BAR-H

Use when

• ranking categories by a single measure
• fewer than 12 categories
• category names too long for vertical bars

Do not use when

• time series (use CH-TIM-01 LINE)
• magnitude in natural category order (use CH-MAG-01 COLUMN)
• part-to-whole shares (use CH-PTW-01 when built)
• more than 12 categories (aggregate the tail into Other)

See instead

• natural category order matters: CH-MAG-01
• the data is a time series: CH-TIM-01

Alternatives

• CH-RNK-03 (lollipop, planned)
• CH-RNK-06 (table with bars, planned)

Rules

• bars start at zero, always
• rows sorted descending by value; the renderer enforces this
• direct value labels; no value axis, no gridlines
• at most one highlighted bar (role primary); all others role muted
• unit appears once, on the first value label only

Never do this

• value axis plus direct labels (pick direct labels)
• one color per bar (rainbow bars)
• 3D depth or shadows on bars
• truncated baseline to dramatize differences
• alphabetical sorting when the message is rank

QA before delivering

• baseline at zero
• rows descending by value
• exactly one unit mention
• highlight count <= 1
• title states a finding with a number
• source line present bottom-left

Data shape

{
  "title": "Electrical holds 34 of 109 open items, the largest single backlog",
  "eyebrow": "OPEN ITEMS . WEEK 28",
  "source": "Source: sample dataset v1, 2026-07-12",
  "unit": "items",
  "categories": [
    {
      "label": "Electrical",
      "value": 34,
      "highlight": true
    },
    {
      "label": "Mechanical",
      "value": 28
    },
    {
      "label": "Piping",
      "value": 21
    },
    {
      "label": "Instrumentation",
      "value": 17
    },
    {
      "label": "Civil",
      "value": 9
    }
  ]
}