Hacking Boxplots

Usually the big nuisance with boxplots is accomodating the labels, which are usually too long. I suggest to keep the boxplots vertical, turn all the labels to perpendicular to axis, and increase the outer margin on the x-labels side.

x11 ()
par (omd = c (0, 1, 0.1, 1))
boxplot (<#...>, names = <#x_labels>, las = 2)

omd parameters are:

• width (parallel to x axis), left side
• width (parallel to x axis), right side
• height (parallel to y axis), bottom

• height (parallel to y axis), top
  

las values are:

• 0: always parallel to the axis [default],
• 1: always horizontal,
• 2: always perpendicular to the axis,

• 3: always vertical.
  

For a general reference, look at the par help page.