HighCharts is a JavaScript-​​based chart library with stylish graphs, excellent support, and impressive compatibility. You can count on their charts to function in every browser from the dreaded Internet Explorer 6 to the latest version of mobile Safari in iOS devices. Their charts also have subtle animations — the growing of bar graphs and the tracing of trend lines — that add to their visual appeal. The library is open-​​source, so the charts can be modified for the unique needs of any project. For non-​​commercial use, HighCharts is free, but for commercial projects it has a significant cost. For a single website, using HighCharts will only cost $80, but for a team of 10 developers to use the library in multiple projects, the price jumps to $2,000. If you employ HighCharts in an application, you’ll have to contact the makers to negotiate a deal in terms of the price and use of HighCharts.

Great post from Design Festival By Peter North ( 12th Mar 2012). Peter is a Director of Digital Marketing at an investment holdings company in Washington DC. He’s worked for nonprofits, startups and established enterprises, and he’s left a long trail of happy clients and effective websites.

A designer’s first inclination might be to make a pixel-​​perfect graph or chart within Photoshop or Illustrator, but that solution entails constantly updating the charts for even the smallest change in the data, which leaves the method well short of being easy and practical. If your metrics change by just a few units or percentage points, you’ll likely have to open the editable file, make the desired changes, export, and upload the static image every time. That’s a lot of work for such miniscule changes. Worse, if your data is based on timelines or other ever-​​changing metrics, then your charts are literally becoming outdated on a daily basis. And finally, static images are ultimately not interactive, which makes poor use of your programming knowledge and your website’s interactive capabilities.

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.