Axes Settings
When we set up the basic graph in tutorial 1 (see page 6), we applied autoscaling to the graph in order to visualize the data. While this is appropriate in order to get a first overview, it may be advisable for presentation purposes to enhance the clarity of the graph's message by applying manual scaling.
This can be achieved by help of the "Axes" dialog (Figure 3-12). As in the case of the "Grids" dialog, this one is also structured as a tabbed dialog. By clicking the "Axes" entry in the tree, the "X axis" tab appears. The dialog itself is divided into two frames. One contains the scale settings for the x axis. It lets you also choose whether the axis type is linear, logarithmic etc. (see the "Type" dropdown list) The other frame contains checkboxes which allow one to switch axes, tick labels, titles and ticks on and off.
Now let us apply these possibilities to "MyFirstPlot". Into the "From" textbox (denoting xmin), type 0.0, into the "To" textbox (i.e. xmax) type 10.0, the "Major Ticks" entry may be left untouched (see Figure 3-12). The number of minor ticks is set from zero to 3 (see the "# minor ticks" textbox). If you now press the "Apply" button, the x axis ranges from 0.0 to 10.0, and - oops! - the minor grid has appeared! This means: the appearance of a minor grid depends on what number of minor ticks you have defined in the "Axes" dialog.
The next step is the decoration of the graph with ticks and titles. At the moment, it looks somewhat overcrowded with tick labels also on the top x and the right y axis. To change this, we uncheck the top ticks labels and the top titles (see the respective checkboxes in the "Display" frame - Figure 3-13).
Now click on the "Y axis" tab and input 0.0 into the "From" textbox, 20.0 into the "To" textbox, and 4.0 into the "Major ticks" textbox. For the "# minor ticks" we choose a value of 3. After having pressed the Apply button, the minor ticks related to the y axis have also appeared.
Last, we switch off the ticks and titles for the right y axis. You find the respective checkboxes in the "Display" frame. Now click the "Apply" button, and the graph looks a lot clearer (See Figure 3-14).
