Data visualization has been a growing trend in the past few years, and it doesn’t show any sign of slowing down.
With the emergence of new libraries, like D3 and other JavaScript data visualization tools that can transform dull, static data into interactive maps, charts, and graphs, there are now more ways than ever before to communicate your message in an engaging way.
When it comes to data visualization, there are a lot of technologies that you can use. However, we will discuss the Top 10 Best JavaScript Data Visualization Libraries.
So, if you have been trying and failing to find the right one for your needs, you are in luck, as this blog post will educate you to choose the best JS visualization library for you.
To kick things off, let’s focus on understanding JavaScript Visualization Libraries.
What is JavaScript Data Visualization?
JavaScript Data visualization is a branch of data analysis that focuses on managing and presenting data that is easier to understand.
In the broadest sense, the data visualization JavaScript library involves the creation of visual representations of data.
This process typically involves converting raw data into visual representations such as charts, graphs, and diagrams.
This pictorial form of data is often in high resolution, allowing viewers to make sense of the information being conveyed.
Using a broad range of tools, JavaScript can be one of your best friends when building interactive visualizations.
We hope that this information briefly describes the concept of JavaScript Data Visualization. Moving forward, we will analyze the JavaScript charting libraries that allow us to formulate various charts.
What is a JavaScript charting library?
A charting library is a tool that makes it easier to create visualizations like charts, graphs, and diagrams.
These libraries take raw data and convert it into visual representations that can be used in charts, graphs, or other visualizations.
The charting libraries featured in this article are primarily focused on 2D representations. Some of the most common types of visualizations include:
Bar Chart
A data chart is represented by rectangular bars with a length proportional to the values they represent.
Bubble Chart
A chart that uses bubbles instead of bars to visualize data.
Line Chart
A chart that uses a line to visualize the change in numerical data over time, such as stock prices or the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over the years.
Pie Chart
A chart that uses pie-shaped wedges to represent parts of a whole.
Map
A visual representation of geographical data often maps.
JavaScript Advance Concepts
JavaScript is a powerful programming language that enables developers to create complex and interactive web applications.
One of the most potent JavaScript advanced concepts is its ability to create data visualizations.
Many different JavaScript libraries can be used to create data visualizations. Some of the best JavaScript visualization libraries include D3.js, Chart.js, and High charts.
Each of these libraries has its strengths and weaknesses. However, all of them are capable of creating stunning data visualizations that can bring your data to life.
With these advanced JavaScript concepts, users can transform the raw data into not just 2D representation but 3D as well.
This data transformation makes it easy for the reader to understand the results with a glance.
Before we hop onto our top 10 Best JavaScript Data Visualization Libraries list, let’s discuss the points to keep evaluating to choose the best option for your needs.
How to evaluate the best JavaScript visualization libraries
There are many different JavaScript libraries available for data visualization. So, how do you know which is best for your project?
Here are some factors to consider when evaluating the best JavaScript visualization libraries:
Ease of use:
The most important thing to analyze is the ease of use. Analyze if the tool is easy to use? Can you get up and running quickly, or do you need to spend a lot of time learning the API?
This will give you a clear vision if the chosen tool is right for you or not?
Flexibility
The next thing to question is the flexibility of the tool. How flexible is the library? Can you create the exact visualization you want, or are there some limitations?
Features
You don’t want to be stuck with a basic library. Thus, it is essential to evaluate what features the library provides.
A dynamic tool will always be beneficial as it can give you the best value for your money and time. It can also enhance user engagement by strengthening the UI and UX of your web design.
Documentation
Last but surely not least, we have the documentation. Thus, always question how good is the documentation?
Is it easy to find what you’re looking for, or do you need to spend a lot of time searching for answers?
Once you are done considering these factors, you can narrow down your options and choose the best JS visualization library for your project.
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Now we can finally get to the list of the best of the best. So without further ado, let’s jump right into it.
The Top 10 Best JavaScript Data Visualization Libraries
1. NVD3 – A Charting Library for HTML and SVG
NVD3 is a charting library that uses HTML and SVG to generate charts, allowing cross-browser compatibility.
This library uses the data-driven design principles behind D3.js to create charts that can be customized to a high degree.
This library is particularly well-suited for displaying financial data, as it can generate a wide variety of standard chart types, such as bar, line, scatter charts, candlestick and hexagram charts to represent financial data.
2. D3.js – Data-Driven Documents
D3.js is a JavaScript library for creating data-driven documents. The main concept behind D3.js is to make visual representations of data to facilitate the understanding of large amounts of information.
D3.js focuses on transforming data into visual representations, either as static images or interactive HTML/SVG documents, meaning that D3.js can also be used for creating visualizations without static images.
D3.js is remarkably flexible, and an expansive library of reusable charts can be used with data visualization projects.
3. Vue-Charting
Vue-Charting is a data visualization library explicitly built for Vue.js. It comes with a selection of charts, ranging from bar charts to candlestick charts, that can be used out of the box after some minimal configuration.
Vue-charting works with your Vue.js app through Vue.js’s built-in component syntax, making it easy to integrate into your project.
Depending on the Chart you want to use, you will need to install the corresponding NPM package and then simply import it into the component file for your Chart.
4. Ad Hoc
It’s a JavaScript charting library designed to be as simple as possible while still allowing for extensive customization. Ad hoc works in both browser and server environments.
While ad hoc charts are designed to work out of the box for many types of charts, it also provides several options for customization, allowing you to pick and choose how you want to build your charts.
5. Chart.js
Chart.js is an open-source JavaScript library that allows you to create beautiful data visualizations in your web browser.
It is a flexible, cross-browser JavaScript charting library that uses HTML5 canvas.
Chart.js ships with a wide selection of chart types, such as line, column, or area charts, pie and donut charts, gauge charts, and more.
Chart.js also allows you to create custom chart types if you don’t see what you need in the chart library.
6. React Chart
React Chart is another JavaScript charting library that works with React. It ships with a large selection of chart types, such as bar, line, area, pie, and donut charts, to gauge and scatter charts.
Once you’ve chosen the chart type you want to use, you need to pass in data representing the information that the Chart will display.
This data needs to be formatted specifically for the Chart to work correctly.
7. React Plotly
React Plotly is a React wrapper for the Plotly charting library. It allows you to build interactive charts using Plotly’s charting library.
If you have never used Plotly before, you can create an account and use the data visualization tool to create the charts you want to use.
Once you have created the charts you want, you can use a tool like CSV2JSON to convert the data from CSV to JSON format. Then, you can feed the JSON data into your React app to create the Chart.
8. Google Charts
Google Charts is a powerful, free, easy-to-use JavaScript charting library that lets you create interactive charts and graphs for your website or application.
It is an online tool that allows you to create and customize charts and graphs for data visualization. The integration of Google charts is straightforward, with various features.
9. Highcharts
Highcharts is another library that can be used for data visualization. It is easy to use and has a wide range of features.
Moreover, supports charts and graphs, such as bar charts, pie charts, line graphs, etc. It also has features for exporting data to different formats, such as PDF, Excel, CSV, etc.
10. FusionCharts
FusionCharts is a JavaScript charting library that enables you to create interactive charts and graphs for your website or application.
It is a commercial library that provides various charts and graphs for data visualization. It is easy to use and has a wide range of features, making it an excellent choice for data visualization.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q. How to use JavaScript Data Visualization?
Most of the JavaScript Data Visualization libraries are easy to use. All of the various libraries have different functionality and process.
However, you can quickly generate visual representation by integrating raw data with the library.
Q. Is JavaScript good for Data Visualization?
Due to the dynamic approach, JavaScript Data Visualization is an excellent option for commercial and non-commercial use. It can develop data visualization for extensive data within seconds.
Q. Which is the best JavaScript Data Visualization Tool?
One of the best JavaScript data visualization libraries is D3.js. D3.js is a powerful library that can create complex and interactive visualizations.
It is also effortless to use, making it a good choice for those new to data visualization.
Q. Does JavaScript Data Visualization require coding?
You must have significant knowledge of integrating the raw data using a specified library.
However, you don’t need to be a master of coding, as the syntax of aligning data with the tool for data representation is straightforward.
Q. What are JavaScript Data Visualization Libraries?
The libraries of JavaScript that allow you to transform raw data into pictorial form are known as JavaScript Data Visualization.
There are various JavaScript Data Visualization libraries. Some of them are mentioned in our Top 10.
Conclusion
JavaScript Data Visualization libraries can make creating visualizations in your project easier. But you will need to understand how to use them properly to get the most out of them.
This is especially true for advanced JavaScript concepts since you need to write the code to integrate them into your project.
Now that you understand what JavaScript Data Visualization libraries are and how they work. You can explore the many different libraries that JavaScript has to offer.
This way, you can pick the JS visualization library for your project and make your project stand out with visualizations that are more engaging than ever before.