The Chart Frame Settings Window...
- Title
- Border
- Coordinate Grid
- What is a Coordinate Grid?
The chart frame is a perimeter around the four edges of the chart. The chart frame is made up of three basic components, all are optional...
The various components in the chart frame can be displayed, hidden and modified in the Chart Frame Settings window. To open this window, choose
> from the main menubar.The Chart Frame Settings window is described in the next section.
To open the Chart Frame Settings window and modify the various components of the chart frame, choose
> from the main menubar.A Preview is displayed on the right side of the Chart Frame Settings window. The Preview displays a small rendering of the current chart frame settings. As the chart frame settings are modified (on the left side of this window), the Preview will update. The Preview is simply for reference and is not drawn to scale.
The top left side of the Chart Frame Settings window has three tab buttons, one for each of the three basic frame components:
, , and . Select the tab button for the component that you would like to enable, disable, or modify. The options for each of these three basic components are described in the next sections.To display the title at the top of the chart frame, open the Chart Frame Settings window, select the
tab button, and check the checkbox.Options for the chart title will appear below the tab buttons...
The editable text field is just below the tags (or text variables) to automatically inject text strings into the title of a chart.
checkbox. Enter the text you would like to appear at the top of your chart frame here. Frame titles may includeUp to 125 characters may be used for a chart title.
The
menu lets you determine what kind of "break," if any, appears in the chart's border. A break in the chart's border allows the title to be inserted within the border. If no break is selected (the first item in the Break menu) the chart title will appear below the border.The
menu will only appear when a chart border is displayed.Font, Size, Typeface, and Color
The appearance, size and color of the chart title can be changed by modifying the settings in the
, , , and menus.A shadow can be drawn behind the chart text by modifying the
and menus. If you don't want a shadow behind the chart title, select from the menu.To display a border around the entire chart, open the Chart Frame Settings window, select the
tab button, and check the checkbox.There are two different types of borders to choose from...
The options for these two types of borders are described in the following sections...
When a border type of Rendered Style is selected, you can choose from a library of pre-drawn rectangle styles, adjust their size, and apply a color. The rendered style will fit the rendered border around your chart.
Rendered Style options are as follows...
When a border type of Custom Lines is selected, you can customize the size, color, and corner for the one or two lines that will border your chart.
Click the
or button to choose which of the two lines to edit.Then adjust the Line Width, Corner type, and Color for each of the two lines. If you only want one of the two lines for your frame, you can turn a line off by setting its Line width to
. Interesting frames can be created by checking the button for one of the frame lines.A coordinate grid is a series of equally spaced horizontal and vertical lines drawn across the entire chart. The space between the lines, a "plane," is assigned a sequential letter or number. These enumerated horizontal and vertical planes divide the entire chart into many squares that can be identified by a horizontal-vertical grid location - much like you see on the old paper maps.
Using a coordinate grid the grid location of a specific person can be given in the form of a horizontal letter or number followed by a vertical letter or number. For example: H-9.
In the example below - the grid location of John BOUVIER has been given as being C-2. To find this location, move across the chart horizontally until you find the vertical plane for C and then move down the chart vertically until you find the horizontal plane for 2. The intersection of these two planes is a square with a grid location of C-2. John BOUVIER’s box will be inside that square.
To display a coordinate grid for the chart, open the Chart Frame Settings window, select the
tab button, and check the checkbox.Options for the coordinate grid will appear below the
checkbox...Lines...
Text...
The appearance, size, and color of the grid letters and numbers can be changed by changing the settings in the
, , , and menus.A shadow can be drawn behind the grid letters and numbers by modifying the
and menus. If you don't want a shadow behind the grid characters, select from the menu.Horizontal & Vertical...
Numbers, lowercase letters, or uppercase letters can be used to enumerate coordinate grid planes (the space between the grid lines) - that selection is made from the menu directly under the Horizontal or Vertical subtitles.
The letters and numbers for horizontal grid locations can be placed and the top and/or the bottom of the chart based on your selection in the second menu under the Horizontal subtitle.
The letters and numbers for vertical grid locations can be placed on the left and/or the right of the chart based on your selection in the second menu under the Vertical subtitle.
Grid Location Preview...
A preview of how grid locations will be expressed given the current coordinate grid settings appears at the bottom of this panel. Note that grid locations are always expressed as horizontal followed by vertical.
Any or all of the components of a chart frame can be removed (or hidden) by following these steps...
In the previous sections, various chart frame settings for Title and Border were explained. Attributes for these two components (Title and Border) can be saved and applied to frames in new charts. Thus, if you edit the title and border for a chart frame and are pleased with its look, new charts will have the same look.
To save the settings of the current chart frame as the default chart frame appearing in new charts - click the
button at the bottom if the Chart Frame Settings window.More information about defaults for charts appears here.