In a tall apartment building downtown, on a busy street, six very different cats live side by side. Grey, Calico, Fluffy, Panda, Gizmo and Siamese. Each has their own habits, their own timing, and their own favorite spots.
Grey loves sitting in the window, always visible to anyone who passes by. Calico prefers to appear only at mealtime, and Siamese is shy. She’ll only come out if someone knocks. Fluffy is the greeter cat, showing up to guide visitors when they need help. Down in the kitchen, Panda and Gizmo share the kitchen but prefer to appear at different times of the day.
If you think about it, a Tableau dashboard is a lot like that building. Every chart, KPI, or instruction panel is a “cat.” Sometimes it makes sense to see them all at once, but more often, you need to decide who should come into view and when. That’s where Dynamic Zone Visibility (DZV) comes in. Just like the cats who appear or hide depending on the situation, DZV allows you to control which dashboard objects are visible at any given moment, based on conditions you set
Instead of filling your dashboard with every chart, you can design it so only the right ones appear when needed. Grey, the extrovert cat, is always in the window. She is your default KPI or summary chart. Calico, on the other hand, is like a map that only shows up when the user switches views. With DZV, you can set a simple toggle so Grey steps aside and Calico takes the spotlight, never both crowding the hallway at once.
Siamese, who hides until someone knocks, is the drill-down detail. A dashboard might start with one number, like total sales, and only reveal the table behind it when clicked. Thanks to DZV, Siamese stays tucked away until she’s needed, keeping the dashboard uncluttered.
Fluffy is the greeter cat, your instructions panel. She appears when a user clicks “Need Help?” but disappears once they know their way around, leaving the dashboard clean.
And then there are Panda and Gizmo, who share the kitchen but come out at different times. Executives might see Panda’s high-level KPIs, while analysts see Gizmo’s detailed tables. The layout stays the same, but who appears depends on the role.
When working with Dynamic Zone Visibility, it’s important to keep few things in mind. Don’t let all six cats loose at once, too many conditions can overwhelm users. Use containers to keep layouts organized, and provide clear buttons or icons so users know how to reveal hidden content. Always test your logic to make sure cats don’t overlap or vanish unexpectedly. At the same time, avoid common pitfalls: if users have to click endlessly, the dashboard will feel clunky, and if triggers aren’t clear, it’s like Gizmo showing up without warning.
DZV keeps dashboards tidy and purposeful. Instead of overwhelming users with everything at once, you reveal just the right “cat” when the time is right. It’s cleaner, smarter, and makes for a far better experience.
So next time you build in Tableau, ask yourself: do all your cats need to be in the hallway, or should some stay tucked away until called? With DZV, you get to decide.
Resources: https://help.tableau.com/current/online/en-us/dynamic_zone_visibility.htm