How to rotate axis labels in lilaq?

Questions
1

Hi everyone,

I’m currently experimenting with switching my plots from cetz-plot to lilaq, and I have to say—I’m already quite impressed! The design flexibility is great, and I’ve managed to recreate most of my custom layout using the documentation and examples.

One thing I’m still trying to figure out, though, is how to rotate and fine-tune the position of the axis labels (xlabel and ylabel). I’d like to rotate them slightly and adjust their placement to better match my preferred layout style (which I used in cetz-plot before).

Here’s a minimal working example of what I have so far:

#import "@preview/lilaq:0.1.0" as lq
#import "@preview/zero:0.3.3": * 
#import "@preview/tiptoe:0.3.0"

#let schoolbook-style = it => {
  let filter(value, distance) = value != 0 and distance >= 5pt
  let axis-args = (position: 0, filter: filter)
  
  show: lq.set-tick(inset: 2pt, outset: 2pt, pad: 0.4em)
  show: lq.set-spine(tip: tiptoe.triangle)
  show: lq.set-diagram(xaxis: axis-args, yaxis: axis-args)
  show lq.selector(lq.label): set align(top + right)
  it
}

#set-num(decimal-separator: ",")

#show: schoolbook-style

#let x = lq.linspace(0, 10, num:200) 

#lq.diagram(
  xlabel: $x$, 
  ylabel: $y$,
  lq.plot(
    mark: none,
    stroke: 1.5pt,
    x,
    x.map(x => 
      calc.pow(x,2)  
    )
  ),
)

Any tips on how to manually rotate or reposition the axis labels (xlabel, ylabel)? Is there a clean way to apply a rotate or offset to them in the current lilaq API?

Thanks in advance, and also big kudos to everyone working on these awesome libraries!

CeTZ plot:

SCR-20250322-sobo
SCR-20250322-sobo844×776 43.5 KB

Current lilaq plot:

SCR-20250322-soch
SCR-20250322-soch874×616 38.1 KB

2

Hi there, have you tried setting “angle:-90deg”?

The Lilaq doc mentions:

lq.label(body, dx=0pt, dy=0pt, pad=0.75em, angle=0deg)

angle : angle default: 0deg

Angle at which the label is drawn. The label of a y axis is often drawn at -90deg.

1 Like
3

You can pass a label to the parameters xlabel and ylabel to adjust the angle and the position.

#lq.diagram(
  xlabel: lq.xlabel($x$, dx: 0.3cm, dy: -0.7cm, angle: 0deg),
  ylabel: lq.ylabel($y$, dx: 0.9cm, dy: -0.4cm, angle: 0deg),
  lq.plot(
    mark: none,
    stroke: 1.5pt,
    x,
    x.map(x => 
      calc.pow(x,2)  
    )
  ),
)

I’m not sure if there is also a way to do this with a show rule? But since the position probably needs to be customized for every plot anyway, I think it is fine to create the elements here manually.

2 Likes
4

Thank you very much for your code snippet!
It results in the exact intended layout.

image
image802×598 36.6 KB

https://typst.app/project/rMJq47dMdXyKz9LuqiLvsQ

5

Yes, using lq.label is indeed the way to go.

Ideally you would want to write

#show lq.label.where(kind: "y"): set lq.label(angle: 0deg)

but it’s currently not possible due to a limitation of the package elembic which provides the “user-defined types/elements” in Lilaq. It will become possible though, when types are properly introduced in the Typst compiler.

Regarding the preset: you can also add the label (if it always has the same text) to the lq.diagram set rule.

show: lq.set-diagram(
  xaxis: axis-args + (
    label: lq.xlabel($x$, dx: 0.3cm, dy: -0.7cm)
  ), 
  yaxis: axis-args + (
    label: lq.ylabel($y$, dx: 0.9cm, dy: -0.4cm, angle: 0deg)
  ), 
)

This way you can avoid a good deal of repetition.

I will think about how to improve positioning of the labels so that it does not need to be tuned each time the label text changes.

2 Likes