Chapter 1. Web Charts
In this chapter you will learn the general background of web charts. This includes a short history of how web charts used to be made before Ajax and HTML5 became the new standard. The recent advancement in JavaScript programming will be briefly discussed. Then the new HTML5 features—SVG and canvas, which are the main drive behind JavaScript charts, are introduced and demonstrated. This is followed by a quick guide on the other JavaScript graphing packages that are available on the market. Finally, an introduction of Highcharts is given, which explains the advantages of Highcharts over the other products. In this chapter we will cover the following:
A short history of web charting
The uprising of JavaScript and HTML5
JavaScript charts on the market
Why Highcharts?
Tip
Downloading the example code
You can download the example code files for all Packt books you have purchased from your account at http://www.PacktPub.com. If you purchased this book elsewhere, you can visit http://www.PacktPub.com/support and register to have the files e-mailed directly to you.