D3 Tips and Tricks

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.

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 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.

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. Currently (at time writing) it counts up to about 490 pages, so it's not a short read but I've tried to pitch it in sections so that if you find something interesting, you can read parts in isolation. There's 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.

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 D3 Tips and Tricks from d3noob.org;

"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

Used as a teaching resource at the Dublin Institute of Technology for Data Visualization.