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JavaScript charting tools: an overview

58 points by ppolsinelli 17y ago

lyime 17y ago
Good post covering all the popular javascript plugins for different libraries. Definitely want to see or build a Raphael library. Who's in?
- Locke 17y ago
  There is a graphing library for Raphael. Last I checked it didn't seem very mature, but it might make a good starting point: http://g.raphaeljs.com/ http://g.raphaeljs.com/
- kilian 17y ago
  I've got a fairly complete one: http://github.com/Kilian/ico http://github.com/Kilian/ico It uses Raphael and Prototype, and has some interesting options that most other libraries don't have (such as stacked area charts)
ionfish 17y ago
No Bluff? MIT license, and the only dependencies are JS.Class and ExCanvas (both are bundled with it). http://bluff.jcoglan.com/ http://bluff.jcoglan.com/
trapper 17y ago
As soon as you need to embed an image of the chart in a pdf you may run into issues with these libraries.
- va_coder 17y ago
  It's been my experience users always end up wanting to save the image for a presentation or report.
  - trapper 17y ago
    Agreed. We had the same problem with flash charts, it was like the most requested feature so we just ripped them out and replaced with a server side generated chart.
jluxenberg 17y ago
No mention of dygraphs either, although it is only for time-series data. http://danvk.org/dygraphs/ http://danvk.org/dygraphs/
euroclydon 17y ago
Anyone know of a chart lib that will do three or more y-axis, or a way to hack in three or more axis?
- riso 17y ago
  The jqplot library mentioned seems to do it. http://www.jqplot.com/tests/multipleYAxesTests.php http://www.jqplot.com/tests/multipleYAxesTests.php
robicch 17y ago
Thanks everyone for enriching this list. You may find useful my delicious list: http://delicious.com/robicch/chart http://delicious.com/robicch/chart
nailer 17y ago
I quite like OpenFlashChart (which uses JSON as an input format, though that JSON is typically made with a server-side language). I use the Python bindings (which use Chart objects) and the output generally works with my brain. Users like that mouse-overs give exact values in the line at that point.

58 points by ppolsinelli 17y ago

lyime 17y ago

Good post covering all the popular javascript plugins for different libraries. Definitely want to see or build a Raphael library. Who's in?

Locke 17y ago
There is a graphing library for Raphael. Last I checked it didn't seem very mature, but it might make a good starting point: http://g.raphaeljs.com/ http://g.raphaeljs.com/
kilian 17y ago
I've got a fairly complete one: http://github.com/Kilian/ico http://github.com/Kilian/ico It uses Raphael and Prototype, and has some interesting options that most other libraries don't have (such as stacked area charts)

ionfish 17y ago

No Bluff? MIT license, and the only dependencies are JS.Class and ExCanvas (both are bundled with it). http://bluff.jcoglan.com/ http://bluff.jcoglan.com/

trapper 17y ago

As soon as you need to embed an image of the chart in a pdf you may run into issues with these libraries.

va_coder 17y ago
It's been my experience users always end up wanting to save the image for a presentation or report.
- trapper 17y ago
  Agreed. We had the same problem with flash charts, it was like the most requested feature so we just ripped them out and replaced with a server side generated chart.

jluxenberg 17y ago

No mention of dygraphs either, although it is only for time-series data. http://danvk.org/dygraphs/ http://danvk.org/dygraphs/

euroclydon 17y ago

Anyone know of a chart lib that will do three or more y-axis, or a way to hack in three or more axis?

riso 17y ago
The jqplot library mentioned seems to do it. http://www.jqplot.com/tests/multipleYAxesTests.php http://www.jqplot.com/tests/multipleYAxesTests.php

robicch 17y ago

Thanks everyone for enriching this list. You may find useful my delicious list: http://delicious.com/robicch/chart http://delicious.com/robicch/chart

nailer 17y ago

I quite like OpenFlashChart (which uses JSON as an input format, though that JSON is typically made with a server-side language). I use the Python bindings (which use Chart objects) and the output generally works with my brain. Users like that mouse-overs give exact values in the line at that point.