owendall

This is part of a series of examples that describe the basic operation of 
the [D3.js](http://d3js.org) [force layout](https://github.com/mbostock/d3/wiki/Force-Layout).
Eventually they may end up in a blog post that wraps everything together.
If you missed the beginning of the series, here's a link to 
[first example](http://jsdatav.is/visuals.html?id=11550728).

An [earlier example](http://jsdatav.is/visuals.html?id=83515b77c2764837aac2)
introduced `linkDistance` as a key parameter for force layouts. It
sets the desired distance between any connected nodes. The force
layout includes an additional parameter that serves to modify the

owendall

{
  "graph": [],
  "links": [
    {"source": 0, "target": 1},
    {"source": 0, "target": 2},
    {"source": 0, "target": 3},
    {"source": 0, "target": 4},
    {"source": 0, "target": 5},
    {"source": 0, "target": 6},
    {"source": 1, "target": 3},

owendall

Drag from an existing node to add a new node or link. Click to select/deselect nodes/links. Hit the DELETE key to remove the selected node or link. Drag to pan. Scroll to zoom.

Built with [D3.js](http://mbostock.github.com/d3/).

owendall

license: gpl-3.0

owendall

.

owendall

This is part of a series of examples that describe the basic operation of 
the [D3.js](http://d3js.org) [force layout](https://github.com/mbostock/d3/wiki/Force-Layout).
Eventually they may end up in a blog post that wraps everything together.

The first example creates the simplest possible graph using a force layout.
The comments in the code walk through the steps in creating a force directed
graph.

Things start to get more interesting in the [next example](http://jsdatav.is/visuals.html?id=11560633).

owendall

This is part of a series of examples that describe the basic operation of 
the [D3.js](http://d3js.org) [force layout](https://github.com/mbostock/d3/wiki/Force-Layout).
Eventually they may end up in a blog post that wraps everything together.

If the [previous example](http://jsdatav.is/visuals.html?id=11550728) didn't look very
impressive, that's probably because it wasn't. Why bother to use a force layout
just to place two circles a specific distance apart? Here's the payoff, though.
With nearly the _exact same code_ we can see what a more complex graph looks like.

There are plenty of ways to improve this graph (most of which we'll cover in

owendall

This is part of a series of examples that describe the basic operation of 
the [D3.js](http://d3js.org) [force layout](https://github.com/mbostock/d3/wiki/Force-Layout).
Eventually they may end up in a blog post that wraps everything together.
If you missed the beginning of the series, here's a link to 
[first example](http://jsdatav.is/visuals.html?id=11550728).

Before digging into the properties and options of the force layout, it's
helpful to understand how the layout works more generally. And although
there's some serious mathematics going on under the hood, the principle
is pretty simple: The layout moves the graph nodes around a little bit

owendall

This is part of a series of examples that describe the basic operation of 
the [D3.js](http://d3js.org) [force layout](https://github.com/mbostock/d3/wiki/Force-Layout).
Eventually they may end up in a blog post that wraps everything together.
If you missed the beginning of the series, here's a link to 
[first example](http://jsdatav.is/visuals.html?id=11550728).

Earlier examples looked at the operation of force layout from a (very)
high level. This example begins examining the important properties of
the force layout in more detail.

owendall

This is part of a series of examples that describe the basic operation of 
the [D3.js](http://d3js.org) [force layout](https://github.com/mbostock/d3/wiki/Force-Layout).
Eventually they may end up in a blog post that wraps everything together.
If you missed the beginning of the series, here's a link to 
[first example](http://jsdatav.is/visuals.html?id=11550728).

The [previous example](http://jsdatav.is/visuals.html?id=83515b77c2764837aac2)
shows how `linkDistance` tells the force layout the desired distance 
between connected nodes. It may seem strange that D3 doesn't simply
compel all links to be that distance. The force layout, however, takes