R help - Jan 2005 - Windows plots & fontsize

I recently wrote a package that runs on both Linux and Windows.
The functions fetch data to an SQL database and make diverse plots, 
usually with many labels and annotations.

I recently noticed that on SOME windows computers the fonts
in the plots were too large, which caused labels to overlap.

On other windows computers this does not happen.
However on both computers the command par("ps") gives 12

Now, windows is not my forte, but it seems likely that this has to do 
with some user/system settings. If so, my users would probably object to 
me tweaking their windows setup since it might have an effect on other 
programs.

One simple solution is to use par(ps=10), but I cannot find out how to
set this globally.


a) Does anyone know how I can set par(ps=10) by default on all figure?

b) Is there a windows specific way to set default fontsizes in figures?

Thanks,
Halld?r

-- 
------------------------------------------
Halldor Bjornsson   (halldor at vedur.is)
Vedurstofa Islands (Icelandic Met. Office)
Bustadavegur 9, IS-150, Reykjavik, Iceland

Halldor Bj?rnsson wrote:
> I recently wrote a package that runs on both Linux and Windows.
> The functions fetch data to an SQL database and make diverse plots, 
> usually with many labels and annotations.
> 
> I recently noticed that on SOME windows computers the fonts
> in the plots were too large, which caused labels to overlap.
> 
> On other windows computers this does not happen.
> However on both computers the command par("ps") gives 12
> 
> Now, windows is not my forte, but it seems likely that this has to do 
> with some user/system settings. If so, my users would probably object to 
> me tweaking their windows setup since it might have an effect on other 
> programs.
> 
> One simple solution is to use par(ps=10), but I cannot find out how to
> set this globally.
> 
All this depends on the device. Which device are we talking about?

> a) Does anyone know how I can set par(ps=10) by default on all figure?
For the postscript device see ?ps.options.

> b) Is there a windows specific way to set default fontsizes in figures?
No. But you might want to read the second paragraph in ?windows if we 
are talking about this device.

Uwe Ligges

> Thanks,
> Halld?r
>

On Fri, 21 Jan 2005, [ISO-8859-1] Halldor Bj?rnsson wrote:
> I recently wrote a package that runs on both Linux and Windows.
> The functions fetch data to an SQL database and make diverse plots, usually
> with many labels and annotations.
>
> I recently noticed that on SOME windows computers the fonts
> in the plots were too large, which caused labels to overlap.
What graphics device are you talking about for your plots?
> On other windows computers this does not happen.
> However on both computers the command par("ps") gives 12
As one would expect.  But are the windows the same size?
> Now, windows is not my forte, but it seems likely that this has to do with 
> some user/system settings. If so, my users would probably object to me 
> tweaking their windows setup since it might have an effect on other
programs.
Windows will be asked for the same fonts, but the window size may differ: 
see the help page.  And users can apply magnification factors.
> One simple solution is to use par(ps=10), but I cannot find out how to
> set this globally.
>
> a) Does anyone know how I can set par(ps=10) by default on all figure?
I think you want to start the device with pointsize=10.

?windows lists the options you have, if it is the device.
> b) Is there a windows specific way to set default fontsizes in figures?
It is device-specific, usually parameter `pointsize'.

-- 
Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272866 (PA)
Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595