Rework colorscheme, use Colorbrewer Q10 palette by default. Closes #8.

README.md

@@ -20,7 +20,9 @@ design in the API, or required feature!
     <dt>Saner default plots</dt>
     <dd>Matplotlib plots are quite ugly by default, colors are not really
     suited for optimal black and white print, or ease reading for colorblind
-    people. This module defines a clean default colorscheme to solve it.</dd>
+    people. This module defines a clean default colorscheme to solve it (based
+    on Colorbrewer Q10 palette). It also provides direct access to the
+    Tableau10 and Colorbrewer Q9 palettes.</dd>
 
     <dt>Support <code>with</code> statement</dt>
     <dd>Ever got tired of having to start any figure with a call to

replot/figure.py

@@ -26,6 +26,13 @@ from replot.helpers import plot as plot_helpers
 from replot.helpers import render as render_helpers
 
 
+PREDEFINED_PALETTES = {
+    "colorbrewerq9": rpalette.COLORBREWER_Q9,
+    "colorbrewerq10": rpalette.COLORBREWER_Q10,
+    "tableau10": rpalette.TABLEAU_10
+}
+
+
 class Figure():
     """
     The main class from :mod:`replot`, representing a figure. Can be used \
@@ -34,7 +41,7 @@ class Figure():
     def __init__(self,
                  xlabel="", ylabel="", title="",
                  xrange=None, yrange=None,
-                 palette=rpalette.default,
+                 palette=None,
                  legend=None, savepath=None, grid=None,
                  custom_mpl_rc=None):
         """
@@ -53,7 +60,10 @@ class Figure():
         :type palette: Either a list of colors (as RGB tuples) or a function \
                 to call with number of plots as parameter and which returns a \
                 list of colors (as RGB tuples). You can also pass a Seaborn \
-                palette directly, or use a Palettable Palette.mpl_colors.
+                palette directly, or use a Palettable ``Palette.mpl_colors``. \
+                You can also use ``colorbrewerq10`` (default), \
+                ``colorbrewerq9`` or ``tableau10`` to use any of these \
+                predefined palettes.
         :param legend: Whether to use a legend or not (optional). Defaults to \
                 no legend, except if labels are found on provided plots. \
                 ``False`` to disable completely. ``None`` for default \
@@ -491,20 +501,42 @@ class Figure():
                                                 colspan=colspan,
                                                 rowspan=rowspan)
                 # Set the palette for the subplot
+                palette = None
+                if self.palette is not None:
+                    if hasattr(self.palette, "__call__"):
+                        palette = self.palette(len(self.plots[symbol]))
+                    elif isinstance(self.palette, str):
+                        if self.palette in PREDEFINED_PALETTES:
+                            palette = PREDEFINED_PALETTES[self.palette]
+                        else:
+                            palette = None
+                    else:
+                        palette = self.palette
+                if palette is not None:
                     axes[symbol].set_prop_cycle(
-                    rpalette.build_cycler_palette(self.palette,
+                        rpalette.build_cycler_palette(palette))
-                                                  len(self.plots[symbol])))
             if constants.DEFAULT_GROUP not in axes:
                 # Set the default group axis to None if it is not in the grid
                 axes[constants.DEFAULT_GROUP] = None
         else:
             axis = plt.subplot2grid((1, 1), (0, 0))
             # Set the palette for the subplot
+            palette = None
+            if self.palette is not None:
+                if hasattr(self.palette, "__call__"):
+                    palette = self.palette(
+                        sum(
+                            [len(i) for i in self.plots.values()]))
+                elif isinstance(self.palette, str):
+                    if self.palette in PREDEFINED_PALETTES:
+                        palette = PREDEFINED_PALETTES[self.palette]
+                    else:
+                        palette = None
+                else:
+                    palette = self.palette
+            if palette is not None:
                 axis.set_prop_cycle(
-                rpalette.build_cycler_palette(
+                    rpalette.build_cycler_palette(palette))
-                    self.palette,
-                    sum([len(i) for i in self.plots.values()]))
-            )
             # Set the axis for every subplot
             for subplot in self.plots:
                 axes[subplot] = axis

replot/helpers/custom_mpl.py

@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@ Functions to set custom :mod:`matplotlib` parameters.
 """
 import shutil
 
+import cycler
 import matplotlib as mpl
-
 import numpy as np
 
 
@@ -87,10 +87,17 @@ def _rc_axes_style():
     """
     # Use dark gray instead of black for better readability on screen
     dark_gray = ".15"
+    # Use ColorBrewer-Q10 palette as default one  TODO
+    palette = cycler.cycler(
+        "color", [
+            "#1f78b4", "#33a02c", "#e31a1c", "#ff7f00", "#6a3d9a",
+            "#a6cee3", "#b2df8a", "#fb9a99", "#fdbf6f", "#cab2d6"
+        ])
     rc_params = {
         # Colors
         "figure.facecolor": "white",
         "text.color": dark_gray,
+        "axes.prop_cycle": palette,
         # Legend
         "legend.frameon": False,  # No frame around legend
         "legend.numpoints": 1,

replot/helpers/palette.py

@@ -5,9 +5,21 @@ import cycler
 import palettable
 
 
-def default(n):
+
+COLORBREWER_Q10 = [
+    "#1f78b4", "#33a02c", "#e31a1c", "#ff7f00", "#6a3d9a",
+    "#a6cee3", "#b2df8a", "#fb9a99", "#fdbf6f", "#cab2d6"]
+COLORBREWER_Q9 = [
+    "#e41a1c", "#377eb8", "#4daf4a", "#984ea3",
+    "#ff7f00", "#ffff33", "#a65628", "#f781bf", "#999999"]
+TABLEAU_10 = [
+    "#1f77b4", "#ff7f0e", "#2ca02c", "#d62728", "#9467bd",
+    "#8c564b", "#e377c2", "#7f7f7f", "#bcbd22", "#17becf"]
+
+
+def cubehelix(n):
     """
-    Default palette is a CubeHelix perceptual rainbow palette with length the
+    Builds a CubeHelix perceptual rainbow palette with length the
     number of plots.
 
     :param n: The number of colors in the palette.
@@ -18,14 +30,12 @@ def default(n):
         min_light=0.3, max_light=0.8, gamma=.9, n=n).mpl_colors
 
 
-def build_cycler_palette(palette, n):
+def build_cycler_palette(palette):
     """
     Build a cycler palette for the selected subplot.
 
-    :param n: number of colors in the palette.
+    :param palette: A list of colors in a format understable by \
+            matplotlib.
     :returns: a cycler object for the palette.
     """
-    if hasattr(palette, "__call__"):
-        return cycler.cycler("color", palette(n))
-    else:
     return cycler.cycler("color", palette)