Controlling The Appearance of Your Graphs

Overview

The appearance of SAS/GRAPH output is determined by ODS styles by default. Along with table and page attributes, ODS styles contain a collection of graphical attributes such as color, marker shape, line pattern, fonts, and so on. Many carefully designed styles that enhance the visual impact of the graphics are shipped with SAS. In addition to creating visually appealing graphics, the styles ensure that different groups of data can be easily distinguished from one another. They also ensure that data of equal importance is given equal visual emphasis.

These styles produce professional-looking graphics without additional code in your SAS programs and without modifying the styles themselves. However, you can use SAS/GRAPH statement options to override specific elements in the styles, or you can modify style elements to create a customized style for yourself or your organization.

Controlling Graph Appearance
Method	Description	Level of Complexity	Reference
Specify a different style template.	Specify a style template with the STYLE= option to change the appearance of the entire graph. Requires no further modification.	Low	Changing the Current Style by Using the STYLE= Option in ODS Destination Statements
Use appearance options.	Specify an appearance option using SAS/GRAPH procedure options or global statement options to change various aspects of your graph. This method requires modification of your SAS/GRAPH program.	Medium	Overriding Style Attributes With SAS/GRAPH Statement Options
Modify individual style elements.	Specify or change style attributes in order to modify a style element. This requires the use of PROC TEMPLATE style statements.	High	Modifying a Style

You can turn off the use of styles if needed. In this case, the default appearance of your output is controlled by device entry parameters. See Style Attributes Versus Device Entry Parameters and Turning Off Styles for more information.

Note: This section covers only device-based graphics. See Device-Based Graphics and Template-Based Graphics. [cautionend]

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