Description
What is d3.js?
d3.js⁶ (hereafter abridged as D3) is “a JavaScript library for manipulating documents based on
data”.
But that description doesn’t do it justice.
D3 is all about helping you to take information and make it more accessible to others via a web
browser.
It’s a JavaScript library. That means that it’s a tool that can be used in conjunction with other
tools to get a job done. Those other tools are mainly HTML and CSS (amongst others) but you
don’t need to know too much about either to use D3 (although it will help :-)).
It’s an open framework, which means that there are no hidden mysteries about how it does it’s
magic and it allows others to contribute to a constant cycle of improvement.
It’s built to leverage web standards which means that modern browsers don’t have to do anything special to use D3, they just have to support the framework that the Internet has adopted for ease of use.
The beauty of D3 is that it allows you to associate data and what appears on the screen in a way that directly links the two. Change the data and you change the object on the screen. D3’s trick is to let you set what appears on the screen. A circle, a line, a point on a map, a graph, a bouncing ball, a gradient (and way, way more). Once the data and the object are linked the possibilities are endless.
It won‘t do everything for you in your quest to create the perfect visualization, but it does give
you the ability to achieve that goal.
It bridges the gap between the static display of data and the desire of people to mess about with it. That applies equally to the developer who wants to show something cool and to the end user who wants to be able to explore information interactively.
It was (and still is being) developed by Mike Bostock⁷ who has not just spent time writing
the code, but writing the documentation⁸ for D3 as well. There is an extensive community of
supporters who also contribute to the code, provide technical support⁹ online¹⁰ and generally
have fun creating amazing visualizations¹¹. Their contribution is extrodinary (you only have to
look at the work of Jason Davies to be amazed).
d3.js⁶ (hereafter abridged as D3) is “a JavaScript library for manipulating documents based on
data”.
But that description doesn’t do it justice.
D3 is all about helping you to take information and make it more accessible to others via a web
browser.
It’s a JavaScript library. That means that it’s a tool that can be used in conjunction with other
tools to get a job done. Those other tools are mainly HTML and CSS (amongst others) but you
don’t need to know too much about either to use D3 (although it will help :-)).
It’s an open framework, which means that there are no hidden mysteries about how it does it’s
magic and it allows others to contribute to a constant cycle of improvement.
It’s built to leverage web standards which means that modern browsers don’t have to do anything special to use D3, they just have to support the framework that the Internet has adopted for ease of use.
The beauty of D3 is that it allows you to associate data and what appears on the screen in a way that directly links the two. Change the data and you change the object on the screen. D3’s trick is to let you set what appears on the screen. A circle, a line, a point on a map, a graph, a bouncing ball, a gradient (and way, way more). Once the data and the object are linked the possibilities are endless.
It won‘t do everything for you in your quest to create the perfect visualization, but it does give
you the ability to achieve that goal.
It bridges the gap between the static display of data and the desire of people to mess about with it. That applies equally to the developer who wants to show something cool and to the end user who wants to be able to explore information interactively.
It was (and still is being) developed by Mike Bostock⁷ who has not just spent time writing
the code, but writing the documentation⁸ for D3 as well. There is an extensive community of
supporters who also contribute to the code, provide technical support⁹ online¹⁰ and generally
have fun creating amazing visualizations¹¹. Their contribution is extrodinary (you only have to
look at the work of Jason Davies to be amazed).
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