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Area Chart Maker

Show a quantity over time with the volume underneath it filled in. Upload your spreadsheet, pick a time column and your measures, and publish an interactive area chart you can embed anywhere — free.

Créer un Area Chart — gratuitVoir la galerie

Qu’est-ce qu’un Area Chart ?

An area chart is a line chart with the space between the line and the baseline filled in. That fill changes what the chart is about: a line asks you to follow a rate, an area asks you to see an accumulated quantity. Stack several series and the filled bands show both the total and each part's contribution to it over time — which is why area charts are the standard way to draw energy mixes, revenue by segment and traffic by channel. The fill is also the risk, because it makes the chart look like it is about magnitude even when the axis has been cut.

Quand utiliser un Area Chart

  • The quantity is a volume, not a rate

    Total users, cumulative revenue, energy generated. If summing the area under the curve would mean something, filling it in is honest.

  • You are showing a composition changing over time

    Stacked areas show the total and its parts at once. Watching one band swell while another shrinks is the clearest way to draw a shift in mix.

  • There is one series and you want emphasis

    A single filled area reads as more substantial than a bare line. On a dashboard where one number is the headline, that weight is useful.

  • Time is continuous and evenly spaced

    Areas imply that values flow into each other between the points. That is only true when the x-axis is genuinely continuous.

Quand éviter un Area Chart

  • You need to compare individual series precisely

    In a stacked area chart only the bottom band sits on a flat baseline. Every band above it is read against a wavy line, which the eye does badly. Use lines.

  • The series overlap and cross

    Unstacked areas hide each other. Two or three with heavy transparency is the limit before the chart becomes a colour smear.

  • Any value can be negative

    Stacking breaks down as soon as a series goes below zero, and the totals stop meaning anything.

  • The baseline is not zero

    The fill is the whole point of an area chart, and a truncated axis fills in an area that does not exist. If you need a cut axis, draw a line chart.

Comment créer un Area Chart

D’un tableur à un graphique publié, étape par étape.

01

Start from the area chart template

Open the PlotSet area chart template. It loads with sample data bound so you can see how the time column and the measures map onto bands.

02

Shape your data with time in the first column

One row per time point, one column per series. Make sure the dates parse as dates rather than text, or the axis will space them evenly instead of correctly.

03

Upload or connect your data

Import a CSV or Excel file, paste from a spreadsheet, or connect a Google Sheet so the chart can be refreshed as new periods land.

04

Decide stacked, percentage or overlapping

Stack when the total matters. Use percentage stacking when only the mix matters and the total is a distraction. Overlap only with two or three series and real transparency.

05

Publish, embed or export

Publish for a live interactive embed where hovering a point shows every series at that date, or export a PNG, SVG or PDF.

Partez du modèle Area Chart avec des données d’exemple déjà chargées, puis remplacez-les par les vôtres.

Ouvrir le modèle

Les éléments d’un Area Chart

Band
One series, drawn as a filled region. In a stacked chart its thickness at any point is that series' value, not its position on the axis.
Baseline
Zero, and it has to be. The filled area is measured from here, so moving it silently rescales the whole chart.
Stacking order
Which series sits at the bottom. The bottom band is the only one that can be read accurately, so put the series you most want understood there.
Boundary line
The top edge of a band. In a stacked chart the topmost boundary is the total, which is often the most useful line on the chart.
Fill opacity
Matters only for overlapping areas. Below about 60% opacity the colours mix into shades that belong to no series.
Percentage mode
Rescales every period to 100%. Shows the changing mix clearly, and completely hides whether the underlying total grew or collapsed.

Erreurs courantes avec un Area Chart

Stacking too many series

Past four or five bands, the ones in the middle are thin, wavy and unreadable. Group the small series into an "other" band and name it.

Reading a middle band as a trend

A band can look like it is rising when it is merely being pushed up by the one below. Say explicitly that thickness, not height, is the value.

Using percentage mode without saying so

A 100% stacked area looks stable even if the business halved. Label the axis and the caption so the reader knows the total has been removed.

Filling under a rate

The area under a percentage or a price means nothing. If summing it would be nonsense, use a line chart.

Area Chart : questions fréquentes

Showing how a quantity changes over time, with the volume beneath the line filled in. Stacked versions show how a total is composed and how that composition shifts.

Créez votre Area Chart maintenant

Gratuit pour commencer, avec plus de 300 modèles. Sans carte bancaire.

Créer un Area Chart — gratuitTous les types de graphiques