Archive for the ‘Javascript’ tag
My first week at Mixpanel, or how I didn’t take down the Internet
During my first week at Mixpanel I was asked to design, implement and deploy a highly requested feature in our core javascript library. I had just started as the new intern and I hit the ground running. Our customers wanted a simple method to track link clicks without having to hassle with browser incompatibilities or fiddle with event models. The new functionality would also lay the groundwork for future enhancements such as form integration. I got to work right away.
Best Javascript Charting Libraries
When we started Mixpanel, we used amCharts, a pretty full-featured Flash-based charting library. This wasn’t ideal though – it’s closed-source and, well, it’s Flash. We ultimately switched over to pure Javascript charts and it was a great decision.
Now if something wonky happens, I can easily modify the library code. We also get the added benefit of broader platform support – you can use mixpanel.com on your mobile device and it works perfectly.
Actually picking the library was a little tricky. We were lucky – highcharts was released right when we started looking and it has performed admirably. There are a few other good choices though, and I will go into all of them in some depth.