Rise 360: How to Use Chart Blocks

Chart blocks in Rise 360 let you transform your data into beautiful and engaging bar, line, and pie charts. Learners can hover over each data point to see details. Here’s how they work.

1. Insert a Chart Block
2. Modify the Chart Block
3. Customize the Block Settings
4. Accessibility

Step 1: Insert a Chart Block

1. Open a Rise 360 course, then edit an existing blocks lesson or create a new one.
2. Select All Blocks from the blocks shortcut bar.
   OR
   Click the insert block icon that appears when you mouse-over a boundary between blocks.
3. From the sidebar that appears, choose the Chart category.
4. Choose which chart type you’d like to use: Bar, Line, or Pie.

Step 2: Modify the Chart Block

You can enter titles, item and value labels, as well as select the type of chart you’d like to use.

1. Hover over your chart block and click the Chart Type button that appears. Choose between bar, line, or pie.
2. Click the Edit button that appears to enter the chart title, item and value labels for your chart in the sidebar.
   
   Each chart can display up to 12 items and values. Item labels can be up to 30 characters long (including spaces). Values don’t have a limit. Just keep in mind that negative values are ignored on pie charts, but will display on bar and line charts.
   
   For pie charts, you can also select colors for individual items by clicking the color icon to the right of the item label. Line and bar charts use the course's default color but can be modified in the format settings.
3. Drag item/value pairs up and down the list to reorder. To delete an item/value pair, hover over it in the sidebar and click the icon that appears.
4. When you’re finished, click the X in the upper right corner to close the sidebar and return to your lesson.

Step 3: Customize the Settings

Hover over an existing chart block and click the Design icon that appears on the right-hand side to customize block settings. 

Here are a few additional things to keep in mind:

• If you change the background color of the block, the item and value labels will switch to black or white so that they remain visible.
• Change the color for your line or bar charts on the Format tab. Click Clear to have the line or bar chart display in your theme color. 
• For line charts, you can select either curved or straight lines.
• For pie charts, you can choose to display values as numbers or percentages.

Accessibility

Chart blocks are mostly accessible. Currently, charts are treated as images and announced to screen readers but are not directly keyboard accessible. If you use this block, provide an alternative method, like a table block, to present the chart data. Additionally, conduct testing with keyboard navigation and screen readers.

Looking for more accessibility design tips or resources? Check out the following:

• Rise 360: How to Design an Accessible Course
• Accessibility Index