Chapter 15: Further Reading - Interactive Dashboards

Essential Resources

Framework Documentation

Plotly Python https://plotly.com/python/ Official documentation with extensive examples for all chart types.

Dash User Guide https://dash.plotly.com/ Comprehensive guide covering layouts, callbacks, and deployment.

Streamlit Documentation https://docs.streamlit.io/ Quick-start guides and API reference for rapid app development.

Bokeh https://bokeh.org/ Python library for interactive visualization with custom interactivity.

Books

Interactive Visualization

Interactive Data Visualization for the Web, 2nd Edition Murray, Scott (O'Reilly, 2017) While focused on D3.js, principles transfer to Python frameworks.

Fundamentals of Data Visualization Wilke, Claus O. (O'Reilly, 2019) Design principles for all visualizations, applicable to interactive dashboards. Free online: https://clauswilke.com/dataviz/

Dashboard Design

The Big Book of Dashboards Wexler, Shaffer, Cotgreave (Wiley, 2017) Real-world dashboard examples with design analysis.

Storytelling with Data Knaflic, Cole Nussbaumer (Wiley, 2015) Communication principles for data presentation.

Python Libraries

Core Frameworks

plotly

pip install plotly

Interactive charts for notebooks and web.

dash

pip install dash
pip install dash-bootstrap-components

Full web application framework.

streamlit

pip install streamlit

Rapid data application development.

bokeh

pip install bokeh

Custom interactive visualization.

Supporting Libraries

pandas

pip install pandas

Data manipulation for dashboard data.

flask-caching

pip install flask-caching

Caching for Dash applications.

gunicorn

pip install gunicorn

Production server for Python web apps.

Tutorials and Courses

Free Resources

Plotly Dash Tutorial https://dash.plotly.com/tutorial Official step-by-step tutorial series.

Streamlit 30 Days https://30days.streamlit.app/ Daily challenges to learn Streamlit.

Charming Data (YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/c/CharmingData Extensive Dash tutorial videos.

DataCamp: Building Dashboards with Dash Interactive course covering Dash fundamentals.

Udemy: Interactive Python Dashboards with Plotly and Dash Project-based dashboard development.

Design Resources

Dashboard Design Patterns

Dashboard Design Patterns https://dashboarddesignpatterns.github.io/ Academic research on effective dashboard designs.

Nielsen Norman Group: Dashboard Design https://www.nngroup.com/articles/dashboard-design/ UX research on dashboard usability.

Color and Typography

ColorBrewer 2.0 https://colorbrewer2.org/ Color palettes for data visualization.

Google Fonts https://fonts.google.com/ Web fonts for dashboard styling.

Deployment and DevOps

Cloud Platforms

Streamlit Cloud https://streamlit.io/cloud Free hosting for Streamlit apps.

Heroku https://www.heroku.com/ Platform-as-a-service for Dash apps.

AWS App Runner https://aws.amazon.com/apprunner/ Container-based app hosting.

Google Cloud Run https://cloud.google.com/run Serverless container platform.

Containerization

Docker https://www.docker.com/ Container platform for consistent deployment.

Docker Compose https://docs.docker.com/compose/ Multi-container application orchestration.

Sports Analytics Examples

Open Source Dashboards

nflfastR Shiny App https://github.com/mrcaseb/nflfastR R/Shiny dashboard for NFL analytics (translatable concepts).

CFBData Tools https://collegefootballdata.com/ API tools for college football data access.

Sports Visualization Communities

r/dataisbeautiful https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/ Sports visualization examples and feedback.

Sports Analytics Twitter Active community sharing dashboard examples.

Performance Optimization

Frontend Performance

Web.dev Performance https://web.dev/performance/ Google's guide to web performance.

Lighthouse https://developers.google.com/web/tools/lighthouse Automated performance auditing.

Python Performance

Python Profiling Guide https://docs.python.org/3/library/profile.html Identify performance bottlenecks.

Pandas Optimization https://pandas.pydata.org/docs/user_guide/enhancingperf.html Speed up data operations.

Accessibility

Web Accessibility Standards

WCAG 2.1 Guidelines https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/quickref/ Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

Color Contrast Checker https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/ Verify text readability.

Accessibility in Plotly https://plotly.com/python/accessibility/ Making Plotly charts accessible.

Community and Support

Forums and Q&A

Plotly Community Forum https://community.plotly.com/ Official support for Plotly and Dash.

Streamlit Community https://discuss.streamlit.io/ Discussion forum for Streamlit users.

Stack Overflow Tags: [plotly-dash], [streamlit], [plotly-python]

GitHub Repositories

Dash Examples https://github.com/plotly/dash-sample-apps Official sample applications.

Awesome Streamlit https://github.com/MarcSkovMadsen/awesome-streamlit Curated Streamlit resources.

Week 1: Plotly Fundamentals

  1. Create basic interactive charts
  2. Customize hover templates
  3. Build subplots and linked views
  4. Export to HTML

Week 2: Dash Basics

  1. Layout with HTML/DBC components
  2. Simple callbacks
  3. Multiple inputs/outputs
  4. State management

Week 3: Streamlit Development

  1. Basic app structure
  2. Sidebar and columns
  3. Caching strategies
  4. Session state

Week 4: Advanced Patterns

  1. Cross-filtering implementation
  2. Drill-down navigation
  3. Performance optimization
  4. Error handling

Week 5: Deployment

  1. Docker containerization
  2. Cloud deployment (Streamlit Cloud or Heroku)
  3. Authentication setup
  4. Monitoring and logging

Citation Format

For Software

Plotly Technologies Inc. (Year). Plotly Python [Computer software].
Retrieved from https://plotly.com/python/

For Documentation

Dash User Guide. (Year). Topic Name.
Retrieved from https://dash.plotly.com/topic on Date