Dashboard Layout Method; Tab Design and Page Size Optimisation

Picking the best layout for the report is going to affect the appearance of dashboard on different devices, also enhance the presentation and accessibility of your reports.

From the Report's sidebar > Settings it is possible to optimise the dashboard layout method, Tab design, Page size, Zoom settings and more.

Layout Method:

When using "Free-form", you have the freedom to size and position views using handles, with the option to overlap them. Buttons allow you to send each chart to the front or back. In this mode, you can also use the grid-snapping tool. Once all views are placed on the dashboard, switch to this mode to resize views with pixel-perfect accuracy. Views will snap into place, aligning themselves with other views. Additionally, you can see the width and height as a percentage of the page for each view, or their individual sizes in pixels.

A group of aligned views can be resized using a shared control—simply drag the shared edge of the views to snap them into position.

Keyboard controls:

Hold "Control" or "Meta" while dragging or resizing a view to disable snapping.

Hold "Shift" to maintain the aspect ratio of the view.

Alternatively, if you prefer not to overlay views or want a simpler layout, you can keep the default layout set to "Auto". This mode makes it easier to align views in rows and columns.

For such dashboards, it’s often recommended to deselect "Enable mobile mode". Combined with the "Can grow" option, this creates a responsive dashboard that scales like an image without altering its appearance.

Tab design

In the same section of Report Settings, you’ll find an option to enable "Multi-page layout", which allows the contents of each report tab to spill over onto multiple scrollable pages. These pages stay in sync and respond to filtering and selection behaviours, which can be useful for specific use cases.

Another useful layout option is to display report tabs either as a drop-down list or as tabs along the top, similar to browser tabs. You can toggle between these options from the Tab settings. 

Page Size

The options are to allow the page to stretch and fit the screen, depending on the users screen size. Fixed size is a convenient option for the dashboard designer, because the dashboard object ration is maintained and the page will scale up/down to fill the user's screen.

From the preset drop-down menu it is possible to pick several Screen/ Desktop/ Tablet or Phone sizes, alternatively pick a good printing size (A4/ A3/ A5).

• Finally there are options to enable pinch-to-zoom on a trackpad or touch devices, enabling the user to enlarge charts and zoom into them for more detail or easily embed the whole dashboard into a web page as an iFrame.

You can read more about how to optimise Omniscope dashboards for consumption on mobile devices.