December 2019 Chartbrew Update
Hey, this is Raz
This month was super busy for Chartbrew as a lot of things were going on at the same time. Some highlights:
- New Embedded Charts feature
- New pagination feature for APIs
- Active Twitch streaming
- Launched the Discord server
- Started a new series of monthly email updates
Show me the numbers
This month the focus was not on growing the user base on Chartbrew so I'm not surprised to see a low number of new signups on the platform. Looking at the data, it also appears that not all new users are creating their first project and even fewer users are creating charts. There could be multiple explanations here, but it can be a clear indication that most users just want to check the app and the chart creation is still a bit difficult to understand. Time to put in some work and make the experience better and look around for feedback!
New signups - 16
New projects - 12
New charts - 6
New Chartbrew repository stargazers - 25
There's a big increase in numbers starting 17th of December because I made a post on Hacker News about going open-source with Chartbrew.
Embedded Charts
As you can see just above, the embedded charts are working pretty nicely! This feature was on my to-do list for quite a while now and I'm happy to finally release it in production. How does it work? The charts are generated in iframes and that way they can be placed in any HTML page or any platforms that allow HTML insertion such as the Ghost blogging platform that this blog is using.
The new embedding option can be found in the settings menu of each chart:
Once there, copy the iframe code and paste it on your website or platform and you're done. The best thing about it is that the data changes whenever you change it in the Chartbrew dashboard. Just don't forget to make the chart public before embedding it!
API Pagination
This one is a more advanced feature that enables users with a lot of data and an API that supports pagination to split big requests into multiple small ones. Chartbrew is now able to make multiple paginated requests and merge the data together so that it doesn't strain the user's server with a massive request.
The pagination usually works with limit and offset query parameters, but these can be configured in the new pagination UI in the API builder. As you can see in the screenshot below, the items per page and offset can be fully customized. Chartbrew is also able to tell you in real time if the necessary query parameters can be found in your request.
Embarking on a new year and what's next for January 2020
In January I will finish my courses at the University so it might be a slow month in terms of new features. That doesn't mean there will be no updates for Chartbrew - on the contrary! I will work on designs for a brand new interface for building charts, looking into new ways that teams can collaborate on the platform, and as usual bug fixes, tests, feedback gathering, interviews, etc.
✨Plus, a super nice and convenient Drafting feature for making sure your work stays saved and you can always return to edit your charts. ?
Please, feel free to give Chartbrew a try and let me know what you think. Also, join our Discord server as we are currently building a community around the platform where we can all discuss tech and data viz like proper nerds. I'm also available there if you need help setting Chartbrew up.
Until next time!
Raz - @razvanilin
