Need to define a default cover tab when publishing in Tableau

It's common that in one workbook we have multiple tabs. One of the tabs is supposed to be the cover tab or the default tab. We need a way to define or select one tab as the cover tab. Tableau always makes the one I am working on as the cover. That's not correct. I had to select the correct one and republish.

It's so often that I touch and update different tabs, and then publish. Most of time, I found that my working tab is published as the cover. That's bad for productivity.

I would suggest a solution as follows:

By default, make the leftmost tab as the primary view just like in Excel.

So, in this URL for views, it directs users to the primary view/tab.
http://server/views/workbookname

In this way we add a finer sense of hierarchy in the information path:
server>views>workbook>tab
instead of server>views>tab

If there is a need for setting up a different cover tab, this page could be used to let us assign a primary view/tab.
http://server/workbooks/workbookname

(Refresh the page if you want to view the gif image multiple times. Or go to Tableau Public and click the button at the top-right corner.)

Jake and I collaborated on a dashboard. He told me that he learnt a way to create an in-place help page in Tableau. He first saw it at a conference somewhere and couldn't recall who the speaker was. So I am blogging here about it but the credit goes to somebody else. If anyone knows who the original creator is, leave a comment below.

The key idea is to float a semi transparent worksheet on top of the dashboard, where a help text box is strategically placed on top of each chart. This way, we can explain how to view each chart and what data points are important, etc. This worksheet is collapsible by a show/hide button.

Below I would like to show how this worksheet can be constructed.

1. Sheet with a single data mark.

Double click the empty space in Marks panel and add two single quotes. Make the null pill a text label. This creates a single null mark.
Set the view as "Entire View"

2. Create an show/hide button

Go to the target dashboard
Drag a floating vertical container to the dashboard, making it cover all the area of interest.
Drag the Single Null Mark sheet and drop it into the above container. Hide the sheet title.
Create an open/close button for the container and place the button at the top-right corner.

3. Add annotations

Format the sheet background opacity as 70% in the layout manager
Select area annotations and place them anywhere of interest.
Write help text and format it to highlight important messages.
The text can serve as functional guide and/or insight guide.

Here is an example. Feel free to download the workbook and explore. Click the "i" button at the top-right corner to view the in-place help.

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Vizible Difference

In search of data visualization excellence

1. Sheet with a single data mark.

2. Create an show/hide button

3. Add annotations

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