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Sortable Bar Chart
license: gpl-3.0
redirect: https://beta.observablehq.com/@mbostock/d3-sortable-bar-chart

This variation of a simple bar chart adds sorting with staggered delay and translucency to improve readability during the transition. This technique is recommended by Heer & Robertson. Use the checkbox in the top right to turn sorting on or off.

letter frequency
A .08167
B .01492
C .02780
D .04253
E .12702
F .02288
G .02022
H .06094
I .06973
J .00153
K .00747
L .04025
M .02517
N .06749
O .07507
P .01929
Q .00098
R .05987
S .06333
T .09056
U .02758
V .01037
W .02465
X .00150
Y .01971
Z .00074
<!DOCTYPE html>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<style>
body {
font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
position: relative;
width: 960px;
}
.axis text {
font: 10px sans-serif;
}
.axis path,
.axis line {
fill: none;
stroke: #000;
shape-rendering: crispEdges;
}
.bar {
fill: steelblue;
fill-opacity: .9;
}
.x.axis path {
display: none;
}
label {
position: absolute;
top: 10px;
right: 10px;
}
</style>
<label><input type="checkbox"> Sort values</label>
<script src="//d3js.org/d3.v3.min.js"></script>
<script>
var margin = {top: 20, right: 20, bottom: 30, left: 40},
width = 960 - margin.left - margin.right,
height = 500 - margin.top - margin.bottom;
var formatPercent = d3.format(".0%");
var x = d3.scale.ordinal()
.rangeRoundBands([0, width], .1, 1);
var y = d3.scale.linear()
.range([height, 0]);
var xAxis = d3.svg.axis()
.scale(x)
.orient("bottom");
var yAxis = d3.svg.axis()
.scale(y)
.orient("left")
.tickFormat(formatPercent);
var svg = d3.select("body").append("svg")
.attr("width", width + margin.left + margin.right)
.attr("height", height + margin.top + margin.bottom)
.append("g")
.attr("transform", "translate(" + margin.left + "," + margin.top + ")");
d3.tsv("data.tsv", function(error, data) {
data.forEach(function(d) {
d.frequency = +d.frequency;
});
x.domain(data.map(function(d) { return d.letter; }));
y.domain([0, d3.max(data, function(d) { return d.frequency; })]);
svg.append("g")
.attr("class", "x axis")
.attr("transform", "translate(0," + height + ")")
.call(xAxis);
svg.append("g")
.attr("class", "y axis")
.call(yAxis)
.append("text")
.attr("transform", "rotate(-90)")
.attr("y", 6)
.attr("dy", ".71em")
.style("text-anchor", "end")
.text("Frequency");
svg.selectAll(".bar")
.data(data)
.enter().append("rect")
.attr("class", "bar")
.attr("x", function(d) { return x(d.letter); })
.attr("width", x.rangeBand())
.attr("y", function(d) { return y(d.frequency); })
.attr("height", function(d) { return height - y(d.frequency); });
d3.select("input").on("change", change);
var sortTimeout = setTimeout(function() {
d3.select("input").property("checked", true).each(change);
}, 2000);
function change() {
clearTimeout(sortTimeout);
// Copy-on-write since tweens are evaluated after a delay.
var x0 = x.domain(data.sort(this.checked
? function(a, b) { return b.frequency - a.frequency; }
: function(a, b) { return d3.ascending(a.letter, b.letter); })
.map(function(d) { return d.letter; }))
.copy();
svg.selectAll(".bar")
.sort(function(a, b) { return x0(a.letter) - x0(b.letter); });
var transition = svg.transition().duration(750),
delay = function(d, i) { return i * 50; };
transition.selectAll(".bar")
.delay(delay)
.attr("x", function(d) { return x0(d.letter); });
transition.select(".x.axis")
.call(xAxis)
.selectAll("g")
.delay(delay);
}
});
</script>
@riderfou
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[Noob question dislaimer]
Hello,

First of all, thanks for your example.

I played aroud with this, but encountered overlapping labels on the X axis while having words instead of just letters.
(See my website here: http://goo.gl/SEoSQ)

I tried to work around it with some transform and rotate or increasing the width of each bar but didn't manage to get through it.

Is there a possibility to avoid this overlapping, without having to customize the d3.js file?
Thanks a lot in advance.

@kmarekspartz
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I'm seeing the edges not move when the bars move, and then disappearing after the transition is done.

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