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Tufte in R

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123 pointstrengrj17 comments

I've done a lot of work writing how to make nice plots in R/ggplot2 (http://minimaxir.com/2015/02/ggplot-tutorial/), but I admit that a lot here is new to me.

As the Tufte code samples indicate, plotting using base R graphics can be headache inducing, though, which is why the inclusion of a ggplot2 implementation is helpful. The other themes included with ggthemes seem pretty interesting as well.

An important thing to note about plotting with R is that if you can, you should use R in OS X for antialiasing. It makes a very notable difference for high-res charts (see my post), and it's clear that there's a lot of pixelation around the text and lines in the OP. Here's the Tuft line ggplot2 plot rendered on my MacBook: http://i.imgur.com/DC6TgW9.png

Can’t you just export a vector file and then let whatever other renderer (e.g. a browser) handle the antialiasing?

Edit: I don’t think I understand your complaint. The graphics in the original article are antialiased. Are you just saying their antialiasing algorithm isn’t as good?

Here’s what your version (on the left) looks like when rescaled (using Preview on OS X to rescale) to about the same size as theirs; the two seem roughly comparable: http://i.imgur.com/LWCeAPj.png

(I think the reason for the difference in apparent line/font weight in my picture there is that Preview properly downscales in a linear (not gamma-encoded) color space, whereas most vector antialiasing/rasterizing algorithms, including both Quartz and Cairo AFAIK, work in a gamma-encoded space). If you had generated the image at the same original size, I suspect it would look extremely similar to the one in the blog post.

> Can’t you just export a vector file and then let whatever other renderer (e.g. a browser) handle the antialiasing?

You can. In my experience, for good quality, it's best to output graphics from R as PDF and if you need a rasterized version, do that separately with pdftoppm or something with a dpi chosen based on where it will be shown.

Whoops, I figured out what the problem was. I rendered it the way the author did using png("test.png", width=720, height=432) instead of using ggsave(). The resulting image is close to what's in the article. I'll need to look into it more.

> Can’t you just export a vector file and then let whatever other renderer (e.g. a browser) handle the antialiasing?

You can export as .svg but it's not recommended since .svg support isn't great.

I thought Linux had antialiasing if you used cairo? Its tough to see the difference in the quality of your image versus the one in the article given the disparity in file size / resolution. Your image is 3000x1800 / 222 KB versus 720x432 32 KB in the linked article.

Due to the way the theme is configured, I had to set it to that resolution to get everything at the right ratio. Even if you manually resized it to 1/5th of the original size, the aliasing would still not be present.

I've tried using the Cairo package in R with ggplot2 before on Windows, atleast. It's better, but not perfect.

EDIT: I am wrong; see comment reply to other parent.

I'm a big fan of the economist theme from ggthemes

I am certainly no fan of "chartjunk" and value clear graphics, I do not see the value of removing the lines on the axes. I find them to be valuable visual cues. I would also note that Tufte used them in his books, for example: (http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0...).

A couple points:

First, DAPP is 1974; _VISUAL DISPLAY_ was 1983. Critique based on "once, you did something different" seems misplaced.

Second, if you read _VISUAL DISPLAY_, you'll see that there's plenty of room for individual judgement in the principles he espouses. Tufte is no dogmatist. If you think the chart needs more ink, put it in and don't worry about the response from ideologues.

Third, it would be useful for you to attempt to articulate to yourself the cue value of the line, (as opposed to the tics). You might find that, when you try to describe to yourself what it does, that you're describing comfort with common pattern.

This looks really nice. The resources linked to are also cool:

http://www.daveliepmann.com/tufte-css/

http://sachsmc.github.io/tufterhandout/

I've been using Tufte all day today. First to make an email template for my CV and then a theme for MOU so i can take some clean notes. Man, this is just so good, like really really good, I am almost embarassed by comparison. Super cool, great job.

What do you mean by "an email template for my CV?"

I used tufte css and some added styles and made an email template. It has a heading and signature, and allows for annotated notes in the body. I am going to write a cover letter and send it that way.

So the body of the email is formatted like a CV? If so, sounds like a good idea.

Maybe a template for sending a CV through email?

Anyone know how hard this would be to do in python?

I would suggest either using this: https://github.com/yhat/ggplot

or this : https://github.com/bokeh/bokeh/pulse

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