Understanding Quarto and its YAML Components
Quarto is an open-source document generation tool that allows users to create documents using a combination of R, Python, and HTML. It provides a flexible framework for creating high-quality documents with various formats, including PDF, HTML, and Markdown.
In this blog post, we’ll focus on Quarto’s YAML components, which are used to customize the appearance and behavior of figures in a document. We’ll explore how to use these components to create figures with specific layouts, captions, and labels.
Background
Quarto documents are composed of several sections, including:
- The YAML header: This section contains metadata about the document, such as the title, author, and format.
- The R or Python code chunks: These sections contain the actual code used to generate the figures and text in the document.
- The YAML footer: This section contains information about the document’s layout, margins, and other settings.
Understanding Quarto’s Layout Functionality
Quarto provides a powerful layout functionality that allows users to customize the placement and alignment of figures within a document. The layout YAML component is used to define the positions and sizes of multiple elements on a page.
The general syntax for the layout component is:
:::{layout="[x, y, w, h]"}
Here:
xspecifies the horizontal position of the element.yspecifies the vertical position of the element.wspecifies the width of the element.hspecifies the height of the element.
By adjusting these values, you can create complex layouts that include multiple elements on a page.
Creating Figures with Custom Layouts
In our example, we want to create two figures side by side. We can use the layout component to define the positions and sizes of both figures.
The general syntax for creating a figure with a custom layout is:
:::{layout="[x1, y1, w1, h1]"}
Here:
x1specifies the horizontal position of the first element.y1specifies the vertical position of the first element.w1specifies the width of the first element.h1specifies the height of the first element.
By defining these values, you can create a figure that occupies a specific space on the page.
Applying the Layout Functionality
In our example, we want to create two figures side by side. We can use the layout component to define the positions and sizes of both figures.
The following YAML code snippet demonstrates how to apply the layout functionality:
:::{layout="[0.4, -0.1, 0.4]"}
Here:
- The first value (0.4) specifies that the figure should occupy 40% of the horizontal space.
- The second value (-0.1) specifies that the figure should be positioned 10 units below the top edge of the page.
- The third value (0.4) specifies that the figure should occupy 40% of the vertical space.
By adjusting these values, you can create a figure that occupies a specific space on the page.
Moving Labels to the Top Left Corner
To move the labels to the top left corner of each figure, we need to adjust the position and alignment of the labels within the layout. The general syntax for defining the label position is:
#| fig-cap-location: top-left
Here:
top-leftspecifies that the label should be positioned in the top-left corner of the figure.
By using this syntax, you can move the labels to the top left corner of each figure.
Conclusion
Quarto provides a powerful layout functionality that allows users to customize the placement and alignment of figures within a document. By applying the layout component and adjusting the position and size values, you can create complex layouts that include multiple elements on a page.
Additionally, by using the fig-cap-location syntax, you can move labels to specific positions within the layout. In our example, we demonstrated how to use these features to create two figures side by side with custom layouts and moved the labels to the top left corner of each figure.
By mastering Quarto’s layout functionality, you can create high-quality documents with complex layouts that include multiple elements on a page.
Last modified on 2023-06-16