Comparison of D3 and Dojo GFX

Question

I intend to use one of D3 or Dojo GFX to create some big data visuals like TreeMap, Wave-forms etc. The great thing about D3 is that many of these visualizations are already available as example implementations for fast development. Also its enter-update-exit paradigm fits nicely with my dataset. But I am not averse to using Dojo GFX (and writing my own Treemap etc implementations) if it is said to be more stable and better suited for mobile.

Seeking suggestions and comparisons...

Answer 1

In short, the answer is simple: If you are using dojo, use the GFX module. If you are not using dojo, use D3.

What's more, GFX and D3 are effectively the same thing: low level drawing APIs (herein visualization toolkits), both of which can be used in tandem with a larger javascript framework. GFX, in fact, must be used within dojo.

Since graphing/charting/drawing/whatever is often only part of a web application, the underlying framework architecture should be the driving force behind choosing a visualization toolkit. So basically, if you go dojo or not is what will answer this question for you, and if you do, GFX is a great option since it is already baked in (though I should mention that D3 can be wrapped in an AMD as referenced here).

And now, a real answer

If you have decided that the visualization toolkit is the driving force behind choosing a javascript framework and not the other way around, here are some thoughts on GFX vs D3:

Community Support: More people are developing and asking questions on D3. Looking at github watches/stars/forks, D3 leads with 1.9k/22.7k/4.7k over GFX's 54/52/91 (dojox is GFX's parent module). Here on stackoverflow D3 has nearly 7k tags compared to GFX's 26.

Features: GFX can render using SVG, VML, canvas, and even silverlight. By this, GFX has superior cross platform, browser, and version support. Beyond this, both visualization toolkits enjoy the same access to every feature you get when writing visualizations declaratively.

Learning Curve: Both toolkits are very low level APIs that are complicated to learn. D3's enter-update-exit pattern may be especially confusing for those not familiar with extensive method chaining.

Frameworks: Both of these visualization toolkits are used in larger charting frameworks. GFX is used by Dojo Charting, D3 is used by many including NVD3, D3plus, and Vega to name a few.