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ggpointless

INFRA · APIS
Velocity0.0

Extra Geometries and Stats for 'ggplot2'

github.com/flrd/ggpointless ↗

ggpointless keeps adding the ggplot2 layers nobody else bothered to write.

ggplot2-extensionsdata-visualizationpictogram-chartsalpha-gradientsr-packages
◆Current state
ggpointless is a small ggplot2 extension collecting geoms that sit outside the standard set — Lexis diagrams, Chaikin-smoothed paths, hanging chains, Fourier reconstructions — and it has grown steadily rather than changed shape. The May release is the largest yet: isotype and pictogram bar charts as stacks of discrete unit cells, a family of geoms that fade paths, segments, curves and reference lines along their length, and geom_gridline(), which draws grid lines as a layer on top of the data rather than beneath it.
◆Where it's heading
Two patterns are visible. Ideas get generalized rather than left as one-offs: geom_area_fade() in the previous release established alpha gradients via grid::linearGradient(), and the recent release spreads that treatment across paths, lines, steps, segments, curves and the three reference-line geoms, each with the same fade_direction and alpha_fade_to arguments. And each new geom is expected to survive real plots — the unit charts work under coord_equal, coord_polar, coord_radial, coord_flip and faceting, and geom_gridline reads positions from trained scales and inherits styling from the theme's panel grid. The package also tracks ggplot2 closely, requiring 4.0.0 and using make_constructor() and gg_par() internally, and it dropped its bundled datasets outright rather than maintain stale copies.
◆Prediction
The fade treatment now covers most path-like geoms but not the area and ribbon family beyond geom_area_fade(), which is where the pattern has room left to run. The unit-cell charts arrive with a label helper and no fill or grouping variants, so those are the plausible next additions.

◆Recent moves

  1. 3mo ago

    Pictogram unit charts, gridline layers and a family of fading geoms

    The biggest release in the package's history and still accretion rather than redirection — more geoms, built the way this package builds them. The fade family generalizes the alpha-gradient idea from geom_area_fade() across paths, segments, curves and reference lines; the unit charts add a chart type ggplot2 lacks; geom_gridline() inverts the usual layering by drawing grid lines above the data.

    View source ↗
  2. 5mo ago

    Fourier and arch geoms, area fades and glowing points

    Introduces the gradient techniques the next release builds on — geom_area_fade() via grid::linearGradient() and geom_point_glow() via radialGradient() — alongside curve-fitting geoms. The bundled co2_ml, covid_vac and female_leaders datasets are removed rather than left to go stale, taking their vignette with them, and the package moves to ggplot2 4.0.0.

    View source ↗
  3. 2y ago

    geom_catenary() draws a hanging chain

    One geom added, and the ggplot2-tracking pattern already in place: geom_lexis() picks up the linewidth argument from ggplot2 3.4.0 and deprecates point_size for size.

    View source ↗
  4. 3y ago

    geom_chaikin() adds corner-cutting path smoothing

    A two-line release note listing the geom and its stat. Chaikin's algorithm smooths a path by repeatedly cutting corners, and it is the kind of specific technique this package exists to expose.

    View source ↗
  5. 4y ago

    geom_lexis() and the female_leaders dataset

    The earliest release in the feed, adding the Lexis diagram geom that the package was originally built around, plus a bundled dataset later removed in 0.2.0 when the maintainer decided against shipping copies of external data.

    View source ↗