[Kst] Re: branches/work/kst/portto4/kst

[Barth Netterfield]

On Tue, Feb 15, 2011 at 5:18 PM, Nicolas Brisset
<nicolas.brisset at free.fr> wrote:
> Only shortly to the question regarding manual legends: if the name is not auto, I see no problem in taking the manually entered name for the legend entry. If the user wants a unit, then he can type it in.

I am actually talking about the curve name in legends.  The curve name
is "yvector vs xvector".  Which is necessary in a context free way,
like in a list of curves.  But you might want to have the curve still
called "yvector vs xvector" in the curve lists (because you also have
a "yvector vs zvector" in a different plot) but in this particular
legend, you want to call it something different, like "case 1:
g=2200".  How should we do that in the UI?
 i) a new text entry in the curve dialog "Legend entry name" with a
"[x] Use Name" checkbox.
ii) something else

> I don't know what si still coming,

A complete rewrite...

> but at this stage I am not completely happy. Sorry to disappoint you,

don't worry, you can't... I'm doing this for me :-)

> but I liked it better before (only the top labels disturbed me), at least when there is only one curve per plot.
>
> To be a bit more specific (aka "constructive criticism"), here are some observations of a plot with the GOTEX[...].nc netCDF sample I like to use for test purposes, plotting 25 curves (5x5 grid):

I assume, below that "label" means "Name".

> - the X-axis label is along the x axis when I use time_offset (no unit) => OK
> - the X-axis has no label but only the unit when I use seconds (unit: s) => BAD
> - the Y-axis has only the unit, and the Y-axis label is displayed along the top X-axis => not very consistent, I much preferred the previous way with label + unit on the left

Upon looking at it, I agree that this is sub-optimal.  The rule for 1
curve, no quantity should be Name [Units].  We've never had this case,
no top label.

> - the top label of a plot is often closer to the unit of the above plot than to its plot => confusing, and there seems to be lots of free space between the top axis and the top label so we could/should improve that

Yes.  There should be a margin setting.

> - there is a lot of empty space between the units and the figures (see recent mail with a screenshot, nothing new here)

This is a tricky one.  One of the plots had huge Y axis numbers, which
pushes everything out.  I guess we could try moving the space to the
left of the Y label.  Later.  Remind me once the other stuff is done
(or put in a wishlist with "try" in the title)

>
> It's a bit late for me to think about all the options, but maybe some hints to possible improvements:
> - display the units at the end of the axes (above the left axis for y unit, at the right end of the X axis for the x unit) - direction should be the same as label numbers in that case

Not standard...

> - always display the y label along the y axis and the x label along the x axis, or else in a legend (yeah, I know: I'm repeating myself here: for more than one curve, use only legends and not the top label!)

Still thinking about it.  You might be right.  Once I've re-factored,
it will be trivial to try different things.

> Maybe I could also do some mockups. Should I?

What we need is a matrix of cases with desired XLabel, YLabel,
TopLabel, and Legend.  Can you make one (maybe a google doc or a
document in DevelDocs. )

By cases, I mean, what is defined, how many relations, what is the
same, what is different, etc.  There are lots of cases.

Name is always defined.  Quantity and Units are independently optional.

-- 
C. Barth Netterfield
University of Toronto
416-845-0946