diff --git a/src/arg_desc.jl b/src/arg_desc.jl
index 0e5123ef..3b1f32eb 100644
--- a/src/arg_desc.jl
+++ b/src/arg_desc.jl
@@ -101,16 +101,3 @@ const _arg_desc = KW(
 :foreground_color_guide   => "Color Type or `:match` (matches `:foreground_color_subplot`). Color of axis guides (axis labels).",
 
 )
-
-# need dataframes to make html tables, etc easily
-if is_installed("DataFrames")
-    @eval begin
-    	import DataFrames
-
-    	function save_html(df::DataFrames.AbstractDataFrame, fn = "/tmp/tmp.html")
-    		f = open(fn, "w")
-    		writemime(f, MIME("text/html"), df)
-    		close(f)
-    	end
-    end
-end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/backends.jl b/src/backends.jl
index 9d64f9c7..ffeebb09 100644
--- a/src/backends.jl
+++ b/src/backends.jl
@@ -159,8 +159,10 @@ function backend(modname::Symbol)
     CURRENT_BACKEND.pkg = _backend_instance(modname)
 end
 
+const _deprecated_backends = [:qwt, :winston, :bokeh, :gadfly, :immerse]
+
 function warn_on_deprecated_backend(bsym::Symbol)
-    if bsym in (:qwt, :winston, :bokeh, :gadfly, :immerse)
+    if bsym in _deprecated_backends
         warn("Backend $bsym has been deprecated.  It may not work as originally intended.")
     end
 end
diff --git a/src/examples.jl b/src/examples.jl
index ed917644..0df39c1f 100644
--- a/src/examples.jl
+++ b/src/examples.jl
@@ -7,19 +7,6 @@ type PlotExample
   exprs::Vector{Expr}
 end
 
-function pretty_print_expr(io::IO, expr::Expr)
-    lines = split(string(expr), "\n")
-    start_idx = 1
-    if expr.head == :block
-        lines = lines[2:end-1]
-        start_idx = 5
-    end
-    lines_without_comments = map(str -> split(str,"#")[1][start_idx:end], lines)
-    for line in lines_without_comments
-        println(io, expr)
-    end
-end
-
 # the _examples we'll run for each
 const _examples = PlotExample[
 
diff --git a/src/utils.jl b/src/utils.jl
index a48bfcc4..998d6160 100644
--- a/src/utils.jl
+++ b/src/utils.jl
@@ -620,47 +620,6 @@ end
 
 
 
-# ---------------------------------------------------------------
-# ---------------------------------------------------------------
-# graphs detailing the features that each backend supports
-
-function supportGraph(allvals, func)
-    vals = reverse(sort(allvals))
-    bs = sort(backends())
-    x, y = map(string, bs), map(string, vals)
-    nx, ny = map(length, (x,y))
-    z = zeros(nx, ny)
-    for i=1:nx, j=1:ny
-        supported = func(Plots._backend_instance(bs[i]))
-        z[i,j] = float(vals[j] in supported) * (0.4i/nx+0.6)
-    end
-    heatmap(x, y, z,
-            color = ColorGradient([:white, :darkblue]),
-            line = (1, :black),
-            leg = false,
-            size = (50nx+50, 35ny+100),
-            xlim = (0.5, nx+0.5),
-            ylim = (0.5, ny+0.5),
-            xrotation = 60,
-            aspect_ratio = :equal)
-end
-
-supportGraphArgs()    = supportGraph(_all_args, supportedArgs)
-supportGraphTypes()   = supportGraph(_allTypes, supportedTypes)
-supportGraphStyles()  = supportGraph(_allStyles, supportedStyles)
-supportGraphMarkers() = supportGraph(_allMarkers, supportedMarkers)
-supportGraphScales()  = supportGraph(_allScales, supportedScales)
-supportGraphAxes()    = supportGraph(_allAxes, supportedAxes)
-
-function dumpSupportGraphs()
-    for func in (supportGraphArgs, supportGraphTypes, supportGraphStyles,
-               supportGraphMarkers, supportGraphScales, supportGraphAxes)
-        plt = func()
-        png(Pkg.dir("PlotDocs", "docs", "examples", "img", "supported", "$(string(func))"))
-    end
-end
-
-# ---------------------------------------------------------------
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------