Tools of the Trade

A collection of the data visualization tools reviewed on The Why Axis.

The Why Axis

Variance

A charting library that works the way the web does. Structural, semantic elements of a chart are defined entirely within HTML. Visual aesthetics are handled by CSS. Data can be brought in from CSVs and JSON endpoints via link tags. At no point are you forced to write any JavaScript whatsoever.

The Why Axis

Visage

Visage is a new tool to help you automate the boring parts of creating infographics and reports. It is a workhorse for the tedious tasks otherwise done by hand in Illustrator - changing color schemes, setting up templates, updating data and revising layouts.

The Why Axis

Lyra

An investigation of Jim Vallandingham's tutorial for Lyra, an open source visualization tool developed by Arvind Satyanarayan at UW Interactive Data Lab.

The Why Axis

RAW

Raw is a new web-based tool developed by Density Design to fill the gap between spreadsheets and vector graphics.

The Why Axis

Google Databoard

Google Databoard, the latest in a series of data presentation tools from the company, is focused on sharing the contents of its research reports.

The Why Axis

FF Chartwell

Instead of replacing number sets with glyphs using OpenType, FF Chartwell for the web abstracts the idea of a “font” again and renders the charts using a series of javascript libraries.

The Why Axis

Sigma.js

Network visualization is a topic as complex as many of the hairballs it produces but Sigma.JS is designed to break through the clutter and graph networks that are more readable and user-friendly.

The Why Axis

Bubble Tree

Created originally for the OpenSpending project, Gregor Aisch' developed an open source tool to flexibly visualize data sets with a hierarchical structure.