On Wed, 3 Mar 2010, Henrique Andrade wrote:

> I would like to suggest some improvements to the "gretl plot
> controls":

I've now addressed some of these points in CVS.

> (1) On the "X-axis" tab I think it would be better if we could insert
> dates (e.g. 2010:3) instead of numbers in the minimum and
> maximum fields when the option "manual range" is selected.

This is for time-series plots? I think we're better with what we
have. If you want to adjust the date range for the plot you can
set the sample. The current x-axis adjustment lets you fine-tune
the amount of extra space to the left and right of the data (by
default gretl leaves a little "elbow room" but this might be to
everyone's taste). Setting the x-range by date would be too coarse
for that in most cases.

Yes, it is for time-series plots. But I got your point, you are right.

> (2) On the "Main" tab I think it would be nice if we could define
> different font size for the Title of plot.

I don't think this has a very favorable cost-benefit ratio. If
you're going for publication quality it's best to leave the plot
untitled and let LaTeX (or word processor) handle the caption.

Once again... you are right ;)

> (3) Include the option "Reference grid" in the GUI (Gnuplot
> commands: set grid, set grid front, set grid back).

There's now a grid button in the plot editor. But if you want the
grid on top of the data, you'd have to do that manually,

Very nice feature!

> (4) Include the option "Insert shaded area" in the GUI.

We now have something along these lines, for annual, quarterly and
monthly time series plots. It's implemented via a plain text file
that defines start and stop dates for the shaded bars. CVS and the
snapshots contain a sample file that lets you add NBER recession
bars, and you can write your own file on the same pattern.

This is great! In fact it is better than I thought.

And last but not least, thank you so much for the improvements!

Best,
Henrique