[R] Controlling graphics parameters in lattice

[Michael Friendly]

I'm just starting to work with lattice graphics, and am
having difficulty understanding how to control various graphic
parameters (font sizes, etc.).  [I'm actually using xyplot
via plot.effect() in the car package, and would like to be
able to set some global defaults.]

I read ?xyplot and ?trellis.par.set-- which contains no complete
list of parameters, just a reference to print(trellis.par.get())

> print(trellis.par.get())
$fontsize
$fontsize$default
[1] 10

I tried
> trellis.par.set("fontsize", 12)
>  data(quakes)
>      Depth <- equal.count(quakes$depth, number=8, overlap=.1)
>      xyplot(lat ~ long | Depth, data = quakes)

And this crashes the Rgui (Windows, R 1.6.1).  Is this a buglet
or did I do something wrong?

I then tried

>      xyplot(lat ~ long | Depth, data = quakes, scales=list(cex=1.5))

which makes the tick labels larger, but not the axis labels.

As well, I'm confused about why the following has no effect
on the background (from a fresh start):

> library(lattice)
> trellis.par.set("background", "white")
>  data(quakes)
>      Depth <- equal.count(quakes$depth, number=8, overlap=.1)
>      xyplot(lat ~ long | Depth, data = quakes)

Only after I've run xyplot once, I can repeat

> trellis.par.set("background", "white")
>      xyplot(lat ~ long | Depth, data = quakes)

and the background will change.

thanks,
-Michael
  
-- 
Michael Friendly              friendly at yorku.ca
York University               http://www.math.yorku.ca/SCS/friendly.html
Psychology Department
4700 Keele Street             Tel:  (416) 736-5115 x66249
Toronto, Ontario, M3J 1P3     Fax:  (416) 736-5814