XtreamINT
Designing Dashboard Elements
Oracle provides a series of design guidelines for users of their products who are designing dashboards. When creating a dashboard, it is recommended that you follow these guidelines closely, especially if you have never constructed a dashboard before. Oracle comes with a default dashboard layout. When you first open this file you must ensure that you have the correct screen resolution to display the dashboard properly. Check that the tabs at the top of the dashboard are laid out in such a way that all of the titles are one a single line only. The next step in the design process is to write a brief dashboard description. It is important that every dashboard has a brief description attached to it. This should explain what the dashboard is for, and give a brief summary of its contents. The Design Guidelines provided by Oracle explain how to attach this description to your dashboard. When setting up a dashboard it is important that the pages are displayed correctly. The dashboard should be designed to fit easily into a 1024 x 768 display when it is in fullscreen mode. There should be no need for the user to scroll in any direction, either horizontally or vertically. While vertical scrolling on the first page can sometimes work, horizontal scrolling should be avoided at all times. The Oracle Guidelines also recommend that a prompts section should appear on each page of the dashboard if possible. The full Oracle Design Guidelines can be accessed here. Those who are not making use of Oracle products can also make use of these guidelines, as they are very helpful for all dashboard designers. 
