Ask HN: Your favorite open-source JavaScript Library for charts?

#1

Post by realtarget » Wed, May 18, 2016, 12:19 PM UTC

Which ist your favorite open source JS library for chart generation?

Basic requirements:

- Mouseover to show details/values

- Possibility to link parts of a pie chart to a "category" page for deeper statistics

Re: Ask HN: Your favorite open-source JavaScript Library for charts?

#2

Post by midgetjones » Wed, May 18, 2016, 12:52 PM UTC

I like http://c3js.org/ - it's built on top of D3.

Re: Ask HN: Your favorite open-source JavaScript Library for charts?

#3

Post by superflit » Wed, May 18, 2016, 1:02 PM UTC

The one I use is HighCharts [1]

Very clean and very good.

[1] - http://www.highcharts.com/

Re: Ask HN: Your favorite open-source JavaScript Library for charts?

#4

Post by dagw » Wed, May 18, 2016, 1:09 PM UTC

http://plot.ly does everything I've ever wanted and more with pretty good API. The fact that I can use the same API first for doing data exploration in python or R and then when publishing the results to the web is a nice added bonus.

Re: Ask HN: Your favorite open-source JavaScript Library for charts?

#5

Post by antman » Wed, May 18, 2016, 2:49 PM UTC

Try the Github showcases that lists all the major ones https://github.com/showcases/data-visualization

Re: Ask HN: Your favorite open-source JavaScript Library for charts?

#6

Post by roschdal » Wed, May 18, 2016, 7:31 PM UTC

http://morrisjs.github.io/morris.js/

Re: Ask HN: Your favorite open-source JavaScript Library for charts?

#7

Post by andymurd » Thu, May 19, 2016, 5:38 AM UTC

NVD3's pie chart[1] is quite straightforward, some of the other charts in the library need work though.

[1] - http://nvd3.org/examples/pie.html

Re: Ask HN: Your favorite open-source JavaScript Library for charts?

#8

Post by stadeschuldt » Thu, May 19, 2016, 11:07 AM UTC

superflit wrote: post #3

The one I use is HighCharts [1] Very clean and very good. [1] - http://www.highcharts.com/

I love HighCharts and use it for my open-source project at http://solarpi.tafkas.net

If you have a commercial product you have to pay for the license though.

Re: Ask HN: Your favorite open-source JavaScript Library for charts?

#9

Post by bzalasky » Fri, May 20, 2016, 1:35 AM UTC

After using several different libraries over the past few years, I've started using D3.js on its own. While it's more work than dropping something ready-made into an app, it's more flexible.

If you have specific designs/requirements to work from, it may be easier to build the charts with D3 than trying to shoehorn a stock chart into matching the spec. Behaviors like linking chart interactions to independent components (or vice versa) become easier to implement as well.

If you care less about flexibility, Chartist is a solid contender: https://gionkunz.github.io/chartist-js/

Re: Ask HN: Your favorite open-source JavaScript Library for charts?

#10

Post by bzalasky » Fri, May 20, 2016, 1:42 AM UTC

bzalasky wrote: post #9

After using several different libraries over the past few years, I've started using D3.js on its own. While it's more work than dropping something ready-made into an app, it's more flexible. If you have specific designs/requirements to work from, it may be easier to build the charts with D3 than trying to shoehorn a stock chart into matching the spec. Behaviors like linking chart interactions to independent component…

These two videos from Scott Murray are a great intro to D3 if you haven't worked with it before:

https://www.safaribooksonline.com/library/view/an-introducti...

https://www.safaribooksonline.com/library/view/intermediate-...