Data seem to be boring, but not for all the time. Adding attractive form of visual appeal to raw data can make it easily comprehensible and instantly understandable.
In the interest of
1. Making your data more user-friendly and
Not boring the eyes out of anyone who sees your work, picking a trusty data visualization tool is a must.
With so many tools available, it can be a boring task to select a right one, which is best suited for your specific needs. On reading this article you will know which factors to consider when choosing your perfect data visualization tool.
1. FusionCharts
FusionCharts consists of over 90 charts and around 960+ maps which can serve the full range of needs of developers and professional data visualization experts. There hardly an issue over browser’s compatibility as it support all the way back to the old IE6.
FusionCharts is device/platform-agnostic and works easily with both JSON and XML data formats.
While FusionCharts is slightly heavier on the pocket as compared to some of the other tools in this list, but before you decide to purchase it lets you to try all the charts without any costs.
2. D3.js
D3.js is the most prominent data visualization library today. It often times, is
simply called as D3.
D3 gives developers the ability to create even the most complex charts and graphs. It uses open web technologies — HTML, SVG, and CSS — which is great if you care about cross-platform support (because iOS/Android apps, desktop apps, web browsers, and other such platforms can all run these web technologies).
Note that D3 is designed for modern browsers. It won’t work with old browsers–anything before IE9, and you might have browser compatibility issues. Another thing to consider is that working with D3 will require you to invest some time into learning the D3 API. However, once you learn how to use it, D3 can be an insanely powerful data visualization tool.
D3 is an open source project. Be sure to check out this gallery of D3 examples.
3. Charted
Among all the tools tested, Charted has one of the simplest and cleanest user interfaces amongst all the charting tools. It’s extremely easy to use as well. All you have to do is upload a CSV file, or a Google Sheets link, and it’ll present the generated chart in front of you. Additionally, it refreshes your chart every 30 minutes, so your chart’s data source remains fairly up-to-date.
The Charted service is available free of cost, and if you would like to run it on your own web server, its source code is also freely available.
4. Tableau Public
Tableau Public is another tool that is much capable, easy to use, and also free. A full- fledged tool with a large cluster of maps, graphs, and charts, it is a firm favorite for the non-developer audience.
The free version of Tableau comes with a big footer attachment of Tableau branding in your generated charts; may be it will be OK for non-commercial customers, but if you aren’t or do not like that, you can get the cleaner, brand-free versions of the same charts by purchasing it.
5. Flot
Flot also has a charting library that is easy-to-use and provides very elegant charts and graphs. It allows advanced user-interactions like panning, zooming, resizing, switching a data series on and off, and more.
Flot has a wide range of other user-created plugins available from the community for everything, from new plot types to advanced labels.
6. Google Charts
Google Charts is user-friendly and compatible with all browsers and platforms. It covers a wide range of data visualization types — from simple line and bar graphs to complex hierarchical tree maps — making Google charts suitable for almost any project.
7. Highcharts
Another big name in the data visualization domain is Highcharts that offers you a wide range of charts and maps to select. They offer many plugins that allow you to experience all of its powerful features without needing to deal with JavaScript.
Highcharts is free for non-commercial purposes.
8. Chartist.js
You must got to give a look at Chartist, if you’re moving from Excel and looking for something that doesn’t seem so old-school. It is created like all good products and out of frustration with the status bar, it includes a large array of charts that are responsive, animated, and rendered beautifully.
Unlike other bloated apps, Chartist is a small JS library weighing in at 10kb with no dependencies. And yes, it’s also free.
Leave Comment