[Matplotlib-users] Additional line styles - comparison excel chart

[Benjamin J. <bj...@gm...>]

Hey everybody,

Before I made the change to matplotlib I used to do my charts in MS
Excel 2007. I have been using matplotlib for a while now but haven't
been able to replicate my graphs in the same beauty (for an example
see the attachment).

1) Can I generate additional line styles beyond [ ‘-‘ | ‘–’ | ‘-.’ |
‘:’ | ‘steps’ | ...]? For example the empty line for value 9 in the
chart would be very nice to have.
2) The coloring and the way the lines curve around looks very nice to
me. I remember that the Excel charts did not have this nice look
before Excel 2007. Can I achieve similar effects with matplotlib? I'm
not really sure what creates this nice look, so this question is of
course a little fuzzy.

These questions are not meant as a criticism. I enjoy using matplotlib
and I am very grateful this amazing tool has been developed. The latex
integration is a clear advantage over excel. If matplotlib becomes
equal or better in look to excel charts the incentives for excel users
to convert will be even stronger.

Thanks for any answers/thoughts,

Benjamin