There's no misconception about usability. If something is harder to learn for intended audiences on average for common scenarios it just has a steeper learning

There's no misconception about usability. If something is harder to learn for intended audiences on average for common scenarios it just has a steeper learning curve and no amount of hand waving can change that. It wasn't any picnic for me and I wasn't exactly new to any of the concepts. It's true learning curve is different that productivity. Once you scale the mountain, if it's enough better, it's possible to be more productive in the long run. But this comes with a huge caveat - that there's not another way to design a system to get the same benefits in a more approachable way with a faster ramp up. Do a lot of people really believe that? Even if there could be a better design it doesn't mean people shouldn't use D3. People use the best solution available however imperfect. It's a bit ironic that the word complex is used below in describing how it's essentially not as complex as people think. "The misconception...is that d3 and data visualization are the same thing. That to do data visualization one must learn and use all of d3...I like to emphasize that d3 is a toolkit for communicating complex data-driven concepts..."