[vermarish]

Hi! Some background first: I'm putting together a blog right now using Hugo and D3. I'm a huge fan of D3's infinite flexibility, as seen in some famous scrollytellers [0-1], and I've spent some time experimenting with that format myself [2].

My question is: what does Observable Framework offer for data storytellers who want to blog? Is this meant to go up against Hugo/Jekyll in terms of full-fledged max-efficiency site generation? If not, are there plans to add integrations with other blogging frameworks?

[0]: http://r2d3.us/ [1]: https://algorithms-tour.stitchfix.com/ [2]: https://vermarish.github.io/big-brother-barometer/

[mbostock]

We’re not expressly targeting the blogging use case — we primarily want to support data apps, dashboards, and reports. But Observable Framework is quite flexible and you can use it for a lot of things; the Framework documentation is itself written using Framework, for example. So I would say that if you are working with data and you want an automated process to keep your data up-to-date, or to work with multiple languages (e.g., Python and JavaScript), or if you want to do a lot of interactive visualizations then you should give Framework a go. But we don’t have much built-in affordances for blogging, so you might find some things missing. Feel free to file feature requests! We’d love to hear your ideas, though we’re primarily focused on reporting and data app development for work.

I’m not sure what better integration with other blogging frameworks would look like — like, part of the page is rendered by Framework, but the site as a whole is handled by the blogging framework? Perhaps we could develop Framework’s API further so it could function like a plugin. But this is speculative and not a priority for us currently. If you explore the possibilities here please let us know!

[ipsum2]

How do dashboards work if data is computed at build time? Does that mean every time you want to update the data you need another build? I'm interested in live dashboards, is Obversable framework the wrong tool for the job?

[mbostock]

Yes, we use continuous deployment (cron) to rebuild as needed. You can also get realtime data on the client if you need to (via fetch or WebSocket to your own servers — it’s “just” JavaScript), but generally we find building static data snapshots a useful constraint because it forces you to think about exactly what data is needed, and as a result the dashboard loads instantly.

[sroussey]

Row64 dashboards are pretty instant. And interactive.

Edit: link: https://row64.com/

[ipsum2]

My use case is monitoring machine learning models as they train, static snapshots doesn't seem like the right approach for me.

[mbostock]

If you’re developing the models locally, perhaps Framework’s preview server could work: it watches local files and automatically pushes updates to the browser when files change. This enables reactive updates for data loaders, but also works with static files. So you could visualize the models as they are being generated — meaning as some external process writes local files.

But in general the use case we’re targeting is a shared data app, dashboard, or report. Not something just for you individually, or something ephemeral (that you look at in real-time during training). For example, Framework would work well for sharing a report or dashboard evaluating the performance of the latest models you’ve built with your team.