Chapter 1. An introduction to D3.js
This chapter covers
- The basics of HTML, CSS, and the Document Object Model (DOM)
- The principles of Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)
- Data-binding and selections with D3
- Different data types and their data visualization methods
D3 stands for data-driven documents. It’s a brand name, but also a class of applications that have been offered on the web in one form or another for years. For quite some time we’ve been building and working with data-driven documents such as interactive dashboards, rich internet applications, and dynamically driven content. In one sense, the D3.js library is an iterative step in a chain of technologies used for data-driven documents, but in another sense, it’s a radical step.
D3.js was created to fill a pressing need for web-accessible, sophisticated data visualization. Because of the library’s robust design, it does more than make charts. And that’s a good thing, because data visualization no longer refers to pie charts and line graphs. It now means maps and interactive diagrams and other tools and content integrated into news stories, data dashboards, reports, and everything else you see on the web.