About the Author

Joe Greco's picture

Latest Front Pages

The State Journal-Register named GateHouse front page of the day (Friday, March 12)

The State Journal-Register named GateHouse front page of the day (Friday, March 12)
more front pages »

News & Interactive upcoming training schedule

Chris Biondi, coordinator of online content, works with a local staff on Web Cube.

Meetings to discuss GateHouse Media's 2010 content strategy are set. All meetings start at 12:30 p.m. and run to 3:30 p.m.

• Thursday, Feb. 11: Alexandria, LA
Location: Holiday Inn Express Hotel and Suites Alexandria, 2340 North MacArthur Dr., Alexandria, LA 71303

Ascension Citizen [LA]
Beauregard Daily News [LA]
Leesville Daily Leader [LA]
Post South [LA]
Southwest Daily News [LA]
The Bastrop Daily Enterprise [LA]
The Cajun Gazette [LA]
Vinton News [LA]

• Thursday, Feb. 18: Needham, MA
Location: Community Newspaper Company

Top daily editors and weekly executive editors and publishers


Who's online

There are currently 0 users and 1 guest online.

How to use the Web poll graphics template

by Joe Greco
 
If you're looking for an alternative way to present Web poll results, download this easy-to-use template.  The three steps below work for both Quark and InDesign. You can either follow the text below or watch the video that accompanies this blog.
 
For this tutorial, we'll use the following sample question and results:
 
Do you support the mayor’s decision to hire a social events coordinator with an expected annual salary of $55,000? Yes 77, No 52, Unsure 22.
 
 
1. CALCULATE
With poll results in hand, you'll need to calculate percentages and measurements.  First the percentages. For those who skipped school the day they taught this, simply divide the number of responses in each category by the total number of responses.
 
               #     Tot.     %
Yes        77 ÷ 151 = 51
No         52 ÷ 151 = 34
Unsure  22 ÷ 151 = 15
 
Now the measurements. Because we're creating a bar chart graphic, we need to determine the height of each bar. To do this, subtract each response percentage from 100%. (Watch the video to see how this works.)
               Tot.    %     H
Yes         100 - 51 = 49
No         100 - 34 = 66
Unsure   100 - 15 = 85
 
Ok, we now have all the information we need. It's all down hill from here.
 
 
2.  INSERT
For this step, simply insert last week's and this week's questions into the appropriate boxes, and insert the percentages from step one into the text boxes at the bottom of each bar chart. One more step!
 
 
3. ADJUST
To adjust the bars in the chart, select the gray box for YES and go to the height field in the measurement palette (Quark) or control palette (InDesign) and insert p49. Voila! The light gray box reveals a darker shaded box that illustrates the percentage of YES responses. Repeat for the two remaining bars. Feel free to change the gray shaded boxes to match the color scheme of your publication.
 
 
HOW THIS WORKS
Each bar in the chart is comprised of two boxes with identical dimensions. The box height has a pica measurement of 8p4. With 12 points per 1 pica, this measurement is equal to 100 points, or 100p (8p4 = 100p). Inserting the height of p49 from Step 3, the light gray box on top inversely reveals the dark box beneath at a measurement of p51, equal to the response percentage. Quark and InDesign allow pica measurements to be entered even if document measurements are in inches.
 
 
With a little practice and with the calculations in hand, this process should take less than a minute to complete. Happy polling! 
 
 
Joe Greco is corporate design director for GateHouse Media.

Posted in

Joe, Just stumbled across

Submitted by Ray McGrew on June 11, 2009 - 8:47am.
Joe, Just stumbled across this and its GREAT! Have any other designs that can hand poll questions that have a possible number of results being four or five? I know I could probably create it from your template, but if you already have them it would be sooooo much easier. Thanks!! Ray