Introduction

In this chapter, we will turn our attention to one of the oldest and well-trusted companions in data visualization-charts. Charts are well-defined and well-understood graphical representation of data; the following definition expresses it in the simplest terms:

(In charts) the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart.

Jensen C. & Anderson L. (1991)

When charts are used in data visualization, their well-understood graphical semantics and syntax relieve the audience of your visualization from the burden of learning the meaning of the graphical metaphor. Hence, they can focus on the data itself and the information generated through visualization. The goal of this chapter is not only to introduce some of the commonly used chart types but also to demonstrate how the various topics and techniques you learned so far can be combined and leveraged in producing sleek, interactive charts using D3.

Recipes in this chapter...