Scatter Plot with Text Labels Instead of Points — Altair

A scatter plot where data points are represented by text labels instead of markers. Each label is positioned at its corresponding coordinates, making the text itself the visual element. This visualization is particularly useful for displaying named entities in 2D space, such as word embeddings, dimensionality reduction outputs, or any scenario where identifying individual items by name is more important than seeing their relative density.

Scatter Plot with Text Labels Instead of Points rendered with Altair

Python source (Altair)

""" anyplot.ai
scatter-text: Scatter Plot with Text Labels Instead of Points
Library: altair 6.1.0 | Python 3.13.13
Quality: 87/100 | Updated: 2026-05-17
"""

import os

import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
from altair import Chart, Color, Legend, Scale, Title, Tooltip, X, Y, condition, selection_point, value


# Theme tokens
THEME = os.getenv("ANYPLOT_THEME", "light")
PAGE_BG = "#FAF8F1" if THEME == "light" else "#1A1A17"
ELEVATED_BG = "#FFFDF6" if THEME == "light" else "#242420"
INK = "#1A1A17" if THEME == "light" else "#F0EFE8"
INK_SOFT = "#4A4A44" if THEME == "light" else "#B8B7B0"
BRAND = "#009E73"  # Okabe-Ito position 1

# Data: Programming languages positioned by popularity vs age
np.random.seed(42)

languages = [
    "Python",
    "JavaScript",
    "Java",
    "C++",
    "Ruby",
    "Go",
    "Rust",
    "Swift",
    "Kotlin",
    "TypeScript",
    "Scala",
    "R",
    "Julia",
    "Perl",
    "PHP",
    "C#",
    "Haskell",
    "Elixir",
    "Clojure",
    "Dart",
    "Lua",
    "MATLAB",
    "Fortran",
    "COBOL",
    "Lisp",
    "Erlang",
    "F#",
    "Groovy",
]

# Simulated: x = language age (years), y = relative popularity score
ages = np.array(
    [33, 29, 26, 41, 29, 15, 9, 10, 13, 8, 20, 31, 12, 37, 30, 24, 34, 13, 17, 18, 31, 40, 68, 65, 66, 38, 19, 21]
)
popularity = np.array(
    [98, 88, 82, 68, 42, 62, 52, 58, 48, 75, 32, 45, 28, 18, 55, 72, 12, 15, 9, 22, 25, 38, 8, 4, 6, 14, 35, 20]
)

df = pd.DataFrame({"age": ages, "popularity": popularity, "language": languages, "year_created": 2026 - ages})

# Selection for hover highlight
hover = selection_point(on="pointerover", nearest=True, empty=False)

chart = (
    Chart(df)
    .mark_text(fontSize=14, fontWeight="bold")
    .encode(
        x=X("age:Q", title="Language Age (Years Since Creation)", scale=Scale(domain=[-2, 75])),
        y=Y("popularity:Q", title="Relative Popularity Score", scale=Scale(domain=[-2, 105])),
        text="language:N",
        color=condition(
            hover, value(BRAND), Color("popularity:Q", scale=Scale(scheme="viridis"), legend=Legend(title="Popularity"))
        ),
        size=condition(hover, value(18), value(14)),
        tooltip=[
            Tooltip("language:N", title="Language"),
            Tooltip("age:Q", title="Age (years)"),
            Tooltip("popularity:Q", title="Popularity Score"),
            Tooltip("year_created:Q", title="Year Created"),
        ],
    )
    .add_params(hover)
    .properties(
        width=1600,
        height=900,
        background=PAGE_BG,
        title=Title(text="scatter-text · Python · altair · anyplot.ai", fontSize=28, anchor="middle"),
    )
    .configure_view(fill=PAGE_BG, stroke=INK_SOFT, strokeWidth=0)
    .configure_axis(
        domainColor=INK_SOFT,
        tickColor=INK_SOFT,
        gridColor=INK,
        gridOpacity=0.10,
        labelColor=INK_SOFT,
        labelFontSize=18,
        titleColor=INK,
        titleFontSize=22,
    )
    .configure_title(color=INK)
    .configure_legend(
        fillColor=ELEVATED_BG,
        strokeColor=INK_SOFT,
        labelColor=INK_SOFT,
        titleColor=INK,
        titleFontSize=18,
        labelFontSize=16,
    )
)

# Save as PNG and HTML
chart.save(f"plot-{THEME}.png", scale_factor=3.0)
chart.save(f"plot-{THEME}.html")

Part of Scatter Plot with Text Labels Instead of Points on anyplot.ai.

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