Re: st: RE: Graphs: patterns instead of solid colors in Stata Maps

[Jeph Herrin <junk@spandrel.net>]

I work with numerous packages, and eventually manage to get
what I want. However, the addition of what seems like a trivial
feature to Stata would make my life much easier.

For example, in

 Hospital improvement in time to reperfusion in patients with acute
 myocardial infarction, 1999 to 2002. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2006 Jan
 3;47(1):45-51. McNamara RL, Herrin J, et al

You will see a "stippled" histogram that I produced in Excel. My
coauthor is a clinician who felt this figure was the clearest way to
communicate to other clinicians; the journal editors denied us
the option of grey shading, requiring black & white figures only.
Thus, each time I revised and reran the analysis, which was often,
I had to export the data to excel to recreate this figure manually.
There are tricks to speed this up, but it is still labor intensive
and error prone.



Thomas Speidel wrote:
> More often than not there are alternate ways to display the same 
> information. Have you explored alternate methods? Perhaps, if you 
> explain what exactly you are trying to graph, some members can try to 
> help.  Whether or not you happen to agree with StataCorp and/or Edward 
> Tuft, as Nick mentioned, patterns such as the ones you described cannot 
> be directly produced in Stata.  You can resort to Excel, if you like, or 
> consider other statistical packages that allow the use of patterns.  You 
> could also tediously edit a postscript version of the graph and add 
> whatever pattern, gradient, image you like.
> Thomas Speidel
>
> Jeph Herrin wrote:
>
> > While I applaud the dedication of StataCorp to quality
> > presentation, many of us have to work with publications
> > that do not share this dedication. Just as I prefer Word
> > to allow me my grammatical errors, Stata would be more
> > valuable if it allowed me my errors of presentation. But
> > for top tier medical journals I must routinely resort to
> > Excel for those...
> >
> >
> >
> > Nick Cox wrote:
> > > Stata does not support stripes, whether straight, wavy, or of some 
> > > other kind; nor does it support stipples, spots, polka dots, or other 
> > > kinds of patterns. The good people at StataCorp read Edward
> > > Tufte's books, and in particular his admonitions about Moire
> > > vibration, and resolved not to do that.
> > > Please change your mail signature from "Stata List" as far as 
> > > communications with this list are concerned. This may amuse you, or 
> > > otherwise be congenial or convenient, but I suggest that it is an 
> > > inappropriate identity for a member of Statalist. It is not 
> > > compulsory, but it is an almost universal habit on this list to use 
> > > real names and not hide identities.
> > > Nick n.j.cox@durham.ac.uk
> > > Stata List (a.k.a. AC) 
> > > > I've been using Stata's graph capabilities to make amazing coloured
> > > > maps, with different colours for different indicators. However, since
> > > > most printing is done on B&W printers, I would like to know how to
> > > > specify patterns (say, 45 degree stripes, or spots, etc.) instead of
> > > > only solid colours.
> > > *
> > > *   For searches and help try:
> > > *   http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/res/findit.html
> > > *   http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
> > > *   http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
> > *
> > *   For searches and help try:
> > *   http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/res/findit.html
> > *   http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
> > *   http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
> *
> *   For searches and help try:
> *   http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/res/findit.html
> *   http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
> *   http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
*
*   For searches and help try:
*   http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/res/findit.html
*   http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
*   http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/