You could put the numbers inside the bars in which case it would not add to the height of the bar:
x <- 1:5 names(x) <- letters[1:5] bp <- barplot(x) text(bp, x - .02 * diff(par("usr")[3:4]), x) On 8/9/07, Frank E Harrell Jr <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > Greg, I'm going to join issue with your here! Not that I'll go near > > advocating "Excel-style" graphics (abominable, and the Patrick Burns > > URL which you cite is remarkable in its restraint). Also, I'm aware > > that this is potential flame-war territory -- again, I want to avoid > > that too. > > > > However, this is the second time you have intervened on this theme > > (previously Mon 6 August), along with John Kane on Wed 1 August and > > again today on similar lines, and I think it's time an alternative > > point of view was presented, to counteract (I hope usefully) what > > seems to be a draconianly prescriptive approach to the presentation > > of information. > > > ---snip--- > > Ted, > > You make many excellent points and provide much food for thought. I > still think that Greg's points are valid too, and in this particular > case, bar plots are a bad choice and adding numbers at variable heights > causes a perception error as I wrote previously. > > Thanks for your elaboration on this important subject. > > Frank > > > > > On 07-Aug-07 21:37:50, Greg Snow wrote: > >> Generally adding the numbers to a graph accomplishes 2 things: > >> > >> 1) it acts as an admission that your graph is a failure > > > > Generally, I disagree. Different elements in a display serve different > > purposes, according to the psychological aspects of visual preception. > > . . . > > -- > Frank E Harrell Jr Professor and Chair School of Medicine > Department of Biostatistics Vanderbilt University > > ______________________________________________ > R-help@stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. > ______________________________________________ R-help@stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.