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No.248 · Analytics

Brush Zoom

Two years of daily data, read at any magnification: drag the window across the overview strip or pull its handles and the chart above eases to just those days, its axis re-fitting as it goes, with pins marking the events that explain the shape.

The prompt

The design brief behind this component — reuse it to regenerate, remix, or explain it.

Build a focus + context time series: 730 days of daily searches with a brushable overview. Detail chart (SVG): the daily values as a light 1.25px line over a soft area, the centred 7-day average as the 2px series-1 line, nice y-ticks re-fitted to the visible window, date ticks that switch from months to fortnights to weeks as you zoom, clipped to the plot. Event pins (dashed vertical rule, a dot in slot 2, a label with a surface halo that flips side near the right edge; a pin too close to the previous one drops to a second row so labels never collide). Crosshair snaps to the nearest day with a tooltip (date, value, 7-day average). Overview (64px strip beneath): the whole two years as the 7-day average, quarter labels, small pin dots (click to jump), the area outside the window washed with the surface, and a rounded window with two grip handles. Pointer: drag inside to move, drag a handle to resize (minimum 7 days), drag outside to draw a new window; pointer capture; values round to whole days on release. The detail view eases toward the window with an exponential follow (rate 14/s) in a rAF loop that stops when it arrives, so the chart glides rather than jumps. Keyboard: a focusable slider-role element (value text "1 Mar 2026 to 30 Jun 2026"): ←/→ move a week (Shift: a month), ↑/↓ or +/− zoom around the centre, Home/End. Presets 2W/3M/6M/All, event chips to jump, a header with the range and the per-day average, a legend (Daily, 7-day average, Event), and a Table view of the visible days. Light and dark themes with the reference palette. Reduced motion: the view jumps.

Notes

Interaction
Drag the window on the strip (or its edges), use the presets or event chips, or focus the range and use the arrow keys; point at the chart to read a day.
Motion
The detail view follows the brush with an exponential ease (≈150ms to settle).
Accessibility
The brush has a keyboard-operable slider with spoken start and end dates; event jumps are buttons; the SVG has a summary and the Table lists the visible days.
Responsive
Width follows the container; date ticks thin automatically.
On touch
Drag on the strip with a finger (touch-action none on the strip only).

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