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DOC: Remove Tick object details from artist tutorial #31692

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tacaswell merged 2 commits into from
May 22, 2026
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DOC: Remove Tick object details from artist tutorial #31692

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DOC: Remove Tick object details from artist tutorial
timhoffm May 17, 2026
69be02c
Update galleries/tutorials/artists.py
timhoffm May 17, 2026
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110 changes: 10 additions & 100 deletions galleries/tutorials/artists.py
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Expand Up @@ -596,40 +596,16 @@ class in the Matplotlib API, and the one you will be working with most
# the ticks are placed and how they are represented as strings.
#
# Each ``Axis`` object contains a :attr:`~matplotlib.axis.Axis.label` attribute
# (this is what :mod:`.pyplot` modifies in calls to `~.pyplot.xlabel` and
# `~.pyplot.ylabel`) as well as a list of major and minor ticks. The ticks are
# (this is what `~.Axes.set_xlabel` / `~.Axes.set_ylabel` modifies internally)
# as well as a list of major and minor ticks. The ticks are
# `.axis.XTick` and `.axis.YTick` instances, which contain the actual line and
# text primitives that render the ticks and ticklabels. Because the ticks are
# dynamically created as needed (e.g., when panning and zooming), you should
# access the lists of major and minor ticks through their accessor methods
# `.axis.Axis.get_major_ticks` and `.axis.Axis.get_minor_ticks`. Although
# the ticks contain all the primitives and will be covered below, ``Axis``
# instances have accessor methods that return the tick lines, tick labels, tick
# locations etc.:

fig, ax = plt.subplots()
axis = ax.xaxis
axis.get_ticklocs()

# %%

axis.get_ticklabels()

# %%
# note there are twice as many ticklines as labels because by default there are
# tick lines at the top and bottom but only tick labels below the xaxis;
# however, this can be customized.

axis.get_ticklines()

# %%
# And with the above methods, you only get lists of major ticks back by
# default, but you can also ask for the minor ticks:

axis.get_ticklabels(minor=True)
axis.get_ticklines(minor=True)

# %%
# dynamically created and modified as needed (e.g., when panning and zooming),
# directly working on the ticks and their parts (tick lines, tick labels, grid lines)
# is discouraged. Instead, the high-level concepts tick locators, tick formatters
# and style configuration via `~.Axes.tick_params` should be used. See
# :ref:`user_axes_ticks` for details.
#
# Here is a summary of some of the useful accessor methods of the ``Axis``
# (these have corresponding setters where useful, such as
# :meth:`~matplotlib.axis.Axis.set_major_formatter`.)
Expand All @@ -640,82 +616,16 @@ class in the Matplotlib API, and the one you will be working with most
# `~.Axis.get_scale` The scale of the Axis, e.g., 'log' or 'linear'
# `~.Axis.get_view_interval` The interval instance of the Axis view limits
# `~.Axis.get_data_interval` The interval instance of the Axis data limits
# `~.Axis.get_gridlines` A list of grid lines for the Axis
# `~.Axis.get_label` The Axis label - a `.Text` instance
# `~.Axis.get_offset_text` The Axis offset text - a `.Text` instance
# `~.Axis.get_ticklabels` A list of `.Text` instances -
# keyword minor=True|False
# `~.Axis.get_ticklines` A list of `.Line2D` instances -
# keyword minor=True|False
# `~.Axis.get_ticklocs` A list of Tick locations -
# keyword minor=True|False
# `~.Axis.get_major_locator` The `.ticker.Locator` instance for major ticks
# `~.Axis.get_major_formatter` The `.ticker.Formatter` instance for major
# ticks
# `~.Axis.get_minor_locator` The `.ticker.Locator` instance for minor ticks
# `~.Axis.get_minor_formatter` The `.ticker.Formatter` instance for minor
# ticks
# `~.axis.Axis.get_major_ticks` A list of `.Tick` instances for major ticks
# `~.axis.Axis.get_minor_ticks` A list of `.Tick` instances for minor ticks
# `~.Axis.get_tick_params` Styling of ticks, ticklabels and gridlines
# `~.Axis.grid` Turn the grid on or off for the major or minor
# ticks
# ============================= ==============================================
#
# Here is an example, not recommended for its beauty, which customizes
# the Axes and Tick properties.

# plt.figure creates a matplotlib.figure.Figure instance
fig = plt.figure()
rect = fig.patch # a rectangle instance
rect.set_facecolor('lightgoldenrodyellow')

ax1 = fig.add_axes((0.1, 0.3, 0.4, 0.4))
rect = ax1.patch
rect.set_facecolor('lightslategray')


for label in ax1.xaxis.get_ticklabels():
# label is a Text instance
label.set_color('red')
label.set_rotation(45)
label.set_fontsize(16)

for line in ax1.yaxis.get_ticklines():
# line is a Line2D instance
line.set_color('green')
line.set_markersize(25)
line.set_markeredgewidth(3)

plt.show()

# %%
# .. _tick-container:
#
# Tick containers
# ---------------
#
# The :class:`matplotlib.axis.Tick` is the final container object in our
# descent from the :class:`~matplotlib.figure.Figure` to the
# :class:`~matplotlib.axes.Axes` to the :class:`~matplotlib.axis.Axis`
# to the :class:`~matplotlib.axis.Tick`. The ``Tick`` contains the tick
# and grid line instances, as well as the label instances for the upper
# and lower ticks. Each of these is accessible directly as an attribute
# of the ``Tick``.
#
# ============== ==========================================================
# Tick attribute Description
# ============== ==========================================================
# tick1line A `.Line2D` instance
# tick2line A `.Line2D` instance
# gridline A `.Line2D` instance
# label1 A `.Text` instance
# label2 A `.Text` instance
# ============== ==========================================================
Comment on lines -694 to -713

@rcomer rcomer May 17, 2026

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I am not sure how I feel about removing this section. Although I of course agree that we don't want to encourage users to directly modify the ticks, the section could be of interest to someone who just wants to know how it all fits together. There is a thread running through the whole tutorial that everything you see in the plot is ultimately made from the primitive artists, and this maybe helps to complete that.

@timhoffm timhoffm May 17, 2026

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This section consists of three parts:

  • The statement that it's the final "container" in the hierachry. - IMHO not too meaningful by itself.
  • The list of constituent Artists. - This is still available in the Tick API
  • An example that fit the context anymore. Some time ago we have largely replaced usage of the explicit objects by tick_params - including at this side, where we didn't realize this defeats the purpose. While one could revert this, I think this is an indicator that the section should not exists.

I'm inclined to say that these are implementation details a user should not need to know. - At least I wish we were in that state and I would want to move in that direction. The whole ticks concept should be handled through a single object, something like a tick collection (likely not a collection in the sense of our Collection class), but some aggregate object as the single public interface. This may internally be implemented via Line2Ds and Texts, or maybe we want a LineCollection, or something else completely.

You could argue that we're not yet there and therefore should explain the constituents. I was hoping that we can just be silent about it because it's aspirationally not relevant. The issue is that the section as is without giving scope and guidance is the worst option. Removing it is better than keeping. I could alternatively restore and add a big warning "for information only, don't use" at the top of the section. I don't have the willingess or time to rewrite the section into something reasonably right, helpful and understandable, in particular given that the overall tutorial has several and more severe shortcomings.

#
# Here is an example which sets the formatter for the right side ticks with
# dollar signs and colors them green on the right side of the yaxis.
#
#
# .. include:: ../gallery/ticks/dollar_ticks.rst
# :start-after: .. redirect-from:: /gallery/pyplots/dollar_ticks
# :end-before: .. admonition:: References
# The full Axis API can be found at :doc:`/api/axis_api`.
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