help schemes
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Title
[G] schemes intro -- Introduction to schemes
Syntax
set scheme schemename [, permanently]
graph ... [, ... scheme(schemename) ...]
schemename foreground background description
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s2color color white factory setting
s2mono monochrome white s2color in monochrome
s2manual monochrome white used in the Stata manuals
s2gmanual monochrome white used in the Stata [G] manual
s1rcolor color black a plain look on black background
s1color color white a plain look
s1mono monochrome white a plain look in monochrome
s1manual monochrome white a plain look, but smaller;
used in some Stata manuals
economist color white The Economist magazine
sj monochrome white Stata Journal
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Other schemenames may be available; type
. graph query, schemes
to obtain the complete list of schemes installed on your computer.
Description
A scheme specifies the overall look of the graph.
set scheme sets the default scheme; see [G] set scheme for more
information about this command.
Option scheme() specifies the graphics scheme to be used with this
particular graph command without changing the default.
Remarks
Remarks are presented under the following headings:
The role of schemes
Finding out about other schemes
Setting your default scheme
The scheme is applied at display time
Background color
Foreground color
Obtaining new schemes
See scheme files for a discussion of how to create your own schemes.
The role of schemes
When you type, for instance,
. scatter yvar xvar
results are the same as if you typed
. scatter yvar xvar, scheme(your_default_scheme)
If you have not used the set scheme command to change your default
scheme, your_default_scheme is s2color.
The scheme specifies the overall look for the graph, and by that we mean
just about everything you can imagine. It determines such things as
whether y axes are on the left or the right, how many values are by
default labeled on the axes, and the colors that are used. In fact,
almost every statement made in other parts of this manual stating how
something appears, or the relationship between how things appear, must
not be taken too literally. How things appear is in fact controlled by
the scheme:
o In [G] symbolstyle, we state that markers -- the ink that denotes
the position of points on a plot -- have a default size of
msize(medium) and that small symbols have a size of msize(small).
That is generally true, but the size of the markers is in fact set
by the scheme, and a scheme might specify different default sizes.
o In [G] axis_choice_options, we state that when there is one y
axis, which appears on the left, and when there are two, the
second appears on the right. What is in fact true is that where
axes appear is controlled by the scheme and that most schemes work
the way described. Another scheme named economist, however,
displays things differently.
o In [G] title_options, we state where the titles, subtitles, etc.,
appear, and we provide a diagram so that there can be no
confusion. But where the titles, subtitles, etc., appear is in
fact controlled by the scheme, and what we have described is what
is true for the scheme named s2color.
The list goes on and on. If it has to do with the look of the result, it
is controlled by the scheme.
To understand just how much difference the scheme can make, you should
type
. scatter yvar xvar, scheme(economist)
scheme(economist) specifies a look similar to that used by The Economist
magazine (http://www.economist.com) , whose graphs we believe to be
worthy of emulation. By comparison to the c2color scheme, the economist
scheme moves y axes to the right, makes titles left justified, defaults
grid lines to be on, sets a background color, and moves the note to the
top right and expects it to be a number.
Finding out about other schemes
A list of schemes is provided in the syntax diagram above, but do not
rely on the list being up to date. Instead, type
. graph query, schemes
to obtain the complete list of schemes installed on your computer.
Try drawing a few graphs with each:
. graph ... , ... scheme(schemename)
Setting your default scheme
If you want to set your default scheme to, say, economist, type
. set scheme economist
The economist scheme will now be your default scheme for the rest of this
session, but the next time you use Stata, you will be back to using your
old default scheme. If you type
. set scheme economist, permanently
economist will become your default scheme both for the rest of this
session and in future sessions.
If you want to change your scheme back to s2color -- the default scheme
in Stata as originally shipped -- type
. set scheme default, permanently
See [G] set scheme.
The scheme is applied at display time
Say that you type
. graph mpg weight, saving(mygraph)
to create and save the file mygraph.gph (see [G] saving_option). If
later you redisplay the graph by typing
. graph use mygraph
the graph will reappear as you originally drew it. It will be displayed
using the same scheme with which it was originally drawn, regardless of
your current set scheme setting. If you type
. graph use mygraph, scheme(economist)
the graph will be displayed using the economist scheme. It will be the
same graph but will look different. You can change the scheme with which
a graph is drawn beforehand, on the original graph command, or later.
Background color
In the table at the beginning of the entry, we characterize the
background color as being white or black, although actually what we mean
is light or dark because some of the schemes set background tinting. We
mean that "white" background schemes are suitable for printing. Printers
(both the mechanical ones and the human ones) prefer that you avoid dark
backgrounds because of the large amounts of ink required and the
corresponding problems with bleed-through. On the other hand, dark
backgrounds look good on monitors.
In any case, you may change the background color of a scheme by using the
region_options graphregion(fcolor()), graphregion(ifcolor()),
plotregion(fcolor()), and plotregion(ifcolor()); see [G] region_options.
When overriding the background color, choose light colors for schemes
that naturally have white backgrounds and dark colors for regions that
naturally have black backgrounds.
Schemes that naturally have a black background are by default printed in
monochrome. See [G] set printcolor if you wish to override this.
If you are producing graphs for printing on white paper, we suggest that
you choose a scheme with a naturally white background.
Foreground color
In the table at the beginning of this entry, we categorized the
foreground as being color or monochrome. This refers to whether lines,
markers, fills, etc., are presented by default in color or monochrome.
Regardless of the scheme you choose, you can specify options such as
mcolor() and lcolor(), to control the color for each item on the graph.
Just because we categorized the foreground as monochrome, this does not
mean that you cannot specify colors in the options.
Obtaining new schemes
Your copy of Stata may already have schemes other than those documented
in this help file. To find out, type
. graph query, schemes
Also, new schemes are added and existing schemes updated along with all
the rest of Stata, so if you are connected to the Internet, type
. update query
and follow any instructions given; see [R] update.
Finally, other users may have created schemes that could be of interest
to you. To search the Internet, type
. findit scheme
(will display results in Viewer;
use Back button to return to this help file)
From there, you will be able to click to install any schemes that
interest you; see findit in [R] search.
Once a scheme is installed, which can be determined by verifying that it
appears in the list shown by
. graph query, schemes
you can use it with the scheme() option
. graph ..., ... scheme(newscheme)
or you can set it as your default, temporarily
. set scheme newscheme
or permanently
. set scheme newscheme, permanently
Also see
Manual: [G] schemes intro
Help: [G] scheme_option, [G] set scheme; [G] scheme economist, [G]
scheme s2, [G] scheme s1, [G] scheme sj; scheme files
