In most cases, a bar chart should not need more than three colours, in which
case, you can use white, gray, and black as your "colours". If you are
showing more than three variables over multiple categories of another
stratifying variable, then the presentation becomes hard to follow and you
probably want to use a different type of graph.
However, if you do find yourself in need of more than the three bar colours,
you may have categories that can be rationally ordered, in which case you
may find that using a gradient of a single colour from light to dark is
helpful. That way, the reader can more easily derive information from the
order of the bars, and a precise colour or tonal match becomes less
critical.
Regards,
Lee
Lee Sieswerda, Epidemiologist
Thunder Bay District Health Unit
[email protected]
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Daniel R Sabath [mailto:[email protected]]
> Sent: Friday, October 24, 2003 3:25 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: st: Making bar charts readable in a grayscale photocopy.
>
>
> Hi,
>
> I was originally going to ask about how to fill an -hbar-
> graph with crosshatch patterns, but since I don't want to
> reopen a can of worms (see conversation between Nick and Ed
> back in April,
> http://www.stata.com/statalist/archive/2003-04/msg00132.html)
> I'll rephrase it thusly.
>
> When given that graphs will be viewed after a degradation of
> the output has occurred (multiple photocopying), how do you
> adjust the original to compensate in advance?
>
> In a nutshell. What methods do you use to make sure a
> reviewer can see the differences between groupings on a
> chart? Right now, about a third of the bars all look the same
> since they are so similar in grayscale.
>
> Many thanks,
>
> Dan
>
> ____________________________________________
> Daniel R. Sabath M.Sc. Research Consultant
> Dept. of Surgery 325 Ninth Ave
> Harborview Injury Prevention Box 359960
> and Research Center Seattle, WA 98104
> [email protected] (206) 521-1549
>
>
>
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