Continuous Column Chart

Here is a Quick Tip on how to create a continuous column chart with two continuing series. It is so easy that all you will need is to make visual customizations for your taste.

For this example, I am going to use a data set that shows continuous reign of two artificial governments. Government1 ruled between 2000 and 2007 while Government2 ruled between 2007 and 2013. Each government issued a number of legislations. We are going to visualize these rulings with one nice continuous column chart.

Here is our base data:

Only arrangement before inserting our chart is deleting the column header of “Year” column. Like this:

Select all of the table and insert a column chart. Here is what you should expect to see:

As you can see, legislations of both governments are shown side by side on a continuous time scale. It delivers the information very clearly and it is very easy to make.

Here is a formatted addition of the same chart:

This chart also supports overlapping data. In case two governments has changed seats during the middle of a year, therefore both have issued legislations in same year, it will be visible on the chart without need of extra customization (series must not be overlapping).

Here is how chart data will look:

Here is how the chart will look like: