D3 Tips and Tricks v4.x
D3 Tips and Tricks v4.x
Interactive Data Visualization in a Web Browser
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 4.x. If you're looking for the edition of this book that was written for version 5.x you can find it here. The earlier edition of this book that was written for version 3.x 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 originally 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 60 code examples used in the book (with their data files) available to download (still free!) and they will 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. There's also 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 donating when you download it so that Leanpub get something for hosting the book and providing such an awesome service.
(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 the original version of 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
Table of Contents
-
Acknowledgements
- Mike
- Partners, Supporters and Contributors.
- Proof Reading
- The d3.js Community
- Cover art
- Leanpub
- Make sure you get the most up to date copy of D3 Tips and Tricks
- What is d3.js?
- Introduction
-
What do we need to get started?
- HTML
- JavaScript
- Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
- Web Servers
- PHP
-
Other Useful Stuff
- Text Editor
-
Getting D3
- Host d3.js locally
- Use a remote CDN to always use the latest version of d3.js
- Potential directory structure
-
Where to get information on d3.js
- d3js.org
- Google Groups
- Stack Overflow
- Github
- bl.ocks.org
- Books
-
Starting with a simple graph
- HTML
- Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
-
D3 JavaScript
- Setting up the margins and the graph area.
- Getting the Data
- Formatting the Date / Time.
- Setting Scales Domains and Ranges
- Adding data to the line function
- Adding the SVG element.
-
Actually Drawing Something!
- Drawing the line
- Drawing the Axes
- Wrap Up
-
Things we can do with the simple graph
-
Setting up and configuring the Axes
- Change the text size
- Changing the number of ticks on an axis
- Rotating text labels for a graph axis
- Formatting a date / time axis with specified values
-
Adding Axis Labels
- The x axis label
- The y axis label
- How to add a title to your graph
- Change a line chart into a scatter plot
- Smoothing out graph lines
- Make a dashed line
-
Filling an area under the graph
- CSS for an area fill
- Define the area function
- Draw the area
- Filling an area above the line
-
Adding a drop shadow to allow text to stand out on graphics.
- CSS for white shadowy background
- Drawing the white shadowy background.
-
Adding grid lines to a graph
- The grid line CSS
- Define the grid line functions
- Draw the lines
- Adding more than one line to a graph
- Labelling multiple lines on a graph
- Multiple axes for a graph
-
Setting up and configuring the Axes
-
Elements, Attributes and Styles
- The Framework
-
Elements
- Circle
- Ellipse
- Rectangle
- Line
- Polyline
- Polygon
- Path
- Clipped Path (AKA clipPath)
-
Text
- Anchor at the bottom, middle of the text:
- Anchor at the bottom, right of the text:
- Anchor at the middle, left of the text:
- Anchor in the middle, centre of the text:
- Anchor in the middle, right of the text:
- Anchor at the top, left of the text:
- Anchor at the top, middle of the text:
- Anchor at the top, right of the text:
-
Attributes
-
x
,y
-
x1
,x2
,y1
,y2
- points
-
cx
,cy
-
r
-
rx
,ry
-
transform (translate(x,y), scale(k), rotate(a))
-
transform (translate(x,y))
-
transform (scale(k))
-
transform (rotate(a))
-
-
width
,height
-
text-anchor
-
dx
,dy
-
textLength
-
lengthAdjust
-
-
Styles
-
fill
-
stroke
-
opacity
-
fill-opacity
-
stroke-opacity
-
stroke-width
-
stroke-dasharray
-
stroke-linecap
-
stroke-linejoin
-
writing-mode
-
glyph-orientation-vertical
- Using styles in Cascading Style Sheets
-
-
Manipulating data
- How to use data imported from a csv file with spaces in the header.
- Extracting data from a portion of a string.
- Grouping and summing data (d3.nest)
- Selecting a random string from an array.
-
Bar Charts and Histograms
-
Bar Chart
- Histogram
-
Bar Charts
- The data
- The code
- The bar chart explained
-
Histograms
- The data
- The code
- The histogram explained
-
Bar Chart
-
Tree Diagrams
- What is a Tree Diagram?
- A simple Tree Diagram explained
- A horizontal tree diagram explained
-
Styling nodes in a tree diagram
- Changing node and link colours
- Changing the nodes to different shapes
- Using images as nodes
- Generating a tree diagram from external data
- Generating a tree diagram from ‘flat’ data
- Generating a tree diagram from a CSV file.
- An interactive tree diagram
-
Sankey Diagrams
- What is a Sankey Diagram?
- Which Sankey plugin should we use?
- How d3.js Sankey Diagrams want their data formatted
- Description of the code
-
Formatting data for Sankey diagrams
- From a JSON file with numeric link values
- From a JSON file with links as names
- From a CSV with ‘source’, ‘target’ and ‘value’ info only.
-
Assorted Tips and Tricks
- Change a line chart into a scatter plot
-
Adding tooltips.
- Transitions
- Events
- Get tipping
- on.mouseover
- on.mouseout
-
Including an HTML link in a tool tip
- Moar Links!
- What are the predefined, named colours?
- Selecting / filtering a subset of objects
- Select items with an IF statement.
- Applying a colour gradient to a line based on value.
- Applying a colour gradient to an area fill.
-
Transitions
- Transitioning Chaining
- Transition Easing
- Looping a Transition
-
Show / hide an element by clicking on another element
-
- The code
-
-
Using HTML inputs with d3.js
- What is an HTML input?
-
Using a
range
input with d3.js- The code
- The explanation
-
Using more than one input
- The code
- The explanation
-
Rotate text with an input
- The explanation
-
Use a
number
input with d3.js -
Change more than one element with an input
- The code
- The explanation
-
Add an HTML table to your graph
- HTML Tables
- First the CSS
- Now the d3.js code
- A small but cunning change…
- Explaining the d3.js code (reloaded).
- Wrap up
-
More table madness: sorting, prettifying and adding columns
- Add another column of information:
- Sorting on a column
- Prettifying (actually just capitalising the header for each column)
- Add borders
-
Adding web links to d3.js objects
- It’s all about the ‘a’ and the ‘xlink’
- Adding in the links
- Making the mouse pointer ignore an object
-
Using the Yahoo Query Language (YQL) to get data.
- YQL by example
-
Export an image from a d3.js page as a SVG or bitmap
- Bitmaps
- Vector Graphics (Specifically SVG)
-
Let’s get exporting!
- Copying the image off the web page
- Open the SVG Image and Edit
- Saving as a bitmap
- Understanding JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)
-
D3.js Examples Explained
-
Multi-line graph with automatic legend and toggling show / hide lines.
- Purpose
- The Code
-
Description
- Nesting the data
- Applying the colours
- Adding the legend
- Making it interactive
-
Multi-line graph with automatic legend and toggling show / hide lines.
Other books by this author
The Leanpub 60-day 100% Happiness Guarantee
Within 60 days of purchase you can get a 100% refund on any Leanpub purchase, in two clicks.
See full terms
80% Royalties. Earn $16 on a $20 book.
We pay 80% royalties. That's not a typo: you earn $16 on a $20 sale. If we sell 5000 non-refunded copies of your book or course for $20, you'll earn $80,000.
(Yes, some authors have already earned much more than that on Leanpub.)
In fact, authors have earned$12,307,240writing, publishing and selling on Leanpub.
Learn more about writing on Leanpub
Free Updates. DRM Free.
If you buy a Leanpub book, you get free updates for as long as the author updates the book! Many authors use Leanpub to publish their books in-progress, while they are writing them. All readers get free updates, regardless of when they bought the book or how much they paid (including free).
Most Leanpub books are available in PDF (for computers) and EPUB (for phones, tablets and Kindle). The formats that a book includes are shown at the top right corner of this page.
Finally, Leanpub books don't have any DRM copy-protection nonsense, so you can easily read them on any supported device.
Learn more about Leanpub's ebook formats and where to read them
Top Books
OpenIntro Statistics
David Diez, Christopher Barr, Mine Cetinkaya-Rundel, and OpenIntroA complete foundation for Statistics, also serving as a foundation for Data Science.
Leanpub revenue supports OpenIntro (US-based nonprofit) so we can provide free desk copies to teachers interested in using OpenIntro Statistics in the classroom and expand the project to support free textbooks in other subjects.
More resources: openintro.org.
Personal Finance
Jason AndersonThis textbook provides an in-depth analysis on personal finance that is both practical and straightforward in its approach. It has been written in such a way that the readers can gain knowledge without getting overwhelmed by the technical terms. Suitable for both beginners and advanced learners.
Getting to Know IntelliJ IDEA
Trisha Gee and Helen ScottIf we treat our IDE as a text editor, we are doing ourselves a disservice. Using a combination of tutorials and a questions-and-answers approach, Getting to Know IntelliJ IDEA will help you find ways to use IntelliJ IDEA that enable you to work comfortably and productively as a professional developer.
C++20 - The Complete Guide
Nicolai M. JosuttisAll new language and library features of C++20 (for those who know previous C++ versions).
The book presents all new language and library features of C++20. Learn how this impacts day-to-day programming, to benefit in practice, to combine new features, and to avoid all new traps.
Buy early, pay less, free updates.
Other books:
R Programming for Data Science
Roger D. PengThis book brings the fundamentals of R programming to you, using the same material developed as part of the industry-leading Johns Hopkins Data Science Specialization. The skills taught in this book will lay the foundation for you to begin your journey learning data science. Printed copies of this book are available through Lulu.
Mastering STM32 - Second Edition
Carmine NovielloWith more than 1200 microcontrollers, STM32 is probably the most complete ARM Cortex-M platform on the market. This book aims to be the most complete guide around introducing the reader to this exciting MCU portfolio from ST Microelectronics and its official CubeHAL and STM32CubeIDE development environment.
Stats One
William FooteThe Rails 7 Way
Obie Fernandez, Lucas Dohmen, and Tom Henrik AadlandThe Rails™ 7 Way is the comprehensive, authoritative reference guide for professionals delivering production-quality code using modern Ruby on Rails. It illuminates the entire Rails 7 API, its most powerful idioms, design approaches, and libraries. Building on the previous editions, this edition has been heavily refactored and updated.
Machine Learning Q and AI
Sebastian Raschka, PhDHave you recently completed a machine learning or deep learning course and wondered what to learn next? With 30 questions and answers on key concepts in machine learning and AI, this book provides bite-sized bits of knowledge for your journey to becoming a machine learning expert.
Gradual Modularization for Ruby and Rails
Stephan HagemannGet yourself a new tool to manage your Rails application and your growing engineering organization! Prevent the ball-of-mud (and fix it!). Go for microservices or SOA if it makes sense not just because you don't have any other tool. Do all this through a low-overhead tool: packages. Enable better conversations to make practical changes today.
Top Bundles
- #1
Software Architecture
2 Books
"Software Architecture for Developers" is a practical and pragmatic guide to modern, lightweight software architecture, specifically aimed at developers. You'll learn:The essence of software architecture.Why the software architecture role should include coding, coaching and collaboration.The things that you really need to think about before... - #2
CCIE Service Provider Ultimate Study Bundle
2 Books
Piotr Jablonski, Lukasz Bromirski, and Nick Russo have joined forces to deliver the only CCIE Service Provider training resource you'll ever need. This bundle contains a detailed and challenging collection of workbook labs, plus an extensively detailed technical reference guide. All of us have earned the CCIE Service Provider certification... - #3
1500 QUIZ COMMENTATI (3 libri)
3 Books
Tre libri dei QUIZ MMG Commentati al prezzo di DUE! I QUIZ dei concorsi ufficiali di Medicina Generale relativi agli anni: 2000-2001-2003-2012-2013-2014-2015-2016-2017-2018-2019-2020-2021 +100 inediti Raccolti in unico bundle per aiutarvi nello studio e nella preparazione al concorso. All'interno di ogni libro i quiz sono stati suddivisi per... - #4
Pattern-Oriented Memory Forensics and Malware Detection
2 Books
This training bundle for security engineers and researchers, malware and memory forensics analysts includes two accelerated training courses for Windows memory dump analysis using WinDbg. It is also useful for technical support and escalation engineers who analyze memory dumps from complex software environments and need to check for possible... - #5
Practical FP in Scala + Functional event-driven architecture
2 Books
Practical FP in Scala (A hands-on approach) & Functional event-driven architecture, aka FEDA, (Powered by Scala 3), together as a bundle! The content of PFP in Scala is a requirement to understand FEDA so why not take advantage of this bundle!? - #6
Modern C++ Collection
3 Books
Get All about Modern C++C++ Standard Library, including C++20Concurrency with Modern C++, including C++20C++20Each book has about 200 complete code examples. Updates are included. When I update one of the books, you immediately get the updated bundle. You can expect significant updates to each new C++ standard (C++23, C++26, .. ) and also... - #7
Linux Administration Complet
4 Books
Ce lot comprend les quatre volumes du Guide Linux Administration :Linux Administration, Volume 1, Administration fondamentale : Guide pratique de préparation aux examens de certification LPIC 1, Linux Essentials, RHCSA et LFCS. Administration fondamentale. Introduction à Linux. Le Shell. Traitement du texte. Arborescence de fichiers. Sécurité... - #9
Development and Deployment of Multiplayer Online Games, Part ARCH. Architecture (Vol. I-III)
3 Books
What's the Big Idea? The idea behind this book is to summarize the body of knowledge that already exists on multiplayer games but is not available in one single place.And quite a fewof the issues discussed within this series (planned as three nine volumes ~300 pages each), while known in the industry, have not been published at all (except for... - #10
Growing Agile: The Complete Coach's Guide
7 Books
Growing Agile: Coach's Guide Series This bundle provides a collection of training and workshop plans for a variety of agile topics. The series is aimed at agile coaches, trainers and ScrumMasters who often find themselves needing to help teams understand agile concepts. Each book in the series provides the plans, slides, handouts and activity...