5 ms·

Ask HN: Google Analytics Charts

53 points by grep 16y ago

What software do you use to create beautiful charts? As for example: Google Analytics charts, how would you do that? What other web apps do you know that have beautiful charts?

lvvlvv 16y ago
You can make static-PNG charts with http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net or http://volnitsky.com/project/mplw http://volnitsky.com/project/mplw
jnoller 16y ago
Flot (http://code.google.com/p/flot/ http://code.google.com/p/flot/) has treated me fairly well, but a coworker swears by highcharts.
dacort 16y ago
In no particular order: http://g.raphaeljs.com http://g.raphaeljs.com, http://vis.stanford.edu/protovis http://vis.stanford.edu/protovis, http://highcharts.com http://highcharts.com, http://www.fusioncharts.com/ http://www.fusioncharts.com/ (Flash) [edit] Some commentary: I've used Fusion Charts in the past (on tweetstats.com) and it provides some good looking and easy to implement charts. That said, it's Flash but it was the best looking option around when I implemented it back in late '07. Since then, there's been a nice rise in JS charts. gRaphael is amazing, but somewhat buggy and lacking documentation. Highcharts seems very complete and well-documented. I only came across Protovis recently, but it seems pretty darn awesome.
- noelsequeira 16y ago
  A few more: http://www.amcharts.com/ http://www.amcharts.com/ has an extremely comprehensive stock chart in addition to decent flash charts http://www.rgraph.net/ http://www.rgraph.net/ is an html5 charting library you might want to look at. I've worked with Fusion Charts for a while now, and their charts 1) have a very comprehensive API 2) are plain beautiful, especially the 3D charts. JS charts look very promising, and I'm really excited about Highcharts and gRaphael. If you're looking for something similar to the map component that Google Analytics uses, take a look at http://www.ammap.com/ http://www.ammap.com/ or http://www.fusioncharts.com/maps/ http://www.fusioncharts.com/maps/ @dacort - Thanks for pointing me to protovis. Expected it to be more of a hobby project (from the url), but was blown away by how comprehensive it is!
  - cjy 16y ago
    Plug: For dynamic US state intensity maps I created the tool http://www.flashusamap.com/statistics.php http://www.flashusamap.com/statistics.php
- daniel_levine 16y ago
  we use protovis for our graphs and it is pretty damn awesome. The cross-browser support (no IE) is an issue until IE 9, but it's pretty incredible stuff. I'm no designer but they make it easy to make pretty complex charts.
  - endtime 16y ago
    The lack of IE support is what kills it for us. We need to do some charting stuff, and we'll probably end up extending gRaphael or Grafico or something and copying several of the Protovis charts. That said, how have you found the performance to be? Some of their demos are kind of slow, e.g. http://vis.stanford.edu/protovis/ex/candlestick.html http://vis.stanford.edu/protovis/ex/candlestick.html.
    - daniel_levine 16y ago
      performance hasn't been an issue. The demos are some pretty intricate stuff and for the most part not made for performance. Even most of those have been speedy.
DMiner 16y ago
They use Flash. http://code.google.com/apis/visualization/documentation/gallery.html http://code.google.com/apis/visualization/documentation/gall... Open flash chart ,an open source project: http://teethgrinder.co.uk/open-flash-chart/ http://teethgrinder.co.uk/open-flash-chart/
kennethreitz 16y ago
I highly recommend Highcharts. Phenomenal charts w/ a beautiful api.
jcruz 16y ago
Google Chart Tools lets you generate images for static charts, or create interactive charts using their javascript library: http://code.google.com/apis/charttools/index.html http://code.google.com/apis/charttools/index.html Also, check out RGraph for HTML5 canvas graphs http://www.rgraph.net http://www.rgraph.net
kilian 16y ago
I made Grafico: http://grafico.kilianvalkhof.com http://grafico.kilianvalkhof.com it's an opinionated SVG charting library with excellent documentation and lots of customizable options.
- endtime 16y ago
  Very nice...btw, the example entitled "Line graph with multiple lines and a watermark" is just showing the grid and labels in Opera 10.54 on Windows.
  - kilian 16y ago
    Thanks, I'll look into it! Opera is a fickle beast ;)
dimarco 16y ago
I use HighCharts(http://www.highcharts.com/ http://www.highcharts.com/) at press9. Javascript, very nice charts.
revorad 16y ago
Plug: Give my startup Pretty Graph a try (http://prettygraph.com http://prettygraph.com). We are trying to build the best web-based graphing tool. Still in very early stages, and looking for early users. I was going to make a review post here soon, but since you asked now I thought I should mention it anyway.
- endtime 16y ago
  Are your charts all images, or can you generate SVG/VML charts?
  - revorad 16y ago
    By default, our charts are images for cross-browser compatibility and speed, but we can produce SVG too (not VML at the moment).
    - endtime 16y ago
      I'd recommend SVG+VML...making an image chart startup may be a little like going into the horse-and-buggy industry just as the Model T is coming out.
      - revorad 16y ago
        Ha! I'm aware of that. However, I think the format of the graph output is not the most important/unsolved/annoying problem in making graphs from my users' perspective. The key difference here between our product and the other libraries and apps mentioned in this thread is that we are primarily building an end-user application, not just a library for developers to use (although our API will also allow that). I may be proven wrong and have to move to SVG/VML, but only time will tell. For now our focus is to build the best tool to put any kind of data in and get pretty graphs out.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
imusicmash 16y ago
if you're on a .Net platform, you may want to take a look at Dundas Data Visualization http://www.dundas.com http://www.dundas.com. Just try to avoid the defaults :) We use these for data vis at http://allegiance.com http://allegiance.com. Also, Theresa Neil posted a good list of 28 data vis tools here http://www.insideria.com/2009/12/28-rich-data-visualization-too.html http://www.insideria.com/2009/12/28-rich-data-visualization-...
FlemishBeeCycle 16y ago
http://www.jqplot.com/ http://www.jqplot.com/ is one that I've been using lately.
ElbertF 16y ago
I used http://pchart.sourceforge.net http://pchart.sourceforge.net on http://wappalyzer.com http://wappalyzer.com. It doesn't look like the developer actively working on it anymore though.
agbegin 16y ago
I'm on the ZingChart team - we render charts in both HTML5 and Flash. So far we've gotten great feedback. Our charts are JSON driven and can plot huge data quickly [demo] http://www.zingchart.com/labs/blog_charts/10k_points.html http://www.zingchart.com/labs/blog_charts/10k_points.html. http://www.zingchart.com http://www.zingchart.com http://www.twitter.com/zingchart http://www.twitter.com/zingchart
treskot 16y ago
http://visifire.com http://visifire.com, I've been using this cool set of open-source charts. Look no further if you are searching for beautiful charts.
grep 16y ago
Thank you all.
grep 16y ago
Thank you all.

53 points by grep 16y ago

What software do you use to create beautiful charts? As for example: Google Analytics charts, how would you do that? What other web apps do you know that have beautiful charts?

lvvlvv 16y ago

You can make static-PNG charts with http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net or http://volnitsky.com/project/mplw http://volnitsky.com/project/mplw

jnoller 16y ago

Flot (http://code.google.com/p/flot/ http://code.google.com/p/flot/) has treated me fairly well, but a coworker swears by highcharts.

dacort 16y ago

In no particular order: http://g.raphaeljs.com http://g.raphaeljs.com, http://vis.stanford.edu/protovis http://vis.stanford.edu/protovis, http://highcharts.com http://highcharts.com, http://www.fusioncharts.com/ http://www.fusioncharts.com/ (Flash) [edit] Some commentary: I've used Fusion Charts in the past (on tweetstats.com) and it provides some good looking and easy to implement charts. That said, it's Flash but it was the best looking option around when I implemented it back in late '07. Since then, there's been a nice rise in JS charts. gRaphael is amazing, but somewhat buggy and lacking documentation. Highcharts seems very complete and well-documented. I only came across Protovis recently, but it seems pretty darn awesome.

noelsequeira 16y ago
A few more: http://www.amcharts.com/ http://www.amcharts.com/ has an extremely comprehensive stock chart in addition to decent flash charts http://www.rgraph.net/ http://www.rgraph.net/ is an html5 charting library you might want to look at. I've worked with Fusion Charts for a while now, and their charts 1) have a very comprehensive API 2) are plain beautiful, especially the 3D charts. JS charts look very promising, and I'm really excited about Highcharts and gRaphael. If you're looking for something similar to the map component that Google Analytics uses, take a look at http://www.ammap.com/ http://www.ammap.com/ or http://www.fusioncharts.com/maps/ http://www.fusioncharts.com/maps/ @dacort - Thanks for pointing me to protovis. Expected it to be more of a hobby project (from the url), but was blown away by how comprehensive it is!
- cjy 16y ago
  Plug: For dynamic US state intensity maps I created the tool http://www.flashusamap.com/statistics.php http://www.flashusamap.com/statistics.php
daniel_levine 16y ago
we use protovis for our graphs and it is pretty damn awesome. The cross-browser support (no IE) is an issue until IE 9, but it's pretty incredible stuff. I'm no designer but they make it easy to make pretty complex charts.
- endtime 16y ago
  The lack of IE support is what kills it for us. We need to do some charting stuff, and we'll probably end up extending gRaphael or Grafico or something and copying several of the Protovis charts. That said, how have you found the performance to be? Some of their demos are kind of slow, e.g. http://vis.stanford.edu/protovis/ex/candlestick.html http://vis.stanford.edu/protovis/ex/candlestick.html.
  - daniel_levine 16y ago
    performance hasn't been an issue. The demos are some pretty intricate stuff and for the most part not made for performance. Even most of those have been speedy.

DMiner 16y ago

They use Flash. http://code.google.com/apis/visualization/documentation/gallery.html http://code.google.com/apis/visualization/documentation/gall... Open flash chart ,an open source project: http://teethgrinder.co.uk/open-flash-chart/ http://teethgrinder.co.uk/open-flash-chart/

kennethreitz 16y ago

I highly recommend Highcharts. Phenomenal charts w/ a beautiful api.

jcruz 16y ago

Google Chart Tools lets you generate images for static charts, or create interactive charts using their javascript library: http://code.google.com/apis/charttools/index.html http://code.google.com/apis/charttools/index.html Also, check out RGraph for HTML5 canvas graphs http://www.rgraph.net http://www.rgraph.net

kilian 16y ago

I made Grafico: http://grafico.kilianvalkhof.com http://grafico.kilianvalkhof.com it's an opinionated SVG charting library with excellent documentation and lots of customizable options.

endtime 16y ago
Very nice...btw, the example entitled "Line graph with multiple lines and a watermark" is just showing the grid and labels in Opera 10.54 on Windows.
- kilian 16y ago
  Thanks, I'll look into it! Opera is a fickle beast ;)

dimarco 16y ago

I use HighCharts(http://www.highcharts.com/ http://www.highcharts.com/) at press9. Javascript, very nice charts.

revorad 16y ago

Plug: Give my startup Pretty Graph a try (http://prettygraph.com http://prettygraph.com). We are trying to build the best web-based graphing tool. Still in very early stages, and looking for early users. I was going to make a review post here soon, but since you asked now I thought I should mention it anyway.

endtime 16y ago
Are your charts all images, or can you generate SVG/VML charts?
- revorad 16y ago
  By default, our charts are images for cross-browser compatibility and speed, but we can produce SVG too (not VML at the moment).
  - endtime 16y ago
    I'd recommend SVG+VML...making an image chart startup may be a little like going into the horse-and-buggy industry just as the Model T is coming out.
    - revorad 16y ago
      Ha! I'm aware of that. However, I think the format of the graph output is not the most important/unsolved/annoying problem in making graphs from my users' perspective. The key difference here between our product and the other libraries and apps mentioned in this thread is that we are primarily building an end-user application, not just a library for developers to use (although our API will also allow that). I may be proven wrong and have to move to SVG/VML, but only time will tell. For now our focus is to build the best tool to put any kind of data in and get pretty graphs out.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

imusicmash 16y ago

if you're on a .Net platform, you may want to take a look at Dundas Data Visualization http://www.dundas.com http://www.dundas.com. Just try to avoid the defaults :) We use these for data vis at http://allegiance.com http://allegiance.com. Also, Theresa Neil posted a good list of 28 data vis tools here http://www.insideria.com/2009/12/28-rich-data-visualization-too.html http://www.insideria.com/2009/12/28-rich-data-visualization-...

FlemishBeeCycle 16y ago

http://www.jqplot.com/ http://www.jqplot.com/ is one that I've been using lately.

ElbertF 16y ago

I used http://pchart.sourceforge.net http://pchart.sourceforge.net on http://wappalyzer.com http://wappalyzer.com. It doesn't look like the developer actively working on it anymore though.

agbegin 16y ago

I'm on the ZingChart team - we render charts in both HTML5 and Flash. So far we've gotten great feedback. Our charts are JSON driven and can plot huge data quickly [demo] http://www.zingchart.com/labs/blog_charts/10k_points.html http://www.zingchart.com/labs/blog_charts/10k_points.html. http://www.zingchart.com http://www.zingchart.com http://www.twitter.com/zingchart http://www.twitter.com/zingchart

treskot 16y ago

http://visifire.com http://visifire.com, I've been using this cool set of open-source charts. Look no further if you are searching for beautiful charts.

grep 16y ago

Thank you all.

grep 16y ago

Thank you all.