Graph lines

The main visitor chart can be drawn in three styles: Smooth, Linear, or Points. The choice is purely visual. The underlying data is identical, only the path between data points changes.

Set it from Dashboard preferences, in the Graph lines row.

Dashboard preferences: Graph lines
Settings, then Dashboard, then Graph lines
Smooth
Linear
Points

The three styles, side by side

Same data, three rendering styles
Hourly visitors over 24 hours. Smooth uses Bezier curves with controlled overshoot, Linear connects with straight segments, Points drops the connecting line and shows just the data dots.
Smooth
Linear
Points

When to pick which

Smooth

The default. Bezier curves between buckets. Reads as a continuous trend, which works well for high-volume sites where every hour has data and the chart is showing momentum, not exact values.

Linear

Straight segments between buckets. More honest about the data: there's no implied curvature between two known points. Best when buckets are sparse, when you want to see exactly where peaks and troughs land, or when smooth curves are smearing what should be a sharp step.

Points

Dots only, no connecting line. Useful when traffic is intermittent (low-volume sites where most buckets are zero), or when multiple metrics are selected and the lines are getting tangled.

Realtime view always uses bars. The 30-minute realtime chart only has about 30 buckets, so each minute reads cleanly as its own bar. The graph-lines preference only affects the historical visitor chart.

Where to find it

Sign in, click your avatar in the top-right, then Settings. In the sidebar, choose Dashboard. Graph lines is the third row of the preferences card.