Stacked area charts make sense when you want to show changes in a part-to-whole relationship over time.
100% stacked charts are focused on proportions, at the expense of actual values.
First, I’ll select data, excluding totals.
Then I’ll use recommended charts to insert a stacked area chart.
The result shows total sales, and how much each product line contributes to total sales.
The vertical axis is automatically scaled to fit the data, in units of $5000.
Plot order follows the source data.
Next I’ll insert a 100% stacked area chart.
This is a case where we don’t find the 100% stacked option in Recommended Charts.
Now that we have both charts on the worksheet, let’s compare some similarities and differences.
Both charts show product sales trends in different ways.
Unlike the basic stacked area chart, the 100% stacked chart has a vertical axis based on percentages.
In each year, the sales of all four products always equals 100%.
However, we no longer see actual sales numbers.
This information is simply not there.
These are interesting observations.
However, but be aware that 100% stacked charts can easily be misinterpreted.
In fact, hammock sales have increased somewhat.
Only their percentage is declining.
