Email the Author
You can use this page to email Malcolm Maclean about D3 Tips and Tricks v3.x.
About the Book
New version avaialble! Go here for the v7 edition!
D3.js can help you make data beautiful.
D3 Tips and Tricks is a book written to help those who may be unfamiliar with JavaScript or web page creation get started turning information into visualization.
Data is the new medium of choice for telling a story or presenting compelling information on the Internet and d3.js is an extraordinary framework for presentation of data on a web page.
What version of d3.js is this written for?
Version 3.x If you're looking for the version 4.x you can find it here...v5 is here!
Is this book for you?
It's not written for experts. It's put together as a guide to get you started if you're unsure what d3.js can do. It reads more like a story as it leads the reader through the basics of line graphs and on to discover animation, tooltips, tables, interfacing with MySQL databases via PHP, sankey diagrams, force diagrams, maps and more...
Why was D3 Tips and Tricks written?
Because in the process of learning things, it's a great way to remember them if you write them down :-).
As a result, learning how to do cool stuff with D3 meant that I accumulated a sizeable number ways to help me out when the going got tricky. Then I realised that these could be useful for others who were trying out d3.js and who were at a similar knowledge level.
So here we are! A collection of tips and tricks for d3.js written by a noob for people who might consider that they're in the same situation :-).
What's in the book?
I've captured the appropriate code (in cool looking coloured text) and added in heaps of illustrations of what's going on so that you will get more traction at the start of your learning process than I did.
But wait! There's code!
There are over 50 code examples that are used in the book (with their data files) available to download (still free!) and they are also available online.
The awesome that is Open Source.
Please consider this an opportunity for you to contribute back to the Open Source community that makes products like d3.js possible. If you find something that can be improved about the book or think there's something that can be added, just let me know!
The book has a lot of information in it, but there's still more to come. Currently (at time writing) it counts up to about 580 pages, so it's not a short read but I've tried to pitch it in sections so that if you find something interesting, you can read parts in isolation. There's a sizeable amount of content on the d3noob.org blog site from the book and hopefully between the two, people will find a way that will help them improve. I have a long list of additional material that I want to add, so I'm hoping that publishing using Leanpub will allow readers to get easy notification of when updates and improvements are made.
Download the whole book just to try it out!
I'm making the manual available for free because I think it's a great way to give something back to the community as a whole, but if you find some value in the book, please consider contributing 99 cents when you download it so that Leanpub get something for hosting the book and providing such an awesome service (50 cents is their flat cut of any book sales and $4.99 is the minimum (apart from $0) that they will allow for a sale).
(Don't be put off by the button at the top saying 'Buy the ebook now'. Once you click on it, you can select any price you want including $0!)
Enjoy.
So I hope you get something out of the book, please excuse the sometimes light-hearted conversational manner in which I approach the topic and enjoy D3!
Kudos for D3 Tips and Tricks from
;
"Thanks, super helpful!" - Davo
"Thanks for the help (reading through your book now, and it's awesome!)" - Jared
"Thank you for doing this. I've been looking for something like this for a while." - Marla
"You have just inspired me to give Sankey a fresh new face in Dex" - Patrick
"Thank you - exactly what I was looking for explained clearly and succinctly" - Anon
"Much appreciated. Excellent tutorial" - Anon
"Thanks!! This help rocks" - greencracker
"Thx for book. It's awesome." - Michael Guimet
"Thank you !! :) very very thank you." - Nuri Lee
"Thanks for your work man, it inspired me to use in my research!" - napicool
Used as a teaching resource at;
- The Dublin Institute of Technology for Data Visualization.
- The University of Nebraska
About the Author
I have a passion for knowledge and I realise that part of the responsibility of gathering knowledge is being able to advance the state of the human condition in some way.
My aims using D3 and in writing this book were to play with software, achieve a personal goal and try something new for fun. It also helps that I think graphs and the visual representation of data rock in serious ways.
I don't have a formal coding background and I didn't learn JavaScript and then how to use D3. I learnt a little bit of JavaScript as a result of using D3, so the way I explain things is focussed on trying to impart that understanding in a simple but functional way.
I'm totally in awe of the Open Source community that has made this type of work possible, which is why you can download D3 Tips and Tricks for free.
Feel free to follow me on Twitter (@d3noob), I find it a great service to get alerted to what's going on with d3.js.