If you’re working with patchwork plots in R, you might have encountered the frustrating issue of plot_spacer() not taking up enough space. I totally get it – it’s annoying when your carefully crafted plot layout gets ruined by a misbehaving spacer.
Recently, I stumbled upon a Reddit post from a user who was struggling with this exact problem. They had 5 panels arranged in a 3-row, 2-column configuration using the patchwork layout, but no matter what they tried, the third row’s left panel was always a bit too wide.
I totally sympathize with this issue, and I’m here to offer some suggestions to overcome this limitation. First, let’s take a closer look at the code the user provided: `(r1_left + r1_right)/(r2_left + r2_right) / (r3_left + r3_void)`.
The user tried using `r3_void` as `ggplot() + geom_void()+ theme.void()` or `plot_spacer()`, but it didn’t quite work out. They even tried adding the y-axis to the left in the left panels, which helped a bit, but not enough.
So, what can we do to resolve this issue? One approach is to use `plot_layout(widths=c(5,5))` to specify the widths of the panels. However, this might not always work as intended. Another approach is to use `grid.arrange()` instead of patchwork, which offers more flexibility in terms of layout control.
Lastly, if all else fails, you can try tweaking the `theme()` elements to adjust the panel widths. It might take some trial and error, but with a bit of patience, you should be able to get your patchwork plot looking just the way you want it.