Line chart race
Updated 4 years ago to v8.1.1 by Flourish team
How to use this template
What's it for?
Use this template to visualize the changing fortunes of people or groups in competition with each other, like political candidates or football teams. Choose between two modes: “Scores”, a line chart which plots the data’s raw values, and “Ranks”, a bump chart which plots rankings.
How to get started
- The first thing you need is a CSV or Excel file of your data.
- You need to make sure that there’s a row for each participant in the race – like a candidate or a football team. Use the first column to populate with the participants’ names. Each other column is a “stage” of the race – like a specific date, week or years.
- Here's an example:
name Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Lance Armstrong 0 4 7 Chris Hoyle 0 3 6
Not sure how to upload your data to Flourish? See our handy guide
FAQ
How do I add an image for each competitor? Under the Data tab, in the “Select columns to visualise” panel, there’s an “Image column”. Assign this to a column in your data table which contains image URLs. Then switch to the Preview view, and to the right, on the Settings panel, under “Circle styles”, make sure the setting for “Show image in circle” is set to "On".
How do I show ranks? There are two different ways to do this. The first one is to go “Controls” on the Settings panel and make sure that “Ranks/scores toggle” is "visible". This will ensure that whoever’s viewing your chart can always toggle between rank and score using the switcher to the right of the Replay button in the top left corner. The second way to show ranks is to "hide" that “Ranks/scores toggle” and lock the view on rank by going to “Scoring type” on the Settings panel and changing the first option to “Ranks”.
How do I make the stages of the race different widths? There isn’t a setting to do this yet, but you can hack it by adding blank columns in the middle of your data. Say, for example, you have a dataset that includes data points for January, February, March and May. You may want to make that March stage of the chart twice as long as the other three. In the Data tab, add a blank column to the right of March. Make sure you also adjust the “Score columns”, on the “Select columns to visualise” panel to now include all five columns. Then switch to the Preview view and select “Line styles” on the Settings panel. Set “Lines between missing data points” to be "On" and adjust the settings to match the styling of the existing line.
Tips
- In the settings panel, you can decide whether to show scores or ranks, or to reveal buttons to let the viewer see both.
- In the Flourish story editor, try clicking on the axis labels to show different stages of the race in different slides.
Examples
- Gender in Australia's Federal Parliament 1918 - 2018
- Gun control vs Gun Rights spending
- Top OPEC crude oil production in Africa
Credits
Created by the Flourish team, inspired by Google News Lab. Want to see additional features? Let us know at support@flourish.studio. Developers can also submit a pull request.
API information
This section documents API usage specific to this template, so for an introduction we suggest you refer to the generic API documentation instead.
template: @flourish/horserace
version: 8
Template data
There are three different formats in which you can supply data to this template. The most convenient for you to use likely depends on the source of your data, as described below.
1. Array of arrays, and a bindings object
You can supply arrays of arrays to opts.data, which might look
like:
{
data: {
horserace: [
[ "HorseraceColumn1Value1", "HorseraceColumn2Value1",
[ "HorseraceColumn1Value2", "HorseraceColumn2Value2",
[ "HorseraceColumn1Value3", "HorseraceColumn2Value3",
...
]
}
}
where each array of arrays represents the rows in a data sheet.
To tell the API how the values from each column should be
associated with the keys that the template is expecting, you must also supply
an object attached to opts.bindings. (The meanings of the
keys in the bindings object are documented
below.) The minimal bindings you can
supply for this template are as shown in this example:
{
template: "@flourish/horserace",
version: "8",
bindings: {
horserace: {
name: 0, // index of a column in your data
}
},
data: {
horserace: [
[ "HorseraceColumn1Value1", "HorseraceColumn2Value1",
[ "HorseraceColumn1Value2", "HorseraceColumn2Value2",
[ "HorseraceColumn1Value3", "HorseraceColumn2Value3",
...
]
}
}
All possible bindings that you can supply are shown in this example:
{
template: "@flourish/horserace",
version: "8",
bindings: {
horserace: {
name: 0, // index of a column in your data
pic: 1, // index of a column in your data
stages: [2, 3, ...], // index(es) of column(s) in your data
filter: 4, // index of a column in your data
}
},
data: {
horserace: [
[ "HorseraceColumn1Value1", "HorseraceColumn2Value1",
[ "HorseraceColumn1Value2", "HorseraceColumn2Value2",
[ "HorseraceColumn1Value3", "HorseraceColumn2Value3",
...
]
}
}
2. Array of objects with arbitrary keys, and a bindings object
This format is most likely useful when you have data from an external source,
such as CSV data loaded from d3-dsv.
You should supply this attached to the opts.data, which might look
like:
{
horserace: [
{ "HorseraceHeader1": ..., "HorseraceHeader2": ..., ... },
{ "HorseraceHeader1": ..., "HorseraceHeader2": ..., ... },
{ "HorseraceHeader1": ..., "HorseraceHeader2": ..., ... },
...
]
}
... but with the keys being the column headers from your
source data instead. You must also supply an object attached to
opts.bindings. The minimal bindings you can
supply for this template are as shown in this example:
{
template: "@flourish/horserace",
version: "8",
bindings: {
horserace: {
name: "HorseraceHeader1",
}
},
data: {
horserace: [
{ "HorseraceHeader1": ..., "HorseraceHeader2": ..., ... },
{ "HorseraceHeader1": ..., "HorseraceHeader2": ..., ... },
{ "HorseraceHeader1": ..., "HorseraceHeader2": ..., ... },
...
]
}
}
All possible bindings that you can supply are shown in this example:
{
template: "@flourish/horserace",
version: "8",
bindings: {
horserace: {
name: "HorseraceHeader1",
pic: "HorseraceHeader2",
stages: ["HorseraceHeader3", "HorseraceHeader4", ...],
filter: "HorseraceHeader5",
}
},
data: {
horserace: [
{ "HorseraceHeader1": ..., "HorseraceHeader2": ..., ... },
{ "HorseraceHeader1": ..., "HorseraceHeader2": ..., ... },
{ "HorseraceHeader1": ..., "HorseraceHeader2": ..., ... },
...
]
}
}
(As before, the keys containing "Header" would be replaced by column names from your data source.)
3. Array of objects with template-defined keys
There is an alternative format you can use, which is likely to be easier to
use if your data is not from a spreadsheet source. With this alternative format
you supply your data to the template as
an array of objects, attached to opts.data, where the keys must
be those used by the template, as documented below. In this case
there is no need to supply a bindings object, since the key names are already
those expected by the template. The required properties in the data
object are as follows (scroll down for a
description of what each property is):
{
template: "@flourish/horserace",
version: "8",
data: {
horserace: [
{
name: ...,
stages: [...]
},
...
]
},
...
}
And the full list of all possible properties is as follows:
{
template: "@flourish/horserace",
version: "8",
data: {
horserace: [
{
name: ...,
pic: ...,
stages: [...],
filter: ...
},
...
]
},
...
}
Meanings of the template data keys:
- horserace.name: The name of each entrant
- horserace.pic: The URL of the image to use
- horserace.stages: Raw scores, which will be automatically converted to ranks. Column names will be used to populate the x-axis of the chart.
- horserace.filter: Hide/show entrants based on the values in this column.
Template settings
Options for opts.state.
View
zoom_enabled boolean
Play mode. Allowed values:
zoom_steps_to_show number
Visible stages. The number of time slices (each of which is column of data) to show on the time axis to the left and right of the current time (which in zoomed mode remains in the middle). Ignored if the number specified is greater than the number of stages in the data. Min: 1 Max: 20
Scoring type
value_type string
Chart mode to show on load. Allowed values:
higher_scores_win boolean
Data type. Useful for data where lower scores beat higher scores – e.g. race times Allowed values:
ties_mode string
Rank ties mode. What rank ranks should be given when there are ties? See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranking for explanation of names. Allowed values:
Chart sizing
height_mode string
Height mode. In "Fill space" mode, the lines will be spread out over the available chart height, which by default will be the standard Flourish chart sizes for any given screen width. In this mode the circles/images might overlap if you have lots of lines. "Match data" mode will resize the embedded graphic so there is enough vertical space to avoid overlaps. (Note this won't have any effect if you embed the graphic as a fixed height.) "Auto" switches between the two modes depending on the number of lines. Allowed values:
margin_right number
Right.
margin_bottom number
Bottom.
margin_left number
Left.
margin_right_mobile number
Right (mobile).
Controls
show_buttons boolean
Ranks/scores toggle. Allowed values:
show_replay boolean
Replay button. Allowed values:
filter_control_type string
Filter control type. Only used when a filter column is specified. "Auto" creates a button group if there is enough space, or a dropdown if there is not. Allowed values:
filter_width number
Control width. Width of control if sufficient space is available. Min: 50
filter_include_all boolean
Include “All” option.
label_ranks string
“Ranks” label.
label_scores string
“Scores” label.
label_replay string
“Replay” label.
filter_all_label string
“All” label.
controls_border_radius number
Border roundness.
Colours
color.palette colors
Palette.
color.extend boolean
Auto-extend. Automatically generate additional colours when needed to avoid the palette colours being used more than once. Added colours are based on the average lightness and chroma values of the palette. This works best if the palette’s colours do not have very high or low saturation.
color.advanced boolean
Fine tune. Fine tune how additional colours are added to the palette.
color.hue_rotation_angle number
Hue rotation for added colours. Angle, in degrees in HCL colourspace, between one generated colour and the next. The default value, ~360/(Golden ratio), ensures adjacent hues are not too similar. Max: 360
color.custom_palette text
Custom overrides. Type the name of the entity whose colour you want to set, a colon and then a colour (using a name, hex-code or rgb declaration). Multiple colours can be set using multiple lines. For example:<br /><hr />Party 1: red<br />Party 2: #4455AA<br />Party 3: rgb(30,168,26)
Line styles
line_width number
Line width.
line_opacity number
Opacity. Max: 1
curve string
Curve. Allowed values:
shade boolean
Shading behind line. Allowed values:
shade_width number
Width. Width in pixels
shade_opacity number
Opacity. Set to a value between 0 and 1 Max: 1
missing boolean
Lines between missing data points. Allowed values:
missing_opacity number
Opacity. Max: 1
missing_width number
Width.
missing_stroke_dash number
Stroke dash.
Circle styles
start_circle_r number
Start radius.
end_circle_r number
End radius.
end_circle_stroke number
End stroke.
circle_space_between number
Space between. Minimum space between the circles. The space is ignored when the chart is set to fill available space
end_circle_stroke_bg boolean
Stroke color. Allowed values:
horse_images boolean
Image inside circle. Allowed values:
Label styles
rank_font_size number
Rank font size.
label_font_size number
Label font size.
label_color_mode string
Label color. Allowed values:
label_color color
Color.
rank_outside_picture boolean
Rank position. Allowed values:
hide_labels boolean
Show label. Allowed values:
animate_scores boolean
Animate scores.
label_format.prefix string
Prefix. Text to place in front of number
label_format.suffix string
Suffix. Text to place after number
label_format.n_dec number
Decimal places. Use negative integers to round to positive powers of ten (eg -2 rounds to the nearest 100) Min: -10 Max: 10
label_format.strip_zeros boolean
Remove trailing zeros.
label_format.strip_separator boolean
Hide thousands separator below 10,000. Turn off if you want four-digit numbers to include a separator, e.g. “1,234” rather than “1234”.
label_format.transform_labels boolean
Multiply/divide values.
label_format.transform string
Allowed values:
- multiply (Multiply by)
- divide (Divide by)
- exponentiate (×10 to the power of)
label_format.multiply_divide_constant number
label_format.exponentiate_constant number
Y axis
y_axis_label_colors color
Label color.
y_axis_label_size number
Label size.
y_axis_stroke_color color
Line color.
y_axis_stroke_dash number
Line dash. Change this to make a dashed line
zoom_y_axis boolean
Dynamic Y axis. Rescales the y axis when filtering or playing in zoomed mode
zoom_y_padding number
Padding (%). The amount of the axis to leave blank above/below the lines Max: 100
y_axis_min number
Min score.
y_axis_max number
Max score.
y_axis_min_rank number
Min rank.
y_axis_max_rank number
Max rank.
y_axis_format.prefix string
Prefix. Text to place in front of number
y_axis_format.suffix string
Suffix. Text to place after number
y_axis_format.n_dec number
Decimal places. Use negative integers to round to positive powers of ten (eg -2 rounds to the nearest 100) Min: -10 Max: 10
y_axis_format.strip_zeros boolean
Remove trailing zeros.
y_axis_format.strip_separator boolean
Hide thousands separator below 10,000. Turn off if you want four-digit numbers to include a separator, e.g. “1,234” rather than “1234”.
y_axis_format.transform_labels boolean
Multiply/divide values.
y_axis_format.transform string
Allowed values:
- multiply (Multiply by)
- divide (Divide by)
- exponentiate (×10 to the power of)
y_axis_format.multiply_divide_constant number
y_axis_format.exponentiate_constant number
X axis
x_axis_label_color color
Label color.
x_axis_label_size number
Label size.
x_axis_rotate string
Text angle. Allowed values:
x_axis_show_hidden boolean
Show hidden labels on hover.
Animation
stage_duration number
Animation duration. The “race” animation length, in milliseconds per stage
update_duration number
Mode duration. The animation duration when change between ranks and scores modes
Number formatting
localization.input_decimal_separator string
Decimal separator in data sheet. Used for interpreting your data. Only change if data is not displaying on the chart as expected. Allowed values:
localization.output_separators string
Number format to display. How the numbers should appear on chart labels Allowed values:
Layout
Layout
layout.body_font font
Font.
layout.max_width number
Maximum width. Leave blank to stretch to container width Min: 50
layout.background_color_enabled boolean
Color. Allowed values:
layout.background_image_enabled boolean
Image. Allowed values:
layout.background_color color
Color.
layout.background_image_src url
Image URL.
layout.background_image_size string
Size. Allowed values:
layout.background_image_position string
Position. Allowed values:
layout.layout_order string
Layout order. Allowed values:
layout.space_between_sections string
Space between sections. Allowed values:
layout.space_between_sections_custom number
Custom. Max: 100
layout.margin_top number
Top.
layout.margin_right number
Right.
layout.margin_bottom number
Bottom.
layout.margin_left number
Left.
layout.border.enabled boolean
Show borders around visualisation.
layout.border.top.width number
Top.
layout.border.top.style string
Style. Allowed values:
layout.border.top.color color
Color.
layout.border.right.width number
Right.
layout.border.right.style string
Style. Allowed values:
layout.border.right.color color
Color.
layout.border.bottom.width number
Bottom.
layout.border.bottom.style string
Style. Allowed values:
layout.border.bottom.color color
Color.
layout.border.left.width number
Left.
layout.border.left.style string
Style. Allowed values:
layout.border.left.color color
Color.
Header
layout.header_align string
Alignment. Allowed values:
layout.title string
layout.title_styling boolean
Styling.
layout.title_size string
Size. Allowed values:
layout.title_size_custom number
Custom. Specify a custom responsive font size. Best results will be with values between 1.2 and 3
layout.title_weight string
Weight. Allowed values:
layout.title_color color
Color.
layout.title_line_height number
Line height. Max: 3
layout.title_space_above string
Space above. Allowed values:
layout.title_space_above_custom number
Custom. Max: 100
layout.subtitle string
layout.subtitle_styling boolean
Styling.
layout.subtitle_size string
Size. Allowed values:
layout.subtitle_size_custom number
Custom. Specify a custom responsive font size. Best results will be with values between 1.2 and 3
layout.subtitle_weight string
Weight. Allowed values:
layout.subtitle_color color
Color.
layout.subtitle_line_height number
Line height. Max: 3
layout.subtitle_space_above string
Space above. Allowed values:
layout.subtitle_space_above_custom number
Custom. Max: 100
layout.text string
layout.text_styling boolean
Styling.
layout.text_size string
Size. Allowed values:
layout.text_size_custom number
Custom. Specify a custom responsive font size. Best results will be with values between 1.2 and 3
layout.text_weight string
Weight. Allowed values:
layout.text_color color
Color.
layout.text_line_height number
Line height. Max: 3
layout.text_space_above string
Space above. Allowed values:
layout.text_space_above_custom number
Custom. Max: 100
layout.header_border string
Allowed values:
- top (Top)
- bottom (Bottom)
- none (None)
layout.header_border_width number
Width.
layout.header_border_color color
Color.
layout.header_border_style string
Style. Allowed values:
layout.header_logo_enabled boolean
Allowed values:
- true (Enabled)
- false (Disabled)
layout.header_logo_src url
URL.
layout.header_logo_height number
Height.
layout.header_logo_align string
Align. Align logo inside header or outer visualisation container Allowed values:
layout.header_logo_position_inside string
Position. Allowed values:
layout.header_logo_position_outside string
Position. Allowed values:
layout.header_logo_margin_top number
Top.
layout.header_logo_margin_right number
Right.
layout.header_logo_margin_bottom number
Bottom.
layout.header_logo_margin_left number
Left.
Footer
layout.source_name string
Source name.
layout.source_url string
Source url.
layout.multiple_sources boolean
Multiple sources.
layout.source_name_2 string
Source name.
layout.source_url_2 string
Source url.
layout.source_name_3 string
Source name.
layout.source_url_3 string
Source url.
layout.source_label string
Source label.
layout.footer_note string
Note.
layout.footer_text_size number
Size.
layout.footer_text_color color
Color.
layout.footer_align string
Alignment. Allowed values:
layout.footer_logo_enabled boolean
Allowed values:
- true (Enabled)
- false (Disabled)
layout.footer_logo_src url
Image.
layout.footer_logo_link_url string
Link.
layout.footer_logo_height number
Height.
layout.footer_logo_margin number
Margin.
layout.footer_logo_order string
Position. Allowed values:
layout.footer_align_vertical string
V. align. Allowed values:
layout.footer_border string
Allowed values:
- top (Top)
- bottom (Bottom)
- none (None)
layout.footer_border_width number
Width.
layout.footer_border_color color
Color.
layout.footer_border_style string
Style. Allowed values: