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Unovis: Data visualization for React, Angular, Svelte, TypeScript, JavaScript

unovis.dev

31–40 of 55 posts

Re: Unovis: Data visualization for React, Angular, Svelte, TypeScript, JavaScript

#31

The thing I've wanted is a visualization library that also comes with the UI controls for configuring graphs: picking the graph type, picking the fields, picking the labels, picking the aggregation, axis settings, etc. Almost no one is implementing libraries that do this. Everyone just keeps building "low-level" graph libraries that leave application developers to build up (in my case) crappy and inflexible configura…

Yes, same here. I'd love an open source Power BI alternative.

Check out Apache Superset: https://superset.apache.org/

Originally from Airbnb. Very powerful and flexible OS frontend BI tool

Re: Unovis: Data visualization for React, Angular, Svelte, TypeScript, JavaScript

#32
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

my experience has been that non of these solutions provide enough control granularity, and i keep coming back to d3.js (or other libraries like deck.gl) and building my own UI.

In a similar vein, my experience is that most visualizations that people are commonly making are reaching for what is available in R. https://r-graph-gallery.com/ggplot2-package.html

In my case that is 100% true. What I actually want is R but for the web. All the JS libraries are either too simple and rigid or too low level like d3.

Re: Unovis: Data visualization for React, Angular, Svelte, TypeScript, JavaScript

#33

The thing I've wanted is a visualization library that also comes with the UI controls for configuring graphs: picking the graph type, picking the fields, picking the labels, picking the aggregation, axis settings, etc. Almost no one is implementing libraries that do this. Everyone just keeps building "low-level" graph libraries that leave application developers to build up (in my case) crappy and inflexible configura…

My personal favorites are Altair (Python/VegaLite) and Observable Plot. The latter just released a new version with GeoJSON support.

Re: Unovis: Data visualization for React, Angular, Svelte, TypeScript, JavaScript

#34
post #32
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a similar vein, my experience is that most visualizations that people are commonly making are reaching for what is available in R. https://r-graph-gallery.com/ggplot2-package.html

In my case that is 100% true. What I actually want is R but for the web. All the JS libraries are either too simple and rigid or too low level like d3.

Has anyone done any work to compile R to wasm?

Re: Unovis: Data visualization for React, Angular, Svelte, TypeScript, JavaScript

#36

The thing I've wanted is a visualization library that also comes with the UI controls for configuring graphs: picking the graph type, picking the fields, picking the labels, picking the aggregation, axis settings, etc. Almost no one is implementing libraries that do this. Everyone just keeps building "low-level" graph libraries that leave application developers to build up (in my case) crappy and inflexible configura…

You don't want a visualization library, you want a full-featured BI toolset.

What OP posted isn't "low level", I'd describe it as low-feature, intermediate-level visualization library.

Re: Unovis: Data visualization for React, Angular, Svelte, TypeScript, JavaScript

#37
I’ve heard Vega/Vega-lite is years ahead of other options, mostly because its expression power which is deeply rooted from years of research and success in industry (Trifacta/UW). Curious if anyone can share a more through analysis or opinions

Re: Unovis: Data visualization for React, Angular, Svelte, TypeScript, JavaScript

#38

I’ve heard Vega/Vega-lite is years ahead of other options, mostly because its expression power which is deeply rooted from years of research and success in industry (Trifacta/UW). Curious if anyone can share a more through analysis or opinions

you can use it from within Power BI

Re: Unovis: Data visualization for React, Angular, Svelte, TypeScript, JavaScript

#39
Data viz used to be my playground, I feel like I can comment on this with some confidence. It feels like the selling point / value prop here is that it supports multiple FE frameworks, but that's where its strengths end for me. It almost looks like a coding exercise more than a library that people would use - seems a great amount of effort went into boilerplate, configs, packaging, documentation etc, but not as much into the features themselves.

The tell-tale brushes in some of the interactive graphs hint at d3 as the foundation layer, and poking through the configs confirms that. The real power of d3 lies in how it integrates data with the rendered elements - transitions, filters, being able to use one set of graphs to drive the parameters of another set, etc. With d3, you get interactivity for very very cheap, it's a missed opportunity here not to extend that (most graphs in the gallery seem static).

Overall there is nothing that makes this stand out over other offerings. Other commenters provided some good examples. I'd mention Altair/Vega as an example of powerful / configurable library that can be driven from either FE or BE. D3 as the gold standard of a low-level visualization primitives library with unsurpassed flexibility. If you're after something more out of the box with a DS angle, Dash does a decent job (and plotly.js for an overwhelming viz feature set). For commercial solutions, HighCharts, as much of a drag as it can be, is still the reliable beige khaki offering. CanvasJS would be another one in that space. If you want to dabble in 3D visualization, three.js is by far both the best starting place and the most robust library you can ask for. Honorable mention for dc.js, as they make good use of the crossfilter approach (driving context/selection across multiple graphs)

The js data viz space is quite full, with some heavy-duty, established players. To be a new entrant on this playing field, you'd have to bring something breakthrough to the table. Sorry.

Re: Unovis: Data visualization for React, Angular, Svelte, TypeScript, JavaScript

#40

Data viz used to be my playground, I feel like I can comment on this with some confidence. It feels like the selling point / value prop here is that it supports multiple FE frameworks, but that's where its strengths end for me. It almost looks like a coding exercise more than a library that people would use - seems a great amount of effort went into boilerplate, configs, packaging, documentation etc, but not as much…

You've cited D3 but I notice that you haven't mentioned Observable's Plot[0], a Javascript GoG that wraps D3. They're both Mike Bostock libraries, so Plot is the pseudo-"blessed" D3 high-level abstraction layer.

[0] https://observablehq.com/@observablehq/plot

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