color the Dupes
Interworks Row-level Highlighting in Tableau
The Information Lab Learning Tableau by Reverse Engineering

Beyond the Basics

Data * Science + R Change Point Detection in Time Series with R and Tableau
Data + Science Node-Link Tree Diagram in Tableau
Vizible Difference Embed Youtube in Tableau with Full Screen
Tableau Community Forums Olivier Catherin on how to build a decision tree in Tableau
Viz Ninja How to initiate IM / Skype / Chat / LastFM session from a Tableau dashboard
Information Lab Backing up Workbooks and Datasources from Tableau Server
Tableau Community Forums Jonathan Drummey on how Tableau Desktop and Server handle extracts

Commentary

3danim8 You Should Consider Following These #Tableau Bloggers
Signal v Noise Sometimes There Really Is an Easy Button
Data Revelations With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility (or, Think Before you use a Donut Chart)
The Tableau Wannabe Podcast Episode 15: Maxims, Sins, the Rules on Axes, and Tableau 9.0 Beta
Storytelling with Data A Conversation about Non-Zero Baselines
10 Tableau Maxims 10 Tableau Maxims

We're always looking for new Tableau bloggers to add to our Best of Tableau Web posts. If you've started a Tableau blog and you want the world to know, make sure to ping us @tableau!