Getting information across is always a little difficult in business or academia, as you search for a method that conveys the data accurately and is easily understood by the audience involved. Charts are the typical solution, but not all charts are the same and finding software to produce them easily is no picnic either. The free Chart.js software is an attempt to change that, with ways of creating a vast array of different graphs.

Open source charting success

Chart.js is open source software, meaning that many developers can contribute to it and improve it, bit by bit. This makes for a very powerful and flexible tool, but also means that it isn’t as polished as retail software. You may find it tricky to install and there are still bug issues. However, for someone in the know, this is a great free shortcut to a world of charts. Your charts can have legends, multiple axis and scales and even animations, so they can move and change colour as you give a presentation. You have access to bar and line graphs, but also bubbles and stacked area charts. The results look very nice indeed and scale up and down responsively.

Charting for advanced users

While Chart.js makes excellent charts, it is not aimed at everyday users. You will need some grasp of coding and you will come across issues. Advanced users will definitely get more out of this software.