{"action":"opened","issue":{"url":"https://api.github.com/repos/ioam/holoviews/issues/420","labels_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/ioam/holoviews/issues/420/labels{/name}","comments_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/ioam/holoviews/issues/420/comments","events_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/ioam/holoviews/issues/420/events","html_url":"https://github.com/ioam/holoviews/issues/420","id":128895613,"number":420,"title":"Unintuitive / overloaded behaviour of `fig_inches` option","user":{"login":"maxalbert","id":2692805,"avatar_url":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/2692805?v=3","gravatar_id":"","url":"https://api.github.com/users/maxalbert","html_url":"https://github.com/maxalbert","followers_url":"https://api.github.com/users/maxalbert/followers","following_url":"https://api.github.com/users/maxalbert/following{/other_user}","gists_url":"https://api.github.com/users/maxalbert/gists{/gist_id}","starred_url":"https://api.github.com/users/maxalbert/starred{/owner}{/repo}","subscriptions_url":"https://api.github.com/users/maxalbert/subscriptions","organizations_url":"https://api.github.com/users/maxalbert/orgs","repos_url":"https://api.github.com/users/maxalbert/repos","events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/maxalbert/events{/privacy}","received_events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/maxalbert/received_events","type":"User","site_admin":false},"labels":[],"state":"open","locked":false,"assignee":null,"milestone":null,"comments":0,"created_at":"2016-01-26T18:03:47Z","updated_at":"2016-01-26T18:03:47Z","closed_at":null,"body":"I have found the behaviour of the option `fig_inches` to be fairly unintuitive . The output of `hv.help` states: _\"May be set as an integer in which case it will be used to autocompute a size. Alternatively may be set with an explicit tuple or list, in which case it will be applied directly after being scaled by fig_size.\"_\r\n\r\nThe latter part makes a lot of sense, and is in line with what matplotlib does IIRC. However, even after a bunch of experiments I never understood how the first part works, and the docs don't really explain it in their current form.\r\n\r\nAccording to @philippjfr (on Gitter), \"thinking about a sizing and aspect system that works well across backends should become a major priority after 1.5\".\r\n\r\nSuggestions in the short term:\r\n\r\n- Restrict the meaning of `fig_inches` to the second option (= 2-tuple of width, height).\r\n\r\n- Either disable the first meaning, or create a separate option for it. (Unfortunately I can't suggest a good name because I don't actually know what it does. ;-) ) In the latter case its meaning should be explained in more detail in the help string.\r\n\r\nIn fact, I just realised that matplotlib calls this option `figsize` instead of `fig_inches`, but this clashes with Holoviews' meaning of the `figsize` option (which specifies the \"size relative to the supplied overall `fig_inches` in percent). Maybe it would be good to rename the Holoviews options as follows?\r\n\r\n- `fig_inches` --> `figsize`\r\n- `figsize` --> `fig_scaling`\r\n\r\n(Or something similar?)"}}