Formatting Charts in R

The default plot() layout is functional, but of dubious aesthetic value. While the ggplot2 does somewhat better, it is possible to configure the native plot() command with a few extra parameters.

This is an example of a default plot:

x = 0:20
y = x + runif(length(x))

plot(x, y, type='l')

plot() with default parameters

This particular layout is clean and minimalist:

x = 0:20
y = x + runif(length(x))

plot(x, y, type='l', 
	col="navy", lwd=3,
	las=1, fg="white", font.lab=2, 
	xaxs='i', yaxs='i',
	xlim=c(0, 20), ylim=c(0,25),
	panel.first = grid(nx=NA, ny=NULL, lty=1, col="gray"),
	xlab="X", ylab="f(X)")

abline(a=0, b=0, lwd=3)

Improved plot() layout

col = "navy" makes the line color navy blue. Web RGB hex strings can also be used (ex. "#000080" for navy)
lwd = 3 makes the line width 3 pixels. Actual unit is device specific
las = 1 makes all axis labels horizontal
fg = "white" changes the foreground color to white so no border or axis lines are visible
font.lab = 2 makes the axis labels bold
xaxs = "i" and yaxs = "i" makes the X- and Y-axis extend the full height of the chart rather than being padded
xlim and ylim set the ranges for the X and Y axes, respectively, so the automatic ranges don't give odd intervals
panel.first defines a function run after the plot is set up but before the points are drawn. This is used so grid lines are behind the points
xlab and ylab set the X and Y axis labels, respectively
abline() draws the dark black line on the X-axis