Naming Basics Best practice recommendations are to create a chart placing independent variables on the horizontal, x-axis and dependent variables on the vertical, y-axis.

Excel automatically distributes these points along a uniform X axis. To add more data to the Y axis in a line chart, add additional numbers in cells below your existing data.

If you have uneven distribution of data in your Excel chart, here is a better way to change the automatic axis settings.

We discuss a comment on a previous post stating that the text of labels on the vertical axis of graphs must be horizontal by discussing the pros and cons of four possible positions for these labels.