D3.js: Cutting-edge Data Visualization

Scalable Vector Graphics

Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) is a vector graphics format that describes images with XML. It's been around since 1999 and is supported by all major browsers these days (Internet Explorer only introduced it in IE9, but at the time of writing this book, 96.5 percent of Internet users can render SVG in their browsers as per caniuse.com/#feat=svg). Vector images can be rendered in any size without becoming fuzzy. This means that you can render the same image on a large retina display or a small mobile phone, and it will look great in both cases.

SVG images are made up of shapes you can create from scratch using paths, or put together from basic shapes defined in the standard, for example, a line or a circle. The format itself ...