Suggestions for IBM SPSS Graphics Improvements

[Donald Macnaughton]

Dear SPSS Developers,

 

In SPSS graphics I would like to have better control of text on graphs.  In particular, in text boxes (at least) I would like the capability of mixing fonts in a text box (mainly to allow mixing regular text, boldface, italics, Greek letters, and subscripts and superscripts).   Ideally I would also like the same control over text in axis labels and legend labels, although I could get the same results with text boxes.
 
I would also like programmatic ability to add a text box to any point on a graph.  Now if I want to add a text box I have to do it in the Chart Editor.  This means that I have to manually add the changes again every time I revise a graph.

 

I’m aware that I can use templates to store text boxes.  But that’s hard to do because templates are hard to use because it’s hard to know exactly what will be saved in the template and what won’t be saved. 

 

It would be terrific if I could generate a text box with the Graphics Editor and then the editor would generate SPSS syntax that I could copy and paste into a GGRAPH command in a syntax file.
 
These changes would give users better ability to produce professional-quality graphs.  
 
Thanks for your help,
 
Don Macnaughton

[Kornbrot, Diana]

These are valuable suggestion which I fully support.
Currently, apparently the syntax does NOT seem to record some changes made in the chart editor, and some changes can only been made interactively in chart editor. If ALL specifications for ALL elements were available in the dialogue box that creates the graph they would be much easier to integrate into the syntax. This is desirable anyhow as it would save time creating graphs and in re-running them. Make no mistake these are non-trivial software amendments for ibm/spss.
Best
Diana


On 05/06/2012 02:43, "Donald Macnaughton" <donmac@...> wrote:

Dear SPSS Developers,
 
In SPSS graphics I would like to have better control of text on graphs.  In particular, in text boxes (at least) I would like the capability of mixing fonts in a text box (mainly to allow mixing regular text, boldface, italics, Greek letters, and subscripts and superscripts).   Ideally I would also like the same control over text in axis labels and legend labels, although I could get the same results with text boxes.
  
I would also like programmatic ability to add a text box to any point on a graph.  Now if I want to add a text box I have to do it in the Chart Editor.  This means that I have to manually add the changes again every time I revise a graph.
 
I’m aware that I can use templates to store text boxes.  But that’s hard to do because templates are hard to use because it’s hard to know exactly what will be saved in the template and what won’t be saved.  
 
It would be terrific if I could generate a text box with the Graphics Editor and then the editor would generate SPSS syntax that I could copy and paste into a GGRAPH command in a syntax file.
  
These changes would give users better ability to produce professional-quality graphs.   
  
Thanks for your help,
  
Don Macnaughton

---

Emeritus Professor Diana Kornbrot
email:  d.e.kornbrot@...    
web:    http://dianakornbrot.wordpress.com/
Work
School of Psychology
 University of Hertfordshire
 College Lane, Hatfield, Hertfordshire AL10 9AB, UK
 voice:   [phone]
   fax:     [phone]
Home
 19 Elmhurst Avenue
 London N2 0LT, UK
    voice:   [phone]
    mobile: [phone]

[Art Kendall]

As a start though, I would like to see all of the things that can be checked in the chart editor when saving a template actually work.
At least for now gray out options that will not be saved in the template.

On 6/5/2012 3:40 AM, Kornbrot, Diana wrote:

These are valuable suggestion which I fully support.
Currently, apparently the syntax does NOT seem to record some changes made in the chart editor, and some changes can only been made interactively in chart editor. If ALL specifications for ALL elements were available in the dialogue box that creates the graph they would be much easier to integrate into the syntax. This is desirable anyhow as it would save time creating graphs and in re-running them. Make no mistake these are non-trivial software amendments for ibm/spss.
Best
Diana


On 05/06/2012 02:43, "Donald Macnaughton" <donmac@...> wrote:

Dear SPSS Developers,
 
In SPSS graphics I would like to have better control of text on graphs.  In particular, in text boxes (at least) I would like the capability of mixing fonts in a text box (mainly to allow mixing regular text, boldface, italics, Greek letters, and subscripts and superscripts).   Ideally I would also like the same control over text in axis labels and legend labels, although I could get the same results with text boxes.
  
I would also like programmatic ability to add a text box to any point on a graph.  Now if I want to add a text box I have to do it in the Chart Editor.  This means that I have to manually add the changes again every time I revise a graph.
 
I’m aware that I can use templates to store text boxes.  But that’s hard to do because templates are hard to use because it’s hard to know exactly what will be saved in the template and what won’t be saved.  
 
It would be terrific if I could generate a text box with the Graphics Editor and then the editor would generate SPSS syntax that I could copy and paste into a GGRAPH command in a syntax file.
  
These changes would give users better ability to produce professional-quality graphs.   
  
Thanks for your help,
  
Don Macnaughton

---

Emeritus Professor Diana Kornbrot
email:  d.e.kornbrot@...    
web:    http://dianakornbrot.wordpress.com/
Work
School of Psychology
 University of Hertfordshire
 College Lane, Hatfield, Hertfordshire AL10 9AB, UK
 voice:   [phone]
   fax:     [phone]
Home
 19 Elmhurst Avenue
 London N2 0LT, UK
    voice:   [phone]
    mobile: [phone]

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[Kyle Weeks]

Hi everyone, all suggestions sent to the link below are read and considered (obviously not all of the suggestions are implemented).  We have implemented several features over the years that are the direct result of customer suggestions such as longer variable names, multiple datasets, new syntax editor and mapping to name a few.

Donald, I read your suggestions that came through the suggest link which were copied to the list as well.  As with all suggestions, we will make a note of them for consideration in a future release.

Regards

Kyle Weeks, PhD
Senior Manager
Product Strategy/Management IBM SPSS Statistics        
IBM Software Group, Business Analytics        
e-mail:        [hidden email]          



From:        "Kornbrot, Diana" <[hidden email]>
To:        [hidden email]
Date:        06/05/2012 02:41 AM
Subject:        Re: Suggestions for IBM SPSS Graphics Improvements
Sent by:        "SPSSX(r) Discussion" <[hidden email]>

---

These are valuable suggestion which I fully support.
Currently, apparently the syntax does NOT seem to record some changes made in the chart editor, and some changes can only been made interactively in chart editor. If ALL specifications for ALL elements were available in the dialogue box that creates the graph they would be much easier to integrate into the syntax. This is desirable anyhow as it would save time creating graphs and in re-running them. Make no mistake these are non-trivial software amendments for ibm/spss.
Best
Diana


On 05/06/2012 02:43, "Donald Macnaughton" <donmac@...> wrote:

Dear SPSS Developers,

In SPSS graphics I would like to have better control of text on graphs.  In particular, in text boxes (at least) I would like the capability of mixing fonts in a text box (mainly to allow mixing regular text, boldface, italics, Greek letters, and subscripts and superscripts).   Ideally I would also like the same control over text in axis labels and legend labels, although I could get the same results with text boxes.
 
I would also like programmatic ability to add a text box to any point on a graph.  Now if I want to add a text box I have to do it in the Chart Editor.  This means that I have to manually add the changes again every time I revise a graph.

I’m aware that I can use templates to store text boxes.  But that’s hard to do because templates are hard to use because it’s hard to know exactly what will be saved in the template and what won’t be saved.  

It would be terrific if I could generate a text box with the Graphics Editor and then the editor would generate SPSS syntax that I could copy and paste into a GGRAPH command in a syntax file.
 
These changes would give users better ability to produce professional-quality graphs.  
 
Thanks for your help,
 
Don Macnaughton

---

Emeritus Professor Diana Kornbrot
email:  d.e.kornbrot@...    
web:    http://dianakornbrot.wordpress.com/
Work
School of Psychology
University of Hertfordshire
College Lane, Hatfield, Hertfordshire AL10 9AB, UK
voice:   [phone]
  fax:     [phone]
Home
19 Elmhurst Avenue
London N2 0LT, UK
   voice:   [phone]
   mobile: [phone]