Making Figures with IDL

BADGOOD
ugly figure pretty figure

Template routine used to make the right plot.

Step-by-Step

Use Postscript Font instead of Vector Hershey Font
!p.font=0
Use Helvetica instead of a serif font
device, helvetica=1
Change to isolatin1 character set to get symbols
device, isolatin1=1
Use thick lines
!p.thick=4
!x.thick=3
!y.thick=3
Make plot size the actual size it will end up in print to ensure labels will be legible. Choose aspect ratios appropriate for journal two-column format. Units are in centimeters. NOTE: After carefully reading Tufte's The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, I am in the process of rethinking aspect ratios. I will likely update these figures to reflect a more rectangular shape rather than square.
device, xsize=8.9, ysize=8.9
device, xsize=18.6, ysize=8.9
Use symbols and embedded formatting commands.
@symbols_kc
@symbols_ps_kc
Combine multiple color tables to get lots of color options.
@colors_kc

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