Tick Marks

Immediately outside of your graph's grid area are tick marks, which are used to indicate specific values along a scale. In most cases, they appear to be extensions of the gridlines. There are two types of tick marks: major and minor.

The number of tick marks is regulated by the number of increments in your scale (or in the case of Category scales, the number of categories). See "Controlling the Number of Increments in the Scale" for details. There will be a tick mark at the outer extremes of your scale, as well as between each increment.

Tick marks can be customized in the Scale Properties dialog for the scale you want to change. PopChart+OptiMap Builder has two dialogs for manipulating Scale properties:

Left / Right Scale Properties. Applies to the scale on the left or right of the graph—usually the value scale. The dialog name changes depending on which side of the graph the scale is located.

Bottom Scale Properties. Applies to scale on the bottom of the graph—usually the category, time, or x-scale.

The following figure displays the tick mark settings for the Left / Right Scale Properties dialog.

Show major ticks shows the major tick marks in the graph.

Show minor ticks shows the minor tick marks in the graph.

The major tick marks occur beside the major gridlines, and the minor tick marks occur beside the minor gridlines. Note that on left and right scales, the scale labels will always appear beside major tick marks.

In most graphs, the bottom scale only displays major tick marks, so the Bottom Scale Properties dialog includes the Show Tick Marks option only.

The following instructions describe the processes for customizing the tick marks for your graph:

To enable tick marks

To disable tick marks

To modify tick marks

To enable tick marks

By default, tick marks are usually on. However, if they are not, you can add them using these steps.

Select the graph.

Select Properties > Left/Right/Bottom Scale Properties.

Select the Tick Marks tab.

Select from the following;

For the bottom scale, select Show Tick Marks.

For the left/right scale, select Show Major Tick Marks and/or Show Minor Tick Marks.

Click Apply or OK to save your changes.

To disable tick marks

Depending on the type of graph you are using, tick marks may not be necessary. You can remove them following these steps.

Select the graph.

Select Properties > Left/Right/Bottom Scale Properties.

Select the Tick Marks tab.

Select from the following:

For the bottom scale, deselect Show Tick Marks.

For the left/right scale, deselect Show Major Tick Marks and/or Show Minor Tick Marks.

Click Apply or OK to save your changes.

To modify tick marks

You can customize the color and size of a tick mark, as well as how it is positioned relative to its axis.

Select the graph.

Select Properties > Left/Right/Bottom Scale Properties.

Select the Tick Marks tab.

To change the color of a tick mark, click on the color button and select a new color in the Color Properties dialog that pops up.

To change the tick mark size, select one of the following settings from the Size pull-down menu: Small, Medium, or Large.

To change how the tick mark is positioned relative to the axis choose one of the following options from the Position pull-down menu:

Inside. The tick marks extends from the axis inwards, into the graph.

Outside. The tick marks extend outwards from the axis.

Cross. The tick marks extend both inside and outside of the graph area.

Click Apply or OK to save your changes.