This might be slightly off-topic, but I can't seem to find a direct solution.
I'm looking to build a complex dependency/timeline graph for a web of interconnected stories in a media franchise. Each story has a release date where it needs to appear, and an arbitrary list of dependencies for previous episodes/stories/interludes which would have a line drawn to that dependency. The end result would be a sort of hybrid digraph/timeline, enabling a reader to get the 'minimum path' to catch up to a certain story in the collection.
D3 looked promising, but there's no direct equivalent I can see in the examples. For those that are experienced with D3, is that sort of thing achievable? Should I be looking at D3 or something else?
MIT's Exhibit timeline widget used to be really nice for this, or at least extremely customizable timelines, but I am not sure of the state of that project... http://www.simile-widgets.org/timeline/
this should be feasible with D3. The way I understand it, is that you are trying to make node graph along a time series. So you basically just have one axis (date; usually plotted on the x-axis).
The way I would plot it is to have a long horizontal scroll along the x-axis where a series of nodes are scattered in the single date dimension. Hovering (or clicking) over this node would expand a list of dependencies into the second dimension (distance from the original node might represent time; perhaps in two columns, past [depends on] and future [depended by]). Clicking on one of these dependency nodes would scroll you smoothly where this dependency nodes reside on the main axis.
All of this is possible (and almost trivial) with D3. However you might need to be innovative in implementation as I don’t think there are easy examples for you to follow.
I'm looking to build a complex dependency/timeline graph for a web of interconnected stories in a media franchise. Each story has a release date where it needs to appear, and an arbitrary list of dependencies for previous episodes/stories/interludes which would have a line drawn to that dependency. The end result would be a sort of hybrid digraph/timeline, enabling a reader to get the 'minimum path' to catch up to a certain story in the collection.
D3 looked promising, but there's no direct equivalent I can see in the examples. For those that are experienced with D3, is that sort of thing achievable? Should I be looking at D3 or something else?