The graph above shows a simple example of a difference chart used as an example in the book D3 Tips and Tricks. It is based on the difference chart example produced by Mike Bostock.
The graph shows the difference in the number of daily downloads between R Programming for Data Science by Roger Peng and The Elements of Data Analytic Style by Jeff Leek
There is an explanation of the code available in D3 Tips and Tricks
xxxxxxxxxx<meta charset="utf-8"><style>body { font: 10px sans-serif;}text.shadow { stroke: white; stroke-width: 2px; opacity: 0.9;}.axis path,.axis line { fill: none; stroke: #000; shape-rendering: crispEdges;}.x.axis path { display: none; }.area.above { fill: rgb(252,141,89); }.area.below { fill: rgb(145,207,96); }.line { fill: none; stroke: #000; stroke-width: 1.5px;}</style><body> <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/d3/3.5.5/d3.min.js"></script><script>var title = "Science vs Style - Daily Leanpub Book Sales";var margin = {top: 20, right: 20, bottom: 50, left: 50}, width = 960 - margin.left - margin.right, height = 500 - margin.top - margin.bottom;var parsedtg = d3.time.format("%Y-%m-%d").parse;var x = d3.time.scale().range([0, width]);var y = d3.scale.linear().range([height, 0]);var xAxis = d3.svg.axis().scale(x).orient("bottom");var yAxis = d3.svg.axis().scale(y).orient("left");var lineScience = d3.svg.area() .interpolate("basis") .x(function(d) { return x(d.dtg); }) .y(function(d) { return y(d["Science"]); });var lineStyle = d3.svg.area() .interpolate("basis") .x(function(d) { return x(d.dtg); }) .y(function(d) { return y(d["Style"]); });var area = d3.svg.area() .interpolate("basis") .x(function(d) { return x(d.dtg); }) .y1(function(d) { return y(d["Science"]); });var svg = d3.select("body").append("svg") .attr("width", width + margin.left + margin.right) .attr("height", height + margin.top + margin.bottom) .append("g") .attr("transform", "translate(" + margin.left + "," + margin.top + ")");d3.csv("downloads.csv", function(error, dataNest) { dataNest.forEach(function(d) { d.dtg = parsedtg(d.date_entered); d.downloaded = +d.downloaded; }); var data = d3.nest() .key(function(d) {return d.dtg;}) .entries(dataNest); data.forEach(function(d) { d.dtg = d.values[0]['dtg']; d["Science"] = d.values[0]['downloaded']; d["Style"] = d.values[1]['downloaded']; }); for(i=data.length-1;i>0;i--) { data[i].Science = data[i].Science -data[(i-1)].Science ; data[i].Style = data[i].Style -data[(i-1)].Style ; } data.shift(); // Removes the first element in the array x.domain(d3.extent(data, function(d) { return d.dtg; })); y.domain([// d3.min(data, function(d) {// return Math.min(d["Science"], d["Style"]); }),// d3.max(data, function(d) {// return Math.max(d["Science"], d["Style"]); }) 0,1400 ]); svg.datum(data); svg.append("clipPath") .attr("id", "clip-above") .append("path") .attr("d", area.y0(0)); svg.append("clipPath") .attr("id", "clip-below") .append("path") .attr("d", area.y0(height)); svg.append("path") .attr("class", "area above") .attr("clip-path", "url(#clip-above)") .attr("d", area.y0(function(d) { return y(d["Style"]); })); svg.append("path") .attr("class", "area below") .attr("clip-path", "url(#clip-below)") .attr("d", area.y0(function(d) { return y(d["Style"]); })); svg.append("path") .attr("class", "line") .style("stroke", "darkgreen") .attr("d", lineScience); svg.append("path") .attr("class", "line") .style("stroke", "red") .attr("d", lineStyle); svg.append("g") .attr("class", "x axis") .attr("transform", "translate(0," + height + ")") .call(xAxis); svg.append("g") .attr("class", "y axis") .call(yAxis);});</script></body> https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/d3/3.5.5/d3.min.js