Show HN: Using D3.js to visually explore your GitHub connections

[kgosser]

We got inspired by the work Mike Bostock has been doing with D3 and wanted to experiment with how we could extend the library in more of an application interface setting than just charting, so we built Nodal: http://nodal.me

The project is built on Python/Flask/Heroku. Read more about the experiment here: http://mattstockton.com/2012/11/30/navigating-your-network-graph-with-nodal/

[kgosser]

We got inspired by the work Mike Bostock has been doing with D3, but we wanted to extend it to more of an application interface setting than just charting. It's built on Python/Flask/Heroku.

You can fork the project on GitHub here: https://github.com/MattStockton/nodal

Or read more about it here: http://mattstockton.com/2012/11/30/navigating-your-network-g...

[yesimahuman]

Congrats on launching this :)

I would suggest putting the title you have for this Show HN post on the landing page right at the top, since it's hard to know what exactly it is that I'm putting my github username in for.

As for the graph, it's awesome and fun to play with! I found the "close" button on selecting people a bit small to click.

[fox91]

The idea is great! But why all the people I connected to are at the same distance? I'd expect to see closer to my node users with a strong relationship with me

[mstockton]

That's a great point. There are a few different physical properties we can tweak which could give us more control over individual nodes. We haven't gotten that far yet, but have been thinking about the possibilities. Check the blog post to see some thoughts on this.

[fudged71]

ANyone got a screenshot? For those of us without [connected] github accounts?

[mstockton]

There is a screenshot at the end of this blog post: http://mattstockton.com/2012/11/30/navigating-your-network-g...

Also, you do not need to link your account to try out Nodal, you can just search for a user on the login page.

[jborg]

wow! awesome way to explore github.