Bar chart race

Make your own bar chart race with Flourish

Updated 5 years ago to v4.4.0 by Flourish team

How to use this template

What's it for?

Use this template to visualise the changing fortunes of people or groups in competition with each other, like political candidates, country populations or football teams.

How to get started

  1. The first thing you need is a CSV or Excel file of your data.
  2. 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.
  3. 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

Credits

Bar chart template: Created by the Flourish team. Want to see additional features? Let us know at support@flourish.studio.

Data: Example data show urban population by nation and continent, from the World Bank.

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/bar-chart-race

version: 4

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: {
        data: [
            [ "DataColumn1Value1", "DataColumn2Value1",
            [ "DataColumn1Value2", "DataColumn2Value2",
            [ "DataColumn1Value3", "DataColumn2Value3",
            ...
        ]
    }
}

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/bar-chart-race",
    version: "4",
    bindings: {
        data: {
            label: 0, // index of a column in your data
        }
    },
    data: {
        data: [
            [ "DataColumn1Value1", "DataColumn2Value1",
            [ "DataColumn1Value2", "DataColumn2Value2",
            [ "DataColumn1Value3", "DataColumn2Value3",
            ...
        ]
    }
}

All possible bindings that you can supply are shown in this example:

{
    template: "@flourish/bar-chart-race",
    version: "4",
    bindings: {
        data: {
            label: 0, // index of a column in your data
            values: [1, 2, ...], // index(es) of column(s) in your data
            category: 3, // index of a column in your data
            image: 4, // index of a column in your data
        }
    },
    data: {
        data: [
            [ "DataColumn1Value1", "DataColumn2Value1",
            [ "DataColumn1Value2", "DataColumn2Value2",
            [ "DataColumn1Value3", "DataColumn2Value3",
            ...
        ]
    }
}

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:

{
        data: [
            { "DataHeader1": ..., "DataHeader2": ..., ... },
            { "DataHeader1": ..., "DataHeader2": ..., ... },
            { "DataHeader1": ..., "DataHeader2": ..., ... },
            ...
        ]
    }

... 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/bar-chart-race",
    version: "4",
    bindings: {
        data: {
            label: "DataHeader1",
        }
    },
    data: {
        data: [
            { "DataHeader1": ..., "DataHeader2": ..., ... },
            { "DataHeader1": ..., "DataHeader2": ..., ... },
            { "DataHeader1": ..., "DataHeader2": ..., ... },
            ...
        ]
    }
}

All possible bindings that you can supply are shown in this example:

{
    template: "@flourish/bar-chart-race",
    version: "4",
    bindings: {
        data: {
            label: "DataHeader1",
            values: ["DataHeader2", "DataHeader3", ...],
            category: "DataHeader4",
            image: "DataHeader5",
        }
    },
    data: {
        data: [
            { "DataHeader1": ..., "DataHeader2": ..., ... },
            { "DataHeader1": ..., "DataHeader2": ..., ... },
            { "DataHeader1": ..., "DataHeader2": ..., ... },
            ...
        ]
    }
}

(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/bar-chart-race",
    version: "4",
    data: {
    data: [
        {
            label: ...,
            values: [...]
        },
        ...
    ]
},
    ...
}

And the full list of all possible properties is as follows:

{
    template: "@flourish/bar-chart-race",
    version: "4",
    data: {
    data: [
        {
            label: ...,
            values: [...],
            category: ...,
            image: ...
        },
        ...
    ]
},
    ...
}

Meanings of the template data keys:

  • data.label: A column containing the names of the bars, e.g. countries or people
  • data.values: Multiple columns of numbers, each column representing a point in time
  • data.category: Optional category column to colour the bars
  • data.image: Optional column with URLs of images

Template settings

Options for opts.state.

Bars

number_of_bars number

Number.

Min: 1

sort_enabled boolean

Sorting.

Allowed values:

  • true (On)
  • false (Off)

sort_ascending boolean

Default sort mode.

Allowed values:

  • false (Highest)
  • true (Lowest)

height_mode string

Mode.

Allowed values:

  • fill_space (Fill space)
  • specified (Specified)

bar_height number

Height. Height of the bar; expressed as multiple of page font size to make it device dependent

Max: 99

padding_top number

Top.

padding_right number

Right.

padding_bottom number

Bottom.

padding_left number

Left.

bar_margin number

Between bars (%).

Max: 99

Labels & images

label_max_size number

Max font size.

label_color_in color

Label colour.

label_color_out color

Value colour.

label_mode string

Labels mode.

Allowed values:

  • bars (Labels right (images left))
  • axis (Labels left (images right))

label_axis_width number

Space for labels.

image_height number

Height. As a % of bar height

image_width number

Width. As a % of bar height

image_margin_right number

Margin right. As a % of bar height

image_scale string

Image sizing.

Allowed values:

  • fill (Fill)
  • fit (Fit)
  • stretch (Stretch)

image_circle boolean

Shape.

Allowed values:

  • false (Rectangle)
  • true (Circle)

counter boolean

Show current time.

counter_font_size number

Size (% of screen).

counter_color color

Colour.

totaliser boolean

Show total. Shows the sum of all the values for teh currnt time

totaliser_font_size number

Size (% of screen).

totaliser_color color

Colour.

totaliser_label string

Label.

Colours

color.scale_type string

Scale type.

Allowed values:

  • categorical (Categorical)
  • sequential (Sequential)
  • diverging (Diverging)

color.categorical_type string

Allowed values:

  • palette (Palette)
  • generated (Generated)

color.categorical_palette colors

Palette.

color.categorical_extend boolean

Auto-extend. Automatically generate additional colours when needed to avoid the palette colours being used more than once.

color.categorical_seed_color color

Seed color. Initial color in generated sequence (avoid shades of grey).

color.categorical_rotation_angle number

Hue rotation angle. Angle, in degrees, between one generated colour and the next. The default value, ~360/(Golden ratio), ensures adjacent hues are not too similar.

Max: 360

color.categorical_color_space string

Allowed values:

  • hcl (HCL)
  • hsl (HSL)

color.categorical_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:


Party 1: red
Party 2: #4455AA
Party 3: rgb(30,168,26)

color.sequential_palette string

Palette.

Allowed values:

  • Oranges
  • Reds
  • Blues
  • Greens
  • Greys
  • Purples
  • Viridis
  • Inferno
  • Magma
  • Plasma
  • Warm
  • Cool
  • CubehelixDefault (Cubehelix)
  • BuGn (Blue/Green)
  • BuPu (Blue/Purple)
  • GnBu (Green/Blue)
  • OrRd (Orange/Red)
  • PuBuGn (Purple/Blue/Green)
  • PuBu (Purple/Blue)
  • PuRd (Purple/Red)
  • RdPu (Red/Purple)
  • YlGnBu (Yellow/Blue/Green)
  • YlGn (Yellow/Green)
  • YlOrBr (Yellow/Orange/Brown)
  • YlOrRd (Yellow/Orange/Red)
  • Carrots
  • Custom

color.sequential_custom_min color

Minimum color.

color.sequential_custom_max color

Maximum color.

color.sequential_color_space string

Allowed values:

  • rgb (RGB)
  • lab (LAB)
  • hcl (HCL)
  • hsl (HSL)

color.sequential_reverse boolean

Reverse scale.

color.diverging_palette string

Palette.

Allowed values:

  • RdBu (Red/Blue)
  • RdYlGn (Red/Yellow/Green)
  • PiYG (Pink/Yellow/Green)
  • BrBG (Brown/Blue/Green)
  • PRGn (Purple/Red/Green)
  • PuOr (Purple/Orange)
  • RdGy (Red/Grey)
  • RdYlBu (Red/Yellow/Blue)
  • Spectral
  • Custom

color.diverging_custom_min color

Minimum color.

color.diverging_custom_mid color

Midpoint color.

color.diverging_custom_max color

Maximum color.

color.diverging_color_space string

Allowed values:

  • rgb (RGB)
  • lab (LAB)
  • hcl (HCL)
  • hsl (HSL)

color.diverging_reverse boolean

Reverse scale.

bar_opacity number

Bar opacity.

Max: 1

Controls

replay_control boolean

Show replay control.

replay_control_text string

Label.

sort_control boolean

Show sort control.

sort_descending_text string

“Highest” label.

sort_ascending_text string

“Lowest” label.

Legend

show_legend boolean

Legend.

Allowed values:

  • true (On)
  • false (Off)

legend_label_color color

Label colour.

text_legend string

Allowed values:

  • auto (Auto)
  • custom (Custom)
  • off (Off)

text_legend_title boolean

Title.

text_legend_subtitle boolean

Subtitle.

text_legend_bold boolean

Bold. If checked, always use bold for coloured items

Axis

axis_color color

Color.

axis_text_color color

Text color.

scale_type string

Type.

Allowed values:

  • auto (Dynamic)
  • auto_fixed (Fixed)
  • manual (Custom)

scale_max number

Max.

Animation

animation_duration number

Animation duration. The duration in seconds of each time step

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:

  • ,. (12,235.67)
  • ., (12.345,67)
  • . (12235.67)
  • , (12345,67)
  • . (12 235.67)
  • , (12 345,67)

blank_cells string

How to handle blank/invalid cells. “Interpolate” fills the gaps between the last and next valid values

Allowed values:

  • interpolate (Interpolate)
  • last_valid (Use last valid)
  • zero (Treat as zero)
  • remove (Remove bar)

value_format.prefix string

Prefix. Text to place in front of number

value_format.suffix string

Suffix. Text to place after number

value_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

value_format.strip_zeros boolean

Remove trailing zeros.

value_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”.

value_format.transform_labels boolean

Multiply/divide values.

value_format.transform string

Allowed values:

  • multiply (Multiply by)
  • divide (Divide by)
  • exponentiate (×10 to the power of)

value_format.multiply_divide_constant number

value_format.exponentiate_constant number

Layout

layout.body_font font

Font.

layout.max_width number

Maximum width. Leave blank to stretch to container width

Min: 50

layout.margin number

Margin.

layout.background_color_enabled boolean

Color.

Allowed values:

  • true (On)
  • false (Off)

layout.background_image_enabled boolean

Image.

Allowed values:

  • true (On)
  • false (Off)

layout.background_color color

Color.

layout.background_image_src url

Image URL.

layout.background_image_size string

Size.

Allowed values:

  • cover (Fill)
  • contain (Fit)
  • auto (Original)
  • 100% 100% (Stretch)

layout.background_image_position string

Position.

Allowed values:

  • top left (Top left)
  • top center (Top center)
  • top right (Top right)
  • center left (Center left)
  • center center (Center)
  • center right (Center right)
  • bottom left (Bottom left)
  • bottom center (Bottom center)
  • bottom right (Bottom right)

layout.layout_order string

Layout order.

Allowed values:

  • stack-default (data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABYAAAAdCAYAAAHZdKxuAAAAAXNSR0IArs4c6QAAANhJREFUSA3tVNEOwiAM7Iy/p2/wkTz6g5gjOVZZEepcjMmWLBTau95ugIh6lpzzLcb4wNpFJaRk9MIahxAyXmD7mC7BC2RlFbliQjFMpJTujOdGs/ECwRoP3rlKoEzNJlz3+CwutK0NLRVt2QhjggA9n2IGEKANMxmt0VVsEfxgzfX7zL3ZiqbXLjcKc8vEORk5/75mMB/7u11uuIpdbtDCc5R3l/s+e+pmHt1foza7Nv6IXOeHiqGk9zWtSk1cN2cPrItnYjZzHZEZYtacxHTiuANSO/xN8AS4uW8Rw1Gu2AAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==)
  • stack-2 (data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABYAAAAdCAYAAAHZdKxuAAAAAXNSR0IArs4c6QAAAMpJREFUSA3tVMsKwyAQNKW/l970Iz32Bw0jjKTrSLUY0oOBsO5rnOwYnTs9W0ppDyG8EcsOkw8uauu9T3jR2+75yJxBnnC4JxMxxlezg0V9VsJsIGz75TfKdlkpg3aPcT8TsPNRMJjZEIf5xaAAahUyE+RtfcZvtFLoFh95aFXxH4hCWpUoTCg7fxqUfB4yEcl/CJlNy5qbfuZA8m8CwJ77q2djSj50lnuAWbOAOQlXxCuRHxcUje2XzfgrYzBpHUXLkmxh181SpnEAB4Vg0DSGhHsAAAAASUVORK5CYII=)
  • stack-3 (data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABYAAAAdCAYAAAHZdKxuAAAAAXNSR0IArs4c6QAAANFJREFUSA3tVEEOwyAMo9O+193gkRz3QSZHMmNRUkGp1guVqkCIHZMAITTfVkrZU0pv+B7NQpCV1vEdxxgLfmB9jEvwBBNzkjXn/HIRDOqzJs0GwS1eEmonAn52RITJaUYScd5KLl0fTQf58HVpIFlXMDPNBVMf2TDXPq7dZM2eelrMQ6uDucG50mlWzG/ooCWDvqENXldn1pcyhpgJWjYcPe5z5ZFrAgoe2LN0f2v1ZYq5UyofuiME99hFXKtUm1c9aoBmeEeRjVIQma6XpVblAwnpZjN/VjqsAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC)
  • stack-4 (data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABYAAAAdCAYAAAHZdKxuAAAAAXNSR0IArs4c6QAAANtJREFUSA3tVNEOwjAI3Iy/p2/tR/bRH6zekmuA1glO45bYZAHKcdDCOk1izbXWC+0zlJzzDVJ5sNGW9qSUKj4QKY8yWvBDUWnoKKVcTzS2yWHiIfeMwm2yIbLbRL3DRJYubi+0bAPCkcvapO3AdFgZvuDuyJZR2i4wSpBBP9ZD7RsOLQ9gD/Y5ZmaA3EEHWY6r3SEwrzDEHLpnlvOXa4/7xttZfhNwyPdKcqLPaz6JlXpr9bNgCfbobw2ch5iY0CQzyCOPR9ya5zleBPNy3LxknAbiv1YxExxH3gEqBW7I4zw3PQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==)

layout.space_between_sections string

Space between sections.

Allowed values:

  • 0 (▁)
  • 0.5 (▃)
  • 1 (▄)
  • custom (...)

layout.space_between_sections_custom number

Custom.

Max: 100

layout.header_align string

Alignment.

Allowed values:

  • left (fa-align-left)
  • center (fa-align-center)
  • right (fa-align-right)

layout.title string

layout.title_styling boolean

Change title styles.

layout.title_size string

Size.

Allowed values:

  • 1.4 (ᴀ)
  • 1.6 (A)
  • 2 (fa-font)
  • custom (...)

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:

  • bold (Bold)
  • normal (Regular)

layout.title_color color

Color.

layout.title_line_height number

Line height.

Max: 3

layout.subtitle string

layout.subtitle_styling boolean

Change subtitle styles.

layout.subtitle_size string

Size.

Allowed values:

  • 1.4 (ᴀ)
  • 1.6 (A)
  • 2 (fa-font)
  • custom (...)

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:

  • bold (Bold)
  • normal (Regular)

layout.subtitle_color color

Color.

layout.subtitle_line_height number

Line height.

Max: 3

layout.subtitle_space_above string

Space above.

Allowed values:

  • 0 (▁)
  • 0.5 (▃)
  • 1 (▄)
  • custom (...)

layout.subtitle_space_above_custom number

Custom.

Max: 100

layout.text string

layout.text_styling boolean

Change text styles.

layout.text_size string

Size.

Allowed values:

  • 1.2 (ᴀ)
  • 1.4 (A)
  • 1.6 (fa-font)
  • custom (...)

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:

  • bold (Bold)
  • normal (Regular)

layout.text_color color

Color.

layout.text_line_height number

Line height.

Max: 3

layout.text_space_above string

Space above.

Allowed values:

  • 0 (▁)
  • 0.5 (▃)
  • 1 (▄)
  • custom (...)

layout.text_space_above_custom number

Custom.

Max: 100

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.note string

Note.

layout.size number

Size.

layout.color color

Color.

layout.footer_align string

Alignment.

Allowed values:

  • left (fa-align-left)
  • center (fa-align-center)
  • right (fa-align-right)
  • justify (fa-align-justify)

layout.logo_url url

Image.

Link.

layout.logo_height number

Height.

layout.logo_margin number

Margin.

layout.logo_order string

Position.

Allowed values:

  • left (Left)
  • right (Right)

layout.footer_align_vertical string

V. align.

Allowed values:

  • flex-start (Top)
  • center (Center)
  • flex-end (Bottom)