matplotlib-devel Mailing List for matplotlib

On 2013年07月20日 11:47 AM, Chris Beaumont wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I thought I'd chime in on this discussion -- Adrian Price-Whelan and I
> put together plotornot during the SciPy sprints.
>
> I wouldn't advocate for linking to plotornot from matplotlib -- the idea
> is semi tongue-in-cheek, and meant to gauge to what extent there is
> consensus about plot styles. It's not set up to teach about rcParams,
> nor does it systematically explore all possible styles. The votes (>10K,
> last I checked) are saved, and eventually Adrian or I will look over the
> feedback and report back to you all. I haven't had time for that yet. I
> hope the name didn't *actually* offend anyone.
>
> At the risk of sounding unappreciative of MPL (which I love, and rely
> upon daily), I must admit I was disheartened after hearing the MPL devs
> at SciPy discuss styles and defaults. I understand that you don't want
> to change the default styles without a clearly better alternative. I
> also understand that, to some extent, style preferences are subjective.
> However, there seemed to be quite a bit of resistance to the idea that
> MPL defaults should change *at all.*
>
> Even if you ignore the subjective component of this (which I think is a
> mistake, since in my experience there is broad consensus that projects
> like ggplot2, d3, tableau, and spotfire do a "better" job than MPL at
> styling), there are some well-established visual principles that
> matplotlib violates. Some of my biggest pet peeves are:
>
> 1) The default 'axes.color_cycle' values should be equally visible, with
> similar luminance values. The current defaults (bgrcmyk) do not have
> this property -- c and y are harder to see, and thus carry less visual
> emphasis. A color table like the "Dark2" color brewer table
> (http://learnr.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/colours-dark2.png,
> colorbrewer2.org <http://colorbrewer2.org>) is more uniform, and
> carefully designed for visibility and contrast. 'rgbcmyk' is clearly an
> arbitrary choice -- why not use a smarter default?
>
> 2) The default 'jet' colormap for images has a lot of poor properties
> (which is even mentioned on the MPL docs at
> http://matplotlib.org/api/pyplot_summary.html#id1). The brain is bad at
> ordering changes in hue (which is bigger -- purple or yellow?), and
> better at ordering changes in intensity or saturation. A colleague of
> mine designed a visualization tool for doctors, and found that the
> rainbow color table had a dramatic negative effect on the effectiveness
> of the tool (you can watch her TED talk about this at
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU7veyGGps4&t=440s). The jet default is
> especially frustrating, since it *cannot* be modified via rcParams
>
> 3) Some of the defaults violate Tufte principles like minimizing "chart
> junk." For example, the 'stepfilled' mode for hist is probably better
> than the default, which draws vertical lines between every bin. Those
> lines make the histogram noisier -- do they convey any extra
> information? Again, this can't be tweaked via rcParams.
>
> Sorry for being long-winded -- I just want to make the case that this is
> an important (and not *entirely* subjective) issue. If nothing else, it
> would be great to see some clear statement about where the MPL devs
> stand on this issue -- what criteria must be met to consider a change to
> the defaults? My apologies if such a document already exists somewhere!
>
> Cheers,
> Chris Beaumont
Chris,
I appreciate the ideas, and I agree entirely that improvements are in 
order, so it is just a question of exactly what and how, not whether 
there should be changes. (For example, the default line color set often 
irritates me, too, because blue and green look rather similar, 
particularly in comparison to red, which visually overwhelms the others.)
A problem with simply changing the defaults to some sort of consensus or 
majority opinion as to what is better is that inevitably there will be 
users who will be distressed when they upgrade and suddenly find that 
all their plots--perhaps generated automatically by their cron jobs or 
web apps--look very different, and perhaps don't even work well with the 
new defaults. Therefore we have to be somewhat conservative, and the 
tendency is to minimize changes that are not essential. I think that a 
change in the defaults will need to be staged in such a fashion that it 
will be as easy as possible for users to retain the old defaults if they 
prefer them. That leads to the idea that something like a style toolkit 
or cookbook, or set of examples included with mpl, might be helpful. 
There is never going to be one good style for all; it would be good to 
have examples of how to tailor things for the screen, or for paper, or 
for presentations, or for publications (some of which still favor black 
and white).
The mpl examples (gallery) can be the first target for improvement; 
based on some experience and input, an actual change in the defaults 
might be announced and scheduled for some future release, with assurance 
that a matplotlibrc file for the old defaults will remain available for 
some interval.
Eric

Hi,
Definitely don't link from matplotlib. This was a fun hack put together to
get people talking about re-styling -- success!
I have to echo Chris' disappointment about the discussion of defaults in
MPL. While there are certainly many subjective elements of style and
design, there are also a number of rules that the default settings violate
(as Chris mentions below). The way I interpret the push-back to replacing
the defaults is: "there are too many better alternatives that we will never
agree upon, so let's just keep what's there." To 0th order, just pick one!
Fixing the few things that Chris mentions below will go a long way to
modernizing the MPL feel and experience. There many other things I would
like to change about the defaults, but maybe the right thing to do is just
issue a pull request so we can discuss on there?
As a longer term idea, I propose:
- normalize what can and can't be modified with an rc file -- right now,
it's kind of all over the place
then:
- each plot in the matplotlib gallery should have a drop-down menu with
~3-5 style options
- these options can be named or whatever, but should be complete
matplotlibrc files that can either be a) shipped with matplotlib, or b)
very easily downloaded and installed (think:
 matplotlib.rc_install('name-of-style'))
- on each gallery entry page, selecting an option from the drop-down should
show the same plot made with the specified rc style
I'm happy to help implement this stuff, but I think this would be a
tremendous resource to the community.
And if you decide to reject everything from this email, *please* at least
change the default colormap :) #downwithJet
- Adrian
From: Chris Beaumont <bea...@ha...>
> Date: Sat, Jul 20, 2013 at 5:47 PM
> Subject: Re: Plot or Not: voting to create better matplotlibrc
> To: mat...@li...
>
>
> Hi,
>
> I thought I'd chime in on this discussion -- Adrian Price-Whelan and I put
> together plotornot during the SciPy sprints.
>
> I wouldn't advocate for linking to plotornot from matplotlib -- the idea
> is semi tongue-in-cheek, and meant to gauge to what extent there is
> consensus about plot styles. It's not set up to teach about rcParams, nor
> does it systematically explore all possible styles. The votes (>10K, last I
> checked) are saved, and eventually Adrian or I will look over the feedback
> and report back to you all. I haven't had time for that yet. I hope the
> name didn't *actually* offend anyone.
>
> At the risk of sounding unappreciative of MPL (which I love, and rely upon
> daily), I must admit I was disheartened after hearing the MPL devs at SciPy
> discuss styles and defaults. I understand that you don't want to change the
> default styles without a clearly better alternative. I also understand
> that, to some extent, style preferences are subjective. However, there
> seemed to be quite a bit of resistance to the idea that MPL defaults should
> change *at all.*
>
> Even if you ignore the subjective component of this (which I think is a
> mistake, since in my experience there is broad consensus that projects like
> ggplot2, d3, tableau, and spotfire do a "better" job than MPL at styling),
> there are some well-established visual principles that matplotlib violates.
> Some of my biggest pet peeves are:
>
> 1) The default 'axes.color_cycle' values should be equally visible, with
> similar luminance values. The current defaults (bgrcmyk) do not have this
> property -- c and y are harder to see, and thus carry less visual emphasis.
> A color table like the "Dark2" color brewer table (
> http://learnr.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/colours-dark2.png,
> colorbrewer2.org) is more uniform, and carefully designed for visibility
> and contrast. 'rgbcmyk' is clearly an arbitrary choice -- why not use a
> smarter default?
>
> 2) The default 'jet' colormap for images has a lot of poor properties
> (which is even mentioned on the MPL docs at
> http://matplotlib.org/api/pyplot_summary.html#id1). The brain is bad at
> ordering changes in hue (which is bigger -- purple or yellow?), and better
> at ordering changes in intensity or saturation. A colleague of mine
> designed a visualization tool for doctors, and found that the rainbow color
> table had a dramatic negative effect on the effectiveness of the tool (you
> can watch her TED talk about this at
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU7veyGGps4&t=440s). The jet default is
> especially frustrating, since it *cannot* be modified via rcParams
>
> 3) Some of the defaults violate Tufte principles like minimizing "chart
> junk." For example, the 'stepfilled' mode for hist is probably better than
> the default, which draws vertical lines between every bin. Those lines make
> the histogram noisier -- do they convey any extra information? Again, this
> can't be tweaked via rcParams.
>
> Sorry for being long-winded -- I just want to make the case that this is
> an important (and not *entirely* subjective) issue. If nothing else, it
> would be great to see some clear statement about where the MPL devs stand
> on this issue -- what criteria must be met to consider a change to the
> defaults? My apologies if such a document already exists somewhere!
>
> Cheers,
> Chris Beaumont
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sat, Jul 20, 2013 at 3:03 PM, <
> mat...@li...> wrote:
>
>> Send Matplotlib-devel mailing list submissions to
>> mat...@li...
>>
>> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
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>>
>>
>> Today's Topics:
>>
>> 1. Re: Plot or Not: voting to create better matplotlibrc
>> (Eric Firing)
>> 2. Re: How to use STIX fonts in matplotlib plots? (Eric Firing)
>> 3. Re: Plot or Not: voting to create better matplotlibrc
>> (Benjamin Root)
>> 4. Re: How to use STIX fonts in matplotlib plots? (Benjamin Root)
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 1
>> Date: 2013年7月20日 08:20:11 -1000
>> From: Eric Firing <ef...@ha...>
>> Subject: Re: [matplotlib-devel] Plot or Not: voting to create better
>> matplotlibrc
>> To: mat...@li...
>> Message-ID: <51E...@ha...>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>>
>> On 2013年07月20日 4:18 AM, David P. Sanders wrote:
>> > Hi,
>> >
>> > Probably many of you know about "Plot or Not", a site where we vote on
>> > the same plot presented in different ways, to get feedback about better
>> > matplotlibrc params:
>> >
>> > http://warm-escarpment-9042.herokuapp.com/
>> >
>> > It seems to me an absolutely fantastic idea! I think many people do not
>> > realise how fantastic the plots can look with some of this modern
>> > styling. (Styling was mentioned several times at SciPy.)
>> >
>> > Would it be possible to put a link to this site on the matplotlib web
>> > page and encourage people to use it?
>>
>> David,
>>
>> Interesting, but I'm not sure this is a good approach. I really don't
>> see the point of the voting. What I think would be more useful would be
>> a set of matplotlibrc files with examples of their effect on at least a
>> few plot types.
>>
>> >
>> > Definitely time to update the defaults!!
>>
>> Or maybe include a representative set of rcParams combinations to make
>> it easier for people to choose a design that suits their purpose. This
>> could be part of a toolkit.
>>
>> Eric
>>
>> >
>> > Best wishes,
>> > David.
>> >
>> > --
>> > Dr. David P. Sanders
>> >
>> > Profesor Titular "A" / Associate Professor
>> > Departamento de F?sica, Facultad de Ciencias
>> > Universidad Nacional Aut?noma de M?xico (UNAM)
>> >
>> > dps...@ci... <mailto:dps...@ci...>
>> > http://sistemas.fciencias.unam.mx/~dsanders
>> > <http://sistemas.fciencias.unam.mx/%7Edsanders>
>> >
>> > Cub?culo / office: #414, 4o. piso del Depto. de F?sica
>> > Tel.: +52 55 5622 4965
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> > See everything from the browser to the database with AppDynamics
>> > Get end-to-end visibility with application monitoring from AppDynamics
>> > Isolate bottlenecks and diagnose root cause in seconds.
>> > Start your free trial of AppDynamics Pro today!
>> >
>> http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=48808831&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Matplotlib-devel mailing list
>> > Mat...@li...
>> > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-devel
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 2
>> Date: 2013年7月20日 08:55:37 -1000
>> From: Eric Firing <ef...@ha...>
>> Subject: Re: [matplotlib-devel] How to use STIX fonts in matplotlib
>> plots?
>> To: mat...@li...
>> Message-ID: <51E...@ha...>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>>
>> On 2013年07月20日 4:41 AM, David P. Sanders wrote:
>> > I find the default font used in matplotlib horrible. We should be able
>> > to do much better these days.
>>
>> Which font is being used as default on your installation? And what are
>> the characteristics that earn the rating of "horrible"?
>>
>> Eric
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 3
>> Date: 2013年7月20日 14:58:12 -0400
>> From: Benjamin Root <ben...@ou...>
>> Subject: Re: [matplotlib-devel] Plot or Not: voting to create better
>> matplotlibrc
>> To: Eric Firing <ef...@ha...>
>> Cc: matplotlib development list
>> <mat...@li...>
>> Message-ID:
>> <CANNq6F=pdWohTRYLqEkG3oy6VoWYJ=
>> c4Q...@ma...>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>>
>> >From discussions with others at SciPy, we found ourselves disagreeing on
>> what default we would want. We also weren't sure exactly which params were
>> the ones that people tended to change. We have zero data on this. This
>> site
>> is intended to help start that data collection process.
>>
>> We can certainly improve this site to collect other kinds of info, but
>> this
>> is just a start. One could also view this as a launching point for
>> teaching
>> how to use rcParams (sorry David, i kinda like that name) in mpl. You all
>> know I never let a good teaching moment go to waste!
>>
>> As for linking from matplotlib.org, I am ambivalent. It is a bit
>> gimmicky,
>> and I do worry about being counterproductive to efforts in SciPy to be
>> more
>> inclusive of women (given the rather anti-feministic undertones of the
>> site
>> we are parodying). Of course, that could just be me being overly cautious.
>>
>> Cheers!
>> Ben Root
>> On Jul 20, 2013 2:20 PM, "Eric Firing" <ef...@ha...> wrote:
>>
>> > On 2013年07月20日 4:18 AM, David P. Sanders wrote:
>> > > Hi,
>> > >
>> > > Probably many of you know about "Plot or Not", a site where we vote on
>> > > the same plot presented in different ways, to get feedback about
>> better
>> > > matplotlibrc params:
>> > >
>> > > http://warm-escarpment-9042.herokuapp.com/
>> > >
>> > > It seems to me an absolutely fantastic idea! I think many people do
>> not
>> > > realise how fantastic the plots can look with some of this modern
>> > > styling. (Styling was mentioned several times at SciPy.)
>> > >
>> > > Would it be possible to put a link to this site on the matplotlib web
>> > > page and encourage people to use it?
>> >
>> > David,
>> >
>> > Interesting, but I'm not sure this is a good approach. I really don't
>> > see the point of the voting. What I think would be more useful would be
>> > a set of matplotlibrc files with examples of their effect on at least a
>> > few plot types.
>> >
>> > >
>> > > Definitely time to update the defaults!!
>> >
>> > Or maybe include a representative set of rcParams combinations to make
>> > it easier for people to choose a design that suits their purpose. This
>> > could be part of a toolkit.
>> >
>> > Eric
>> >
>> > >
>> > > Best wishes,
>> > > David.
>> > >
>> > > --
>> > > Dr. David P. Sanders
>> > >
>> > > Profesor Titular "A" / Associate Professor
>> > > Departamento de F?sica, Facultad de Ciencias
>> > > Universidad Nacional Aut?noma de M?xico (UNAM)
>> > >
>> > > dps...@ci... <mailto:dps...@ci...>
>> > > http://sistemas.fciencias.unam.mx/~dsanders
>> > > <http://sistemas.fciencias.unam.mx/%7Edsanders>
>> > >
>> > > Cub?culo / office: #414, 4o. piso del Depto. de F?sica
>> > > Tel.: +52 55 5622 4965
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> >
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> > > See everything from the browser to the database with AppDynamics
>> > > Get end-to-end visibility with application monitoring from AppDynamics
>> > > Isolate bottlenecks and diagnose root cause in seconds.
>> > > Start your free trial of AppDynamics Pro today!
>> > >
>> >
>> http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=48808831&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > _______________________________________________
>> > > Matplotlib-devel mailing list
>> > > Mat...@li...
>> > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-devel
>> > >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> > See everything from the browser to the database with AppDynamics
>> > Get end-to-end visibility with application monitoring from AppDynamics
>> > Isolate bottlenecks and diagnose root cause in seconds.
>> > Start your free trial of AppDynamics Pro today!
>> >
>> http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=48808831&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Matplotlib-devel mailing list
>> > Mat...@li...
>> > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-devel
>> >
>> -------------- next part --------------
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>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 4
>> Date: 2013年7月20日 15:03:20 -0400
>> From: Benjamin Root <ben...@ou...>
>> Subject: Re: [matplotlib-devel] How to use STIX fonts in matplotlib
>> plots?
>> To: "David P. Sanders" <dps...@ci...>
>> Cc: matplotlib development list
>> <mat...@li...>
>> Message-ID:
>> <CANNq6Fm0Oz=
>> 3uk...@ma...>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>>
>> David,
>>
>> IIRC, we were just starting to investigate how to produce retina graphics.
>> Perhaps you might be able to help Mike D and Michael de Hoon with there
>> efforts because very few of us have retina displays.
>>
>> Cheers!
>> Ben Root
>> On Jul 20, 2013 10:43 AM, "David P. Sanders" <dps...@ci...>
>> wrote:
>>
>> > I find the default font used in matplotlib horrible. We should be able
>> to
>> > do much better these days.
>> >
>> > One very interesting option, at least for standard (paper) publishing,
>> is
>> > the STIX fonts, which is a Times-like font set promoted by several
>> > publishers.
>> >
>> > There are various options in matplotlib, such as
>> > matplotlib.rcParams["mathtext.fontset"], which allow the option "stix",
>> > but I have not been able to get it to work. Can anybody please help me
>> with
>> > this -- what is required?
>> >
>> > I have the STIX otf or ttf installed on my Mac, but I don't seem to
>> manage
>> > to get the LaTeX versions installed -- installing LaTeX fonts is *so*
>> > disgusting (is there some helper script for that?).
>> >
>> > Thanks and best wishes,
>> > David.
>> >
>> > --
>> > Dr. David P. Sanders
>> >
>> > Profesor Titular "A" / Associate Professor
>> > Departamento de F?sica, Facultad de Ciencias
>> > Universidad Nacional Aut?noma de M?xico (UNAM)
>> >
>> > dps...@ci...
>> > http://sistemas.fciencias.unam.mx/~dsanders
>> >
>> > Cub?culo / office: #414, 4o. piso del Depto. de F?sica
>> >
>> > Tel.: +52 55 5622 4965
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> > See everything from the browser to the database with AppDynamics
>> > Get end-to-end visibility with application monitoring from AppDynamics
>> > Isolate bottlenecks and diagnose root cause in seconds.
>> > Start your free trial of AppDynamics Pro today!
>> >
>> http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=48808831&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Matplotlib-devel mailing list
>> > Mat...@li...
>> > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-devel
>> >
>> >
>> -------------- next part --------------
>> An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> See everything from the browser to the database with AppDynamics
>> Get end-to-end visibility with application monitoring from AppDynamics
>> Isolate bottlenecks and diagnose root cause in seconds.
>> Start your free trial of AppDynamics Pro today!
>>
>> http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=48808831&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Matplotlib-devel mailing list
>> Mat...@li...
>> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-devel
>>
>>
>> End of Matplotlib-devel Digest, Vol 86, Issue 17
>> ************************************************
>>
>
>
>
> --
> ************************************
> Chris Beaumont
> Graduate Student
> Institute for Astronomy
> University of Hawaii at Manoa
> 2680 Woodlawn Drive
> Honolulu, HI 96822
> www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~beaumont
> ************************************
>
>
>
> --
> ************************************
> Chris Beaumont
> Graduate Student
> Institute for Astronomy
> University of Hawaii at Manoa
> 2680 Woodlawn Drive
> Honolulu, HI 96822
> www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~beaumont
> ************************************
>
-- 
Adrian M. Price-Whelan ~ Columbia University ~ http://adrian.pw

Hi,
I thought I'd chime in on this discussion -- Adrian Price-Whelan and I put
together plotornot during the SciPy sprints.
I wouldn't advocate for linking to plotornot from matplotlib -- the idea is
semi tongue-in-cheek, and meant to gauge to what extent there is consensus
about plot styles. It's not set up to teach about rcParams, nor does it
systematically explore all possible styles. The votes (>10K, last I
checked) are saved, and eventually Adrian or I will look over the feedback
and report back to you all. I haven't had time for that yet. I hope the
name didn't *actually* offend anyone.
At the risk of sounding unappreciative of MPL (which I love, and rely upon
daily), I must admit I was disheartened after hearing the MPL devs at SciPy
discuss styles and defaults. I understand that you don't want to change the
default styles without a clearly better alternative. I also understand
that, to some extent, style preferences are subjective. However, there
seemed to be quite a bit of resistance to the idea that MPL defaults should
change *at all.*
Even if you ignore the subjective component of this (which I think is a
mistake, since in my experience there is broad consensus that projects like
ggplot2, d3, tableau, and spotfire do a "better" job than MPL at styling),
there are some well-established visual principles that matplotlib violates.
Some of my biggest pet peeves are:
1) The default 'axes.color_cycle' values should be equally visible, with
similar luminance values. The current defaults (bgrcmyk) do not have this
property -- c and y are harder to see, and thus carry less visual emphasis.
A color table like the "Dark2" color brewer table (
http://learnr.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/colours-dark2.png,
colorbrewer2.org) is more uniform, and carefully designed for visibility
and contrast. 'rgbcmyk' is clearly an arbitrary choice -- why not use a
smarter default?
2) The default 'jet' colormap for images has a lot of poor properties
(which is even mentioned on the MPL docs at
http://matplotlib.org/api/pyplot_summary.html#id1). The brain is bad at
ordering changes in hue (which is bigger -- purple or yellow?), and better
at ordering changes in intensity or saturation. A colleague of mine
designed a visualization tool for doctors, and found that the rainbow color
table had a dramatic negative effect on the effectiveness of the tool (you
can watch her TED talk about this at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU7veyGGps4&t=440s). The jet default is
especially frustrating, since it *cannot* be modified via rcParams
3) Some of the defaults violate Tufte principles like minimizing "chart
junk." For example, the 'stepfilled' mode for hist is probably better than
the default, which draws vertical lines between every bin. Those lines make
the histogram noisier -- do they convey any extra information? Again, this
can't be tweaked via rcParams.
Sorry for being long-winded -- I just want to make the case that this is an
important (and not *entirely* subjective) issue. If nothing else, it would
be great to see some clear statement about where the MPL devs stand on this
issue -- what criteria must be met to consider a change to the defaults? My
apologies if such a document already exists somewhere!
Cheers,
Chris Beaumont
On Sat, Jul 20, 2013 at 3:03 PM, <
mat...@li...> wrote:
> Send Matplotlib-devel mailing list submissions to
> mat...@li...
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-devel
> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
> mat...@li...
>
> You can reach the person managing the list at
> mat...@li...
>
> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> than "Re: Contents of Matplotlib-devel digest..."
>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Re: Plot or Not: voting to create better matplotlibrc
> (Eric Firing)
> 2. Re: How to use STIX fonts in matplotlib plots? (Eric Firing)
> 3. Re: Plot or Not: voting to create better matplotlibrc
> (Benjamin Root)
> 4. Re: How to use STIX fonts in matplotlib plots? (Benjamin Root)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: 2013年7月20日 08:20:11 -1000
> From: Eric Firing <ef...@ha...>
> Subject: Re: [matplotlib-devel] Plot or Not: voting to create better
> matplotlibrc
> To: mat...@li...
> Message-ID: <51E...@ha...>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
> On 2013年07月20日 4:18 AM, David P. Sanders wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > Probably many of you know about "Plot or Not", a site where we vote on
> > the same plot presented in different ways, to get feedback about better
> > matplotlibrc params:
> >
> > http://warm-escarpment-9042.herokuapp.com/
> >
> > It seems to me an absolutely fantastic idea! I think many people do not
> > realise how fantastic the plots can look with some of this modern
> > styling. (Styling was mentioned several times at SciPy.)
> >
> > Would it be possible to put a link to this site on the matplotlib web
> > page and encourage people to use it?
>
> David,
>
> Interesting, but I'm not sure this is a good approach. I really don't
> see the point of the voting. What I think would be more useful would be
> a set of matplotlibrc files with examples of their effect on at least a
> few plot types.
>
> >
> > Definitely time to update the defaults!!
>
> Or maybe include a representative set of rcParams combinations to make
> it easier for people to choose a design that suits their purpose. This
> could be part of a toolkit.
>
> Eric
>
> >
> > Best wishes,
> > David.
> >
> > --
> > Dr. David P. Sanders
> >
> > Profesor Titular "A" / Associate Professor
> > Departamento de F?sica, Facultad de Ciencias
> > Universidad Nacional Aut?noma de M?xico (UNAM)
> >
> > dps...@ci... <mailto:dps...@ci...>
> > http://sistemas.fciencias.unam.mx/~dsanders
> > <http://sistemas.fciencias.unam.mx/%7Edsanders>
> >
> > Cub?culo / office: #414, 4o. piso del Depto. de F?sica
> > Tel.: +52 55 5622 4965
> >
> >
> >
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > See everything from the browser to the database with AppDynamics
> > Get end-to-end visibility with application monitoring from AppDynamics
> > Isolate bottlenecks and diagnose root cause in seconds.
> > Start your free trial of AppDynamics Pro today!
> >
> http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=48808831&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Matplotlib-devel mailing list
> > Mat...@li...
> > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-devel
> >
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: 2013年7月20日 08:55:37 -1000
> From: Eric Firing <ef...@ha...>
> Subject: Re: [matplotlib-devel] How to use STIX fonts in matplotlib
> plots?
> To: mat...@li...
> Message-ID: <51E...@ha...>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
> On 2013年07月20日 4:41 AM, David P. Sanders wrote:
> > I find the default font used in matplotlib horrible. We should be able
> > to do much better these days.
>
> Which font is being used as default on your installation? And what are
> the characteristics that earn the rating of "horrible"?
>
> Eric
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: 2013年7月20日 14:58:12 -0400
> From: Benjamin Root <ben...@ou...>
> Subject: Re: [matplotlib-devel] Plot or Not: voting to create better
> matplotlibrc
> To: Eric Firing <ef...@ha...>
> Cc: matplotlib development list
> <mat...@li...>
> Message-ID:
> <CANNq6F=pdWohTRYLqEkG3oy6VoWYJ=
> c4Q...@ma...>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> >From discussions with others at SciPy, we found ourselves disagreeing on
> what default we would want. We also weren't sure exactly which params were
> the ones that people tended to change. We have zero data on this. This site
> is intended to help start that data collection process.
>
> We can certainly improve this site to collect other kinds of info, but this
> is just a start. One could also view this as a launching point for teaching
> how to use rcParams (sorry David, i kinda like that name) in mpl. You all
> know I never let a good teaching moment go to waste!
>
> As for linking from matplotlib.org, I am ambivalent. It is a bit gimmicky,
> and I do worry about being counterproductive to efforts in SciPy to be more
> inclusive of women (given the rather anti-feministic undertones of the site
> we are parodying). Of course, that could just be me being overly cautious.
>
> Cheers!
> Ben Root
> On Jul 20, 2013 2:20 PM, "Eric Firing" <ef...@ha...> wrote:
>
> > On 2013年07月20日 4:18 AM, David P. Sanders wrote:
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > Probably many of you know about "Plot or Not", a site where we vote on
> > > the same plot presented in different ways, to get feedback about better
> > > matplotlibrc params:
> > >
> > > http://warm-escarpment-9042.herokuapp.com/
> > >
> > > It seems to me an absolutely fantastic idea! I think many people do not
> > > realise how fantastic the plots can look with some of this modern
> > > styling. (Styling was mentioned several times at SciPy.)
> > >
> > > Would it be possible to put a link to this site on the matplotlib web
> > > page and encourage people to use it?
> >
> > David,
> >
> > Interesting, but I'm not sure this is a good approach. I really don't
> > see the point of the voting. What I think would be more useful would be
> > a set of matplotlibrc files with examples of their effect on at least a
> > few plot types.
> >
> > >
> > > Definitely time to update the defaults!!
> >
> > Or maybe include a representative set of rcParams combinations to make
> > it easier for people to choose a design that suits their purpose. This
> > could be part of a toolkit.
> >
> > Eric
> >
> > >
> > > Best wishes,
> > > David.
> > >
> > > --
> > > Dr. David P. Sanders
> > >
> > > Profesor Titular "A" / Associate Professor
> > > Departamento de F?sica, Facultad de Ciencias
> > > Universidad Nacional Aut?noma de M?xico (UNAM)
> > >
> > > dps...@ci... <mailto:dps...@ci...>
> > > http://sistemas.fciencias.unam.mx/~dsanders
> > > <http://sistemas.fciencias.unam.mx/%7Edsanders>
> > >
> > > Cub?culo / office: #414, 4o. piso del Depto. de F?sica
> > > Tel.: +52 55 5622 4965
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > See everything from the browser to the database with AppDynamics
> > > Get end-to-end visibility with application monitoring from AppDynamics
> > > Isolate bottlenecks and diagnose root cause in seconds.
> > > Start your free trial of AppDynamics Pro today!
> > >
> >
> http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=48808831&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Matplotlib-devel mailing list
> > > Mat...@li...
> > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-devel
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > See everything from the browser to the database with AppDynamics
> > Get end-to-end visibility with application monitoring from AppDynamics
> > Isolate bottlenecks and diagnose root cause in seconds.
> > Start your free trial of AppDynamics Pro today!
> >
> http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=48808831&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk
> > _______________________________________________
> > Matplotlib-devel mailing list
> > Mat...@li...
> > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-devel
> >
> -------------- next part --------------
> An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: 2013年7月20日 15:03:20 -0400
> From: Benjamin Root <ben...@ou...>
> Subject: Re: [matplotlib-devel] How to use STIX fonts in matplotlib
> plots?
> To: "David P. Sanders" <dps...@ci...>
> Cc: matplotlib development list
> <mat...@li...>
> Message-ID:
> <CANNq6Fm0Oz=
> 3uk...@ma...>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> David,
>
> IIRC, we were just starting to investigate how to produce retina graphics.
> Perhaps you might be able to help Mike D and Michael de Hoon with there
> efforts because very few of us have retina displays.
>
> Cheers!
> Ben Root
> On Jul 20, 2013 10:43 AM, "David P. Sanders" <dps...@ci...>
> wrote:
>
> > I find the default font used in matplotlib horrible. We should be able to
> > do much better these days.
> >
> > One very interesting option, at least for standard (paper) publishing, is
> > the STIX fonts, which is a Times-like font set promoted by several
> > publishers.
> >
> > There are various options in matplotlib, such as
> > matplotlib.rcParams["mathtext.fontset"], which allow the option "stix",
> > but I have not been able to get it to work. Can anybody please help me
> with
> > this -- what is required?
> >
> > I have the STIX otf or ttf installed on my Mac, but I don't seem to
> manage
> > to get the LaTeX versions installed -- installing LaTeX fonts is *so*
> > disgusting (is there some helper script for that?).
> >
> > Thanks and best wishes,
> > David.
> >
> > --
> > Dr. David P. Sanders
> >
> > Profesor Titular "A" / Associate Professor
> > Departamento de F?sica, Facultad de Ciencias
> > Universidad Nacional Aut?noma de M?xico (UNAM)
> >
> > dps...@ci...
> > http://sistemas.fciencias.unam.mx/~dsanders
> >
> > Cub?culo / office: #414, 4o. piso del Depto. de F?sica
> >
> > Tel.: +52 55 5622 4965
> >
> >
> >
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > See everything from the browser to the database with AppDynamics
> > Get end-to-end visibility with application monitoring from AppDynamics
> > Isolate bottlenecks and diagnose root cause in seconds.
> > Start your free trial of AppDynamics Pro today!
> >
> http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=48808831&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk
> > _______________________________________________
> > Matplotlib-devel mailing list
> > Mat...@li...
> > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-devel
> >
> >
> -------------- next part --------------
> An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
>
> ------------------------------
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> See everything from the browser to the database with AppDynamics
> Get end-to-end visibility with application monitoring from AppDynamics
> Isolate bottlenecks and diagnose root cause in seconds.
> Start your free trial of AppDynamics Pro today!
> http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=48808831&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Matplotlib-devel mailing list
> Mat...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-devel
>
>
> End of Matplotlib-devel Digest, Vol 86, Issue 17
> ************************************************
>
-- 
************************************
Chris Beaumont
Graduate Student
Institute for Astronomy
University of Hawaii at Manoa
2680 Woodlawn Drive
Honolulu, HI 96822
www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~beaumont
************************************

On 2013年07月20日 8:58 AM, Benjamin Root wrote:
> From discussions with others at SciPy, we found ourselves disagreeing
> on what default we would want. We also weren't sure exactly which params
> were the ones that people tended to change. We have zero data on this.
> This site is intended to help start that data collection process.
Then it might help to add some introductory info to the page. When I 
went to it, all I saw was two versions of a plot and 3 buttons. That 
was not enough to motivate me to go further, so I don't know what would 
have happened if I had clicked one of the buttons.
>
> We can certainly improve this site to collect other kinds of info, but
> this is just a start. One could also view this as a launching point for
> teaching how to use rcParams (sorry David, i kinda like that name) in
> mpl. You all know I never let a good teaching moment go to waste!
Maybe the teaching would happen after clicking one of the buttons; it 
certainly was not apparent to me from the first page that there was a 
prospect of learning something.
>
> As for linking from matplotlib.org <http://matplotlib.org>, I am
> ambivalent. It is a bit gimmicky, and I do worry about being
> counterproductive to efforts in SciPy to be more inclusive of women
> (given the rather anti-feministic undertones of the site we are
> parodying). Of course, that could just be me being overly cautious.
What site are you parodying? On second thought, it sounds like it would 
be better if I remain ignorant; and I suspect you are not being overly 
cautious in having some reservations.
Eric
>
> Cheers!
> Ben Root
>
> On Jul 20, 2013 2:20 PM, "Eric Firing" <ef...@ha...
> <mailto:ef...@ha...>> wrote:
>
> On 2013年07月20日 4:18 AM, David P. Sanders wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > Probably many of you know about "Plot or Not", a site where we
> vote on
> > the same plot presented in different ways, to get feedback about
> better
> > matplotlibrc params:
> >
> > http://warm-escarpment-9042.herokuapp.com/
> >
> > It seems to me an absolutely fantastic idea! I think many people
> do not
> > realise how fantastic the plots can look with some of this modern
> > styling. (Styling was mentioned several times at SciPy.)
> >
> > Would it be possible to put a link to this site on the matplotlib web
> > page and encourage people to use it?
>
> David,
>
> Interesting, but I'm not sure this is a good approach. I really don't
> see the point of the voting. What I think would be more useful would be
> a set of matplotlibrc files with examples of their effect on at least a
> few plot types.
>
> >
> > Definitely time to update the defaults!!
>
> Or maybe include a representative set of rcParams combinations to make
> it easier for people to choose a design that suits their purpose. This
> could be part of a toolkit.
>
> Eric
>
> >
> > Best wishes,
> > David.
> >
> > --
> > Dr. David P. Sanders
> >
> > Profesor Titular "A" / Associate Professor
> > Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias
> > Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
> >
> > dps...@ci... <mailto:dps...@ci...>
> <mailto:dps...@ci... <mailto:dps...@ci...>>
> > http://sistemas.fciencias.unam.mx/~dsanders
> > <http://sistemas.fciencias.unam.mx/%7Edsanders>
> >
> > Cubículo / office: #414, 4o. piso del Depto. de Física
> > Tel.: +52 55 5622 4965 <tel:%2B52%2055%205622%204965>
> >
> >
> >
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > See everything from the browser to the database with AppDynamics
> > Get end-to-end visibility with application monitoring from
> AppDynamics
> > Isolate bottlenecks and diagnose root cause in seconds.
> > Start your free trial of AppDynamics Pro today!
> >
> http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=48808831&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Matplotlib-devel mailing list
> > Mat...@li...
> <mailto:Mat...@li...>
> > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-devel
> >
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> See everything from the browser to the database with AppDynamics
> Get end-to-end visibility with application monitoring from AppDynamics
> Isolate bottlenecks and diagnose root cause in seconds.
> Start your free trial of AppDynamics Pro today!
> http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=48808831&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk
> _______________________________________________
> Matplotlib-devel mailing list
> Mat...@li...
> <mailto:Mat...@li...>
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-devel
>

David,
IIRC, we were just starting to investigate how to produce retina graphics.
Perhaps you might be able to help Mike D and Michael de Hoon with there
efforts because very few of us have retina displays.
Cheers!
Ben Root
On Jul 20, 2013 10:43 AM, "David P. Sanders" <dps...@ci...>
wrote:
> I find the default font used in matplotlib horrible. We should be able to
> do much better these days.
>
> One very interesting option, at least for standard (paper) publishing, is
> the STIX fonts, which is a Times-like font set promoted by several
> publishers.
>
> There are various options in matplotlib, such as
> matplotlib.rcParams["mathtext.fontset"], which allow the option "stix",
> but I have not been able to get it to work. Can anybody please help me with
> this -- what is required?
>
> I have the STIX otf or ttf installed on my Mac, but I don't seem to manage
> to get the LaTeX versions installed -- installing LaTeX fonts is *so*
> disgusting (is there some helper script for that?).
>
> Thanks and best wishes,
> David.
>
> --
> Dr. David P. Sanders
>
> Profesor Titular "A" / Associate Professor
> Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias
> Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
>
> dps...@ci...
> http://sistemas.fciencias.unam.mx/~dsanders
>
> Cubículo / office: #414, 4o. piso del Depto. de Física
>
> Tel.: +52 55 5622 4965
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> See everything from the browser to the database with AppDynamics
> Get end-to-end visibility with application monitoring from AppDynamics
> Isolate bottlenecks and diagnose root cause in seconds.
> Start your free trial of AppDynamics Pro today!
> http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=48808831&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk
> _______________________________________________
> Matplotlib-devel mailing list
> Mat...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-devel
>
>

>From discussions with others at SciPy, we found ourselves disagreeing on
what default we would want. We also weren't sure exactly which params were
the ones that people tended to change. We have zero data on this. This site
is intended to help start that data collection process.
We can certainly improve this site to collect other kinds of info, but this
is just a start. One could also view this as a launching point for teaching
how to use rcParams (sorry David, i kinda like that name) in mpl. You all
know I never let a good teaching moment go to waste!
As for linking from matplotlib.org, I am ambivalent. It is a bit gimmicky,
and I do worry about being counterproductive to efforts in SciPy to be more
inclusive of women (given the rather anti-feministic undertones of the site
we are parodying). Of course, that could just be me being overly cautious.
Cheers!
Ben Root
On Jul 20, 2013 2:20 PM, "Eric Firing" <ef...@ha...> wrote:
> On 2013年07月20日 4:18 AM, David P. Sanders wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > Probably many of you know about "Plot or Not", a site where we vote on
> > the same plot presented in different ways, to get feedback about better
> > matplotlibrc params:
> >
> > http://warm-escarpment-9042.herokuapp.com/
> >
> > It seems to me an absolutely fantastic idea! I think many people do not
> > realise how fantastic the plots can look with some of this modern
> > styling. (Styling was mentioned several times at SciPy.)
> >
> > Would it be possible to put a link to this site on the matplotlib web
> > page and encourage people to use it?
>
> David,
>
> Interesting, but I'm not sure this is a good approach. I really don't
> see the point of the voting. What I think would be more useful would be
> a set of matplotlibrc files with examples of their effect on at least a
> few plot types.
>
> >
> > Definitely time to update the defaults!!
>
> Or maybe include a representative set of rcParams combinations to make
> it easier for people to choose a design that suits their purpose. This
> could be part of a toolkit.
>
> Eric
>
> >
> > Best wishes,
> > David.
> >
> > --
> > Dr. David P. Sanders
> >
> > Profesor Titular "A" / Associate Professor
> > Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias
> > Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
> >
> > dps...@ci... <mailto:dps...@ci...>
> > http://sistemas.fciencias.unam.mx/~dsanders
> > <http://sistemas.fciencias.unam.mx/%7Edsanders>
> >
> > Cubículo / office: #414, 4o. piso del Depto. de Física
> > Tel.: +52 55 5622 4965
> >
> >
> >
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > See everything from the browser to the database with AppDynamics
> > Get end-to-end visibility with application monitoring from AppDynamics
> > Isolate bottlenecks and diagnose root cause in seconds.
> > Start your free trial of AppDynamics Pro today!
> >
> http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=48808831&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Matplotlib-devel mailing list
> > Mat...@li...
> > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-devel
> >
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> See everything from the browser to the database with AppDynamics
> Get end-to-end visibility with application monitoring from AppDynamics
> Isolate bottlenecks and diagnose root cause in seconds.
> Start your free trial of AppDynamics Pro today!
> http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=48808831&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk
> _______________________________________________
> Matplotlib-devel mailing list
> Mat...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-devel
>

On 2013年07月20日 4:41 AM, David P. Sanders wrote:
> I find the default font used in matplotlib horrible. We should be able
> to do much better these days.
Which font is being used as default on your installation? And what are 
the characteristics that earn the rating of "horrible"?
Eric

On 2013年07月20日 4:18 AM, David P. Sanders wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Probably many of you know about "Plot or Not", a site where we vote on
> the same plot presented in different ways, to get feedback about better
> matplotlibrc params:
>
> http://warm-escarpment-9042.herokuapp.com/
>
> It seems to me an absolutely fantastic idea! I think many people do not
> realise how fantastic the plots can look with some of this modern
> styling. (Styling was mentioned several times at SciPy.)
>
> Would it be possible to put a link to this site on the matplotlib web
> page and encourage people to use it?
David,
Interesting, but I'm not sure this is a good approach. I really don't 
see the point of the voting. What I think would be more useful would be 
a set of matplotlibrc files with examples of their effect on at least a 
few plot types.
>
> Definitely time to update the defaults!!
Or maybe include a representative set of rcParams combinations to make 
it easier for people to choose a design that suits their purpose. This 
could be part of a toolkit.
Eric
>
> Best wishes,
> David.
>
> --
> Dr. David P. Sanders
>
> Profesor Titular "A" / Associate Professor
> Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias
> Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
>
> dps...@ci... <mailto:dps...@ci...>
> http://sistemas.fciencias.unam.mx/~dsanders
> <http://sistemas.fciencias.unam.mx/%7Edsanders>
>
> Cubículo / office: #414, 4o. piso del Depto. de Física
> Tel.: +52 55 5622 4965
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> See everything from the browser to the database with AppDynamics
> Get end-to-end visibility with application monitoring from AppDynamics
> Isolate bottlenecks and diagnose root cause in seconds.
> Start your free trial of AppDynamics Pro today!
> http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=48808831&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Matplotlib-devel mailing list
> Mat...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-devel
>

Example script for using mathtext.fontset:
import matplotlib as mpl
import numpy as np
from matplotlib import pyplot as plt
mpl.rcParams["mathtext.fontset"] = "stix"
x = np.arange(-5, 5, 0.01)
y = x*x
plt.plot(x, y)
plt.xlabel(r"$x$")
plt.ylabel(r"$x^2$")
plt.show()
Apparently the axis labels are correctly rendered using STIX fonts, *but*
in a bitmapped way (?). At least, on my retina screen the labels look fuzzy.
How can I change also the tic labels to use STIX fonts?
By the way, the following is a useful idiom to search for relevant
parameters in the rcParams:
[k for k in mpl.rcParams.keys() if 'font' in k]
I think it would be useful to document this -- where would be a good place?
Finally, could somebody please explain what 'rc' means? This does not seem
like a good name to me.
I know it comes from the UNIX world, but I couldn't find an explanation for
'rc' on Wikipedia.
OK, I found it:
http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/R/rc-file.html
This is not good -- there is *no* reason to use the nomenclature 'rc'; this
is just confusing for users who find it arcane and unwelcoming (I speak
from experience).
Could it not just be called
mpl.parameters, or mpl.mpl_parameters,
or something like that?
Best,
David
On Sat, Jul 20, 2013 at 9:41 AM, David P. Sanders <
dps...@ci...> wrote:
> I find the default font used in matplotlib horrible. We should be able to
> do much better these days.
>
> One very interesting option, at least for standard (paper) publishing, is
> the STIX fonts, which is a Times-like font set promoted by several
> publishers.
>
> There are various options in matplotlib, such as
> matplotlib.rcParams["mathtext.fontset"], which allow the option "stix",
> but I have not been able to get it to work. Can anybody please help me with
> this -- what is required?
>
> I have the STIX otf or ttf installed on my Mac, but I don't seem to manage
> to get the LaTeX versions installed -- installing LaTeX fonts is *so*
> disgusting (is there some helper script for that?).
>
> Thanks and best wishes,
> David.
>
> --
> Dr. David P. Sanders
>
> Profesor Titular "A" / Associate Professor
> Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias
> Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
>
> dps...@ci...
> http://sistemas.fciencias.unam.mx/~dsanders
>
> Cubículo / office: #414, 4o. piso del Depto. de Física
>
> Tel.: +52 55 5622 4965
>
-- 
Dr. David P. Sanders
Profesor Titular "A" / Associate Professor
Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
dps...@ci...
http://sistemas.fciencias.unam.mx/~dsanders
Cubículo / office: #414, 4o. piso del Depto. de Física
Tel.: +52 55 5622 4965

I find the default font used in matplotlib horrible. We should be able to
do much better these days.
One very interesting option, at least for standard (paper) publishing, is
the STIX fonts, which is a Times-like font set promoted by several
publishers.
There are various options in matplotlib, such as
matplotlib.rcParams["mathtext.fontset"], which allow the option "stix", but
I have not been able to get it to work. Can anybody please help me with
this -- what is required?
I have the STIX otf or ttf installed on my Mac, but I don't seem to manage
to get the LaTeX versions installed -- installing LaTeX fonts is *so*
disgusting (is there some helper script for that?).
Thanks and best wishes,
David.
-- 
Dr. David P. Sanders
Profesor Titular "A" / Associate Professor
Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
dps...@ci...
http://sistemas.fciencias.unam.mx/~dsanders
Cubículo / office: #414, 4o. piso del Depto. de Física
Tel.: +52 55 5622 4965

Hi,
Probably many of you know about "Plot or Not", a site where we vote on the
same plot presented in different ways, to get feedback about better
matplotlibrc params:
http://warm-escarpment-9042.herokuapp.com/
It seems to me an absolutely fantastic idea! I think many people do not
realise how fantastic the plots can look with some of this modern styling.
(Styling was mentioned several times at SciPy.)
Would it be possible to put a link to this site on the matplotlib web page
and encourage people to use it?
Definitely time to update the defaults!!
Best wishes,
David.
-- 
Dr. David P. Sanders
Profesor Titular "A" / Associate Professor
Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
dps...@ci...
http://sistemas.fciencias.unam.mx/~dsanders
Cubículo / office: #414, 4o. piso del Depto. de Física
Tel.: +52 55 5622 4965