D3.Js vs. DHTMLX vs. JavaScript InfoVis Toolkit vs. Refraction Comparison Chart

D3.js is a JavaScript library for manipulating documents based on data. D3 helps you bring data to life using HTML, SVG, and CSS. D3’s emphasis on web standards gives you the full capabilities of modern browsers without tying yourself to a proprietary framework, combining powerful visualization components and a data-driven approach to DOM manipulation. D3 allows you to bind arbitrary data to a Document Object Model (DOM), and then apply data-driven transformations to the document. For example, you can use D3 to generate an HTML table from an array of numbers. Or, use the same data to create an interactive SVG bar chart with smooth transitions and interaction. D3 is not a monolithic framework that seeks to provide every conceivable feature. Instead, D3 solves the crux of the problem: efficient manipulation of documents based on data. This avoids proprietary representation and affords extraordinary flexibility, exposing the full capabilities of web standards such as HTML, SVG, and CSS.

The JavaScript InfoVis Toolkit provides tools for creating interactive data visualizations for the web. The best way to start is to take a look at the demos page. Each demo has a See the Example Code link that takes you to the code for that example. The actual library code is included in the HTML file by building the lib each time with only the needed requirements taken from the name of the visualization and the build.json file. The required library code is built by the build.py file. In order to create a new visualization you need to set up the server environment to include test JavaScript files for your new visualization and also you need to add the new visualization files into the Source folder.