The Quest for the Perfect Frontend Charting Library
As a developer, choosing the right charting library for your frontend framework can be a daunting task. With so many options available, it’s essential to explore and compare different libraries to find the one that best suits your needs. In this article, we’ll embark on a journey to discover the perfect charting library for Vue.js, a popular frontend framework.
Establishing Ground Rules
Before we dive into the world of charting libraries, let’s set some ground rules. We’ll use the same JSON data for all libraries, which will be “imaginative” data from a blog stats engine. We’ll also build the same set of charts: a line chart, a bar chart with two sets of data, and a pie chart. Additionally, we’ll explore which libraries support non-Vue applications, meaning they can be used with progressively enhanced HTML pages.
The Data
Our JSON data is hosted on JSONBin.io and consists of three sets of data: 12 months of page views on a blog, stats about page views for unique categories, and stats about new and returning visitors. We’ll use this data to create our three charts.
vue-chartjs: A Powerful Charting Library
Our first contender is vue-chartjs, a wrapper for the popular Chart.js library. While it supports both app- and script-based installations, its flexibility and extensibility come at a cost. You need to create your own Chart Component and extend it with vue-chartjs components, which can be time-consuming. However, once you overcome the initial learning curve, you’ll appreciate its flexibility.
vue-plotly: A Thin Wrapper for Plotly
Next up is vue-plotly, a thin wrapper for Plotly, a charting library that’s new to many developers. While it only supports installation via npm, it’s quick to get started with. You can simply specify your data and layout properties, and begin coding. Its documentation is well-done, and it has good default settings.
vue-apexcharts: A Simple and Easy-to-Use Library
Our final contender is vue-apexcharts, a wrapper for ApexChart.js. This library is the simplest to use, with a quick installation process and an intuitive API. While its organization of arguments may seem counterintuitive, it’s easy to work with.
Comparison and Conclusion
After exploring these three charting libraries, it’s clear that each has its strengths and weaknesses. vue-chartjs offers flexibility and extensibility, but requires more effort to set up. vue-plotly is quick to get started with, but has limited installation options. vue-apexcharts is easy to use, but has some quirks in its API.
Ultimately, the choice of charting library depends on your specific needs and preferences. We hope this article has provided valuable insights to help you make an informed decision.