plotly / plotly/plotly.R

Add opacity (transparency) to hover box / Allow it to be outside the plot

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plotly.js
Dominant language
R
Stars
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Forks
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PR merge metrics
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Description

Plotly hover box has no transparency to it, which causes it to cover other data points, compromising the visual analysis of the data. Example:
image

Ideally it would allow box transparency like these one from dygraphs, which displays the hover text but does not cover/hide the region beneath it (http://dygraphs.com/tests/legend-values.html)
image

Additionaly, it could be great to have the possibility to show the tooltip/hover box information outside the plot, again to not cover any part of the plot and enable clear visual inspection. Another example from dygraphs:
image

Highcharts and dygraphs have those options as default.

There is some related discussion/request here: https://community.plotly.com/t/custom-hovertext-obstructs-plot-view-opacity-bottom-of-plot/9065

Changes like these would allow Plotly to be an excellent tool for financial plots and to be adopted by many more analysts from finance field.

Plotly is the best graphing tool in my opinion and I would like to stick to it, so I really appreciate if you can consider this request. Thank you for the awesome work.

Contributor guide

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

No files, tests, or entry points are named. Start by locating the repository's hover-box implementation and reviewing the linked community discussion, then compare the requested transparency and outside-the-plot behavior with the dygraphs examples. Done means both hover presentation options work without obscuring the plotted data.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
javascript, r
Domain
data-visualization, frontend
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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