We started this chapter by looking at how canvas elements work. We discussed what parts of a jqPlot chart can be modified using CSS and which have to be modified by JavaScript on the canvas. We looked at the x2axis element and how to smooth lines. We also changed the default colors for negative numbers within our series.

We then created a function expression to create default options for our bar charts. Then with our default options set, we passed the object into another function to style our charts. With all this up-front work, it reduced the amount of code needed and also reduced the development time for each subsequent chart.

In the next chapter, we will combine all of these charts into one document. We will also look at modifying one of the rendering plugins for jqPlot.