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Show HN: Frappe Charts – GitHub inspired JavaScript charting with zero dependencies

frappe.github.io

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Re: Show HN: Frappe Charts – GitHub inspired JavaScript charting with zero dependencies

#71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Supported across all major browsers Please be more specific: Frappe Charts doesn't work in MSIE 11 which is the latest IE for Windows 7 which is used by a lot of enterprises.

It works on iOS, and I think there are a lot more iPhones out there than win7 desktops. ;)

Be that as it may, that doesn’t address the apparent fact that it doesn’t work in all major browsers — certainly IE11 would be considered one by most.

Re: Show HN: Frappe Charts – GitHub inspired JavaScript charting with zero dependencies

#72

D3 doesn’t have dependencies. Why use this?

D3 is not a charting library but a data visualization library with which one can produce standard charts. The code required to create a simple line chart in D3 spans dozens of lines, not including the data. Using a charting library it is usually one or two (plus options).

Re: Show HN: Frappe Charts – GitHub inspired JavaScript charting with zero dependencies

#73
post #68

The biggest thing I find missing from most charts is their ability to interactively and dynamically chart over a large data set. I once found a chart ( can't find it again ) that was super ugly but had a nice scheme for dynamically loading and caching data at different zoom levels that made the chart very snappy

You rarely can visualize anything meaningful of large dataset on screen. You can draw 100k data points on screen easily. But human brain rarely can make sense of those data points. What you need to do is to analyze and create filters to present meaningful insights from the dataset.

Re: Show HN: Frappe Charts – GitHub inspired JavaScript charting with zero dependencies

#74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Perhaps your comment should have been such a PR? ;) I really hate seeing this used in discussion. Just because it's open source does not mean it's immune from criticism. Yes, technically some random HN'er could spend tens of hours writing unit tests and submit a PR, but really this is a task for the library author/maintainer. Having tests is a measure of quality, and should be cared about if you want people using y…

The library author has already invested probably hundreds of hours creating the library; if someone who benefits from it only has to spend tens of hours writing the unit tests, they've saved an order of magnitude of time. We need to stop thinking of OSS as something we're entitled to, that if a stranger doesn't put in enough free labour we're allowed to complain about it. I try to view my dependencies as favours othe…

And we need to stop thinking of criticism as complaining. I'm very grateful for the OSS dependencies that I use in my projects and often contribute back to them, but I wouldn't touch a project without tests with a ten foot pole. I don't mean that in a bad way, for others it might fit their requirements fine. I'm guessing the author of this project would like people to actually use it, so I don't know why we should avoid giving this sort of feedback just because it's free labour.

Re: Show HN: Frappe Charts – GitHub inspired JavaScript charting with zero dependencies

#75
post #47

This looks great. Can I ask why you didn't use chart.js?

The argument would be no different from all the products out there who design their own UI (MUX, GitHub). Our framework Frappé (and product ERPNext) has a great emphasis on minimal style, and we really wished the charts to be free of visual clutter (not have too many measure markings for instance). Something that even the customizing API should take care off. Chartjs is awesome and very comprehensive, it just didn't go too well with our look and feel :)

Re: Show HN: Frappe Charts – GitHub inspired JavaScript charting with zero dependencies

#76
post #59

Is the annual heatmap supposed to be empty? Also, for the clickable charts, clicking on the popover should count as well. If the bar is really short it can be quite hard to click on, such as the 2007 entry in the first chart.

We gave it too less data than it deserved I believe.

Thanks for reporting the click problem. Would you mind creating an issue at GitHub, so that we can keep track?

Re: Show HN: Frappe Charts – GitHub inspired JavaScript charting with zero dependencies

#77

Impressive! What are the supported browsers? What are your plans going forward?

Supported across all major browsers :) We've covered much ground on the most used charts (while the heatmap just happened to be something we needed) and have the basic components down. That'll facilitate putting in, say, more axis charts in future. We're sure of not running out of ideas, there are just so many chart types out there :D

If you also support react native using their canvas, it might be a pretty sweet addition. Plotting libraries are somewhat missing in react-native.

Re: Show HN: Frappe Charts – GitHub inspired JavaScript charting with zero dependencies

#78
post #47

This looks great. Can I ask why you didn't use chart.js?

The argument would be no different from all the products out there who design their own UI (MUX, GitHub). Our framework Frappé (and product ERPNext) has a great emphasis on minimal style, and we really wished the charts to be free of visual clutter (not have too many measure markings for instance). Something that even the customizing API should take care off. Chartjs is awesome and very comprehensive, it just didn't…

chart.js isn't perfect, but it's pretty easy to customise and remove/change any element you don't like. I find it hard to believe it was easier for you to create an entirely new charting library than to set the option to remove ticks.

I'm not complaining because it's always good to have options and I really like the look of your library. I just find it a very curious use of resources.

Of course, it's your business and you can do whatever you like with it regardless of whether you have a good reason. :-)

Re: Show HN: Frappe Charts – GitHub inspired JavaScript charting with zero dependencies

#79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It works on iOS, and I think there are a lot more iPhones out there than win7 desktops. ;)

Be that as it may, that doesn’t address the apparent fact that it doesn’t work in all major browsers — certainly IE11 would be considered one by most.

Moreover, whatever % of global browser share IE11 has, within the market of people who want charts, it's much higher. The simple chart is also the #1 feature priority of every business-IT product manager that has ever existed, narrowly beating "make it work in Internet Explorer".

Re: Show HN: Frappe Charts – GitHub inspired JavaScript charting with zero dependencies

#80

D3 doesn’t have dependencies. Why use this?

D3 is not a charting library but a data visualization library with which one can produce standard charts. The code required to create a simple line chart in D3 spans dozens of lines, not including the data. Using a charting library it is usually one or two (plus options).

Lots of libs advertise 0 dependencies. I'm not fussed if a library depends on D3 though. D3 is 80k gzipped, this is 15k gzipped, ChartJS is about 20k gzipped. If you need one chart, sure, go for it.

But each of those libraries would be 1. The code is much simpler and easier to understand and contribute to

2. Knowing D3 means you can modify the visuals, fork the library, and customize it without spending ages wading through unnecessary and unfamiliar re-implementations of D3 primitives. So many requirements I've seen involve tweaking visuals just far enough that a pre-baked library ceases to cut it.

3. Chart authors can rely on those primitives for a less buggy experience, given that they are tested and used elsewhere

4. D3 already supports IE9+, which this library doesn't

5. You have the power of D3 to build your own dataviz

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