[Matplotlib-users] feature discussion/request: a 'layout' command for matplotlib

[per f. <per...@gm...>]

hi all,

i am a *huge fan* of matplotlib and use it for all plotting. one
feature that i would find extremely useful that i believe is missing
(but am very open to being corrected in case i overlooked something)
is a way to define the layout of complex subplots. by this i mean
something like R's "layout" command, which allows you to nearly
arbitrarily arrange the subplots of a figure. this command is much
more general than "subplot" since it does not restrict you to square
arrangements of figure subplots.

for examples, check out these figures/examples:

1. source code of complex layout:
http://rgraphics.limnology.wisc.edu/rmargins_layout.php
    (the associated graph it produces is here:
http://rgraphics.limnology.wisc.edu/images/layouts/rmargins_layout_thumb.png)

2. a tutorial on complex layouts with this command:
http://www.statmethods.net/advgraphs/layout.html
    in particular, see:
http://www.statmethods.net/advgraphs/images/layout3a.png where a
complex layout which is currently not possible with "subplot" is made.

a command like R's layout would be a tremendously helpful addition to
matplotlib, in my opinion. it will prevent the need for annoying
manual "postprocessing" of figures into these layouts using tools like
Illustrator, since these figures could be generated programmatically
instead, which much more precision.

as far as i know, this cannot be done in matplotlib right now, without
plotting your own axes (using some combination of axes grid toolkit
and raw axes plotting.)

if anyone out there has written some kind of wrappers that do
something like the "layout" command, i would love to know about it. if
it's still in testing and not part of the current matplotlib, i'd be
more than happy to beta test this for anyone and try it on many
examples.

thanks very much for your help.