16.4 Deploying and Sharing

Once the dashboard renders the way you want it locally, deployment is a matter of choosing a host. The right host depends on whether the dashboard uses Shiny, who needs to see it, and whether the organization has IT support for hosted services.

Table 16.3: Table 16.4: Deployment options for Quarto Dashboards.
Method Best for Limitations
Email a self-contained HTML Static dashboards (crosstalk, plotly), small audiences Static; no server-side features; large file size
GitHub Pages Public or organization-internal static dashboards, version control Public unless private repository
shinyapps.io Shiny dashboards, individual or small-team use Free tier has hour limits; paid plans for production
Posit Connect Enterprise Shiny + static deployment Commercial license required
Internal web server Privacy-sensitive deployments Requires IT involvement

For a static (non-Shiny) Quarto dashboard, the deploy command is one line:

quarto::quarto_render("absenteeism-dashboard.qmd")

The output is absenteeism-dashboard.html — a single self-contained file ready to email, upload, or commit. For a Shiny dashboard the workflow is different: push the project directory (the .qmd, supporting data files, an R manifest.json if needed) to shinyapps.io or Connect using rsconnect::deployApp().

16.4.1 Pre-delivery design review

Before sending any dashboard to a stakeholder, run through the design principles from Chapter 15 one last time. The checklist below catches problems that are easier to fix before the delivery email goes out than after.

  • Are the primary KPIs in the upper-left quadrant?
  • Does the dashboard pass the five-second rule — can a viewer state the headline finding within five seconds?
  • Do all numbers carry context (a target, a trend, a comparison)?
  • Are time periods consistent across panels?
  • Is color coding consistent and accessible to color-blind viewers?
  • Are decorative elements (3D effects, animations, heavy imagery) absent?
  • Does the dashboard use progressive disclosure — overview first, drill-down on demand?

Any “no” on this list is a place to revise before delivery, not after.