Set a pleasing theme for graphs. — xy

Provides a pleasing graphical style for ggplot2 that includes

gray axes,
gray tic marks,
inward-pointing tic marks,
right-justified y-axis labels,
no grid lines, and
white background.

Usage

xy_theme(
  font_size = 12,
  font_family = "",
  font_size_scale = 0.8,
  spacing_scale = 0.2,
  x_axis_labels_spacing = spacing_scale * font_size,
  y_axis_labels_spacing = spacing_scale * font_size,
  col_facet_labels_spacing = spacing_scale * font_size,
  row_facet_labels_spacing = spacing_scale * font_size,
  tick_length = -1.5 * spacing_scale * font_size,
  border_and_label_colour = "gray50"
)

Arguments

font_size: The base font size in points for fonts and other graphical elements. font_size is directly the size of the x- and y-axis titles. Default is 12.
font_family: The font family used in the graph. Default is an empty string (""), a sans-serif font.
font_size_scale: A default scale factor for non-axis-title fonts. Default is 0.8. Change this parameter if you want to change the size of all non-axis-title text.
spacing_scale: A default scale factor for spacing between text and axes. Default is 0.2.
x_axis_labels_spacing: The distance between x axis labels and the x axis itself in points. Default is spacing_scale*font_size, normally 2.4 points.
y_axis_labels_spacing: The distance between y axis labels and the y axis itself in points. Default is spacing_scale*font_size, normally 2.4 points.
col_facet_labels_spacing: The distance between x strip text (labels at the top of a faceted plot) and the top border of the individual graphs in points. Default is spacing_scale*font_size, normally 2.4 points, to leave space for descenders.
row_facet_labels_spacing: The distance between y strip text (labels to the right of a faceted plot) and the right border of the individual graphs in points. Default is spacing_scale*font_size, normally 2.4 points, to leave space for descenders.
tick_length: The tick length in points. Default is -1.5*spacing_scale*font_size, normally -3.6 points, so the ticks will be slightly longer than the spacing between text and borders. Negative tick length indicates the ticks should be placed inside the graph, where ticks belong!
border_and_label_colour: The colour for borders and labels. Default is "gray50".

Details

By default, the font size for axis titles is set by font_size. The font size for all other text elements is scaled relative to font_size, by default 80% smaller than the axis titles. Adjust font_size_scale if 80% is not to your liking.

Spacing between graphical elements can be specified with more precision using this function. spacing_scale adjusts spacing relative to font_size for all graphical elements. But spacing between axis labels and strip labels and nearby graph borders can also be specified individually. See the vignette for examples.

Examples

library(ggplot2)
DF <- data.frame(x = seq(1, 10), y = seq(11,20))
p <- DF |>
  ggplot(mapping = aes(x = x, y = y)) +
  geom_line()
p

p + MKHthemes::xy_theme()