Colorbar tick fontsize reduction and scientific notation consistency

- Reduce default colorbar tick labelsize from 22 → 18 (both single-figure and subplot)
- Add _to_scientific() helper for Unicode ×10 notation (e.g. 4.3×10⁴)
- Fix colorbar tick notation inconsistency: when any tick uses ×10 notation,
  all non-zero ticks are normalised to the same notation so the central tick
  never shows plain decimal while outer ticks show scientific

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <[email protected]>

Author: 2 people

CLAUDE.md

@@ -9,21 +9,31 @@ This file provides guidance to Claude Code (claude.ai/code) when working with co
 pip install -e ".[dev]"
 ```
 
-### Run Tests
-```bash
-# All tests
-python -m pytest test_autoarray/
+### Run Tests
+```bash
+# All tests
+python -m pytest test_autoarray/
 
 # Single test file
 python -m pytest test_autoarray/structures/test_arrays.py
 
-# With output
-python -m pytest test_autoarray/structures/test_arrays.py -s
-```
-
-### Formatting
-```bash
-black autoarray/
+# With output
+python -m pytest test_autoarray/structures/test_arrays.py -s
+```
+
+### Codex / sandboxed runs
+
+When running Python from Codex or any restricted environment, set writable cache directories so `numba` and `matplotlib` do not fail on unwritable home or source-tree paths:
+
+```bash
+NUMBA_CACHE_DIR=/tmp/numba_cache MPLCONFIGDIR=/tmp/matplotlib python -m pytest test_autoarray/
+```
+
+This workspace is often imported from `/mnt/c/...` and Codex may not be able to write to module `__pycache__` directories or `/home/jammy/.cache`, which can cause import-time `numba` caching failures without this override.
+
+### Formatting
+```bash
+black autoarray/
 ```
 
 ## Architecture

autoarray/dataset/plot/interferometer_plots.py

@@ -42,31 +42,33 @@ def subplot_interferometer_dataset(
     fig, axes = plt.subplots(2, 3, figsize=conf_subplot_figsize(2, 3))
     axes = axes.flatten()
 
-    plot_grid(dataset.data.in_grid, ax=axes[0], title="Visibilities")
+    plot_grid(dataset.data.in_grid, ax=axes[0], title="Visibilities", xlabel="", ylabel="")
     plot_grid(
         Grid2DIrregular.from_yx_1d(
             y=dataset.uv_wavelengths[:, 1] / 10**3.0,
             x=dataset.uv_wavelengths[:, 0] / 10**3.0,
         ),
         ax=axes[1],
         title="UV-Wavelengths",
+        xlabel="",
+        ylabel="",
     )
     plot_yx(
         dataset.amplitudes,
         dataset.uv_distances / 10**3.0,
         ax=axes[2],
         title="Amplitudes vs UV-distances",
-        ylabel="Jy",
-        xlabel="k$\\lambda$",
+        xtick_suffix='"',
+        ytick_suffix="Jy",
         plot_axis_type="scatter",
     )
     plot_yx(
         dataset.phases,
         dataset.uv_distances / 10**3.0,
         ax=axes[3],
         title="Phases vs UV-distances",
-        ylabel="deg",
-        xlabel="k$\\lambda$",
+        xtick_suffix='"',
+        ytick_suffix="deg",
         plot_axis_type="scatter",
     )
     plot_array(

autoarray/plot/utils.py

@@ -533,15 +533,52 @@ def _colorbar_tick_values(norm) -> Optional[List[float]]:
     return [lo, mid, hi]
 
 
+_SUPERSCRIPT_DIGITS = str.maketrans("0123456789-", "⁰¹²³⁴⁵⁶⁷⁸⁹⁻")
+
+
+def _to_scientific(v: float) -> Optional[str]:
+    """Convert *v* to Unicode scientific notation (e.g. ``4.3×10⁴``).
+
+    Returns ``None`` when ``f"{v:.2g}"`` does not produce an exponent (unusual
+    edge case for certain values near the g-format threshold).
+    """
+    s = f"{v:.2g}"
+    if "e" not in s:
+        return None
+    mantissa, exp = s.split("e")
+    sign = "-" if exp.startswith("-") else ""
+    exp_num = exp.lstrip("+-").lstrip("0") or "0"
+    superscript = f"{sign}{exp_num}".translate(_SUPERSCRIPT_DIGITS)
+    return f"{mantissa}×10{superscript}"
+
+
 def _fmt_tick(v: float) -> str:
-    """Format a single tick value to 2 decimal places without scientific notation."""
+    """Format a single tick value compactly.
+
+    Values with 5 or more digits (abs(v) >= 10000) or very small values
+    (abs(v) < 0.001) are rendered as compact scientific notation using
+    Unicode superscripts, e.g. ``4.3×10⁴`` or ``1.2×10⁻⁵``.  This avoids
+    LaTeX expansion that would overflow the colorbar width.  Values in
+    between are rendered with ``:.2f``.
+    """
+    abs_v = abs(v)
+    if abs_v != 0 and (abs_v >= 10000 or abs_v < 0.001):
+        sci = _to_scientific(v)
+        return sci if sci is not None else f"{v:.2g}"
     return f"{v:.2f}"
 
 
 def _colorbar_tick_labels(tick_values: List[float], cb_unit: Optional[str] = None) -> List[str]:
-    """Format tick values without scientific notation, appending *cb_unit* to the middle label.
+    """Format tick values, appending *cb_unit* to the middle label.
+
+    All three labels use a consistent notation style: if any tick is rendered
+    in scientific notation (``×10ⁿ``), every non-zero tick is forced through
+    the same format.  This prevents the central tick from showing e.g.
+    ``-5000.00`` when the outer ticks show ``-2×10⁴`` / ``1.5×10⁴`` because
+    the midpoint happens to fall below the per-value threshold.
 
-    If *cb_unit* is ``None`` the unit is read from config; pass ``""`` for unitless panels.
+    If *cb_unit* is ``None`` the unit is read from config; pass ``""`` for
+    unitless panels.
     """
     if cb_unit is None:
         try:
@@ -551,6 +588,18 @@ def _colorbar_tick_labels(tick_values: List[float], cb_unit: Optional[str] = Non
             cb_unit = ""
     labels = [_fmt_tick(v) for v in tick_values]
     mid = len(labels) // 2
+
+    # Enforce consistent notation: if any label uses ×10, convert all others.
+    if any("×10" in lbl for lbl in labels):
+        for i, (lbl, v) in enumerate(zip(labels, tick_values)):
+            if "×10" not in lbl:
+                if v == 0:
+                    labels[i] = "0"
+                else:
+                    sci = _to_scientific(v)
+                    if sci is not None:
+                        labels[i] = sci
+
     labels[mid] = f"{labels[mid]}{cb_unit}"
     return labels
 
@@ -569,8 +618,8 @@ def _apply_colorbar(
         Override the unit string on the middle tick.  Pass ``""`` for unitless panels.
         ``None`` reads the unit from config.
     is_subplot
-        When ``True`` uses ``labelsize_subplot`` from config (default 22) instead of
-        the single-figure ``labelsize`` (default 22).
+        When ``True`` uses ``labelsize_subplot`` from config (default 18) instead of
+        the single-figure ``labelsize`` (default 18).
     """
     tick_values = _colorbar_tick_values(getattr(mappable, "norm", None))
 
@@ -582,7 +631,7 @@ def _apply_colorbar(
         ticks=tick_values,
     )
     labelsize_key = "labelsize_subplot" if is_subplot else "labelsize"
-    labelsize = float(_conf_colorbar(labelsize_key, 22))
+    labelsize = float(_conf_colorbar(labelsize_key, 18))
     labelrotation = float(_conf_colorbar("labelrotation", 90))
     if tick_values is not None:
         cb.ax.set_yticklabels(

autoarray/plot/yx.py

@@ -25,8 +25,10 @@ def plot_yx(
     title: str = "",
     xlabel: str = "",
     ylabel: str = "",
+    xtick_suffix: str = "",
+    ytick_suffix: str = "",
     label: Optional[str] = None,
-    color: str = "b",
+    color: str = "k",
     linestyle: str = "-",
     plot_axis_type: str = "linear",
     # --- figure control (used only when ax is None) -----------------------------
@@ -129,7 +131,21 @@ def plot_yx(
         ax.fill_between(x, y1, y2, alpha=0.3)
 
     # --- labels ----------------------------------------------------------------
-    apply_labels(ax, title=title, xlabel=xlabel, ylabel=ylabel)
+    apply_labels(ax, title=title, xlabel=xlabel, ylabel=ylabel, is_subplot=not owns_figure)
+
+    # --- 3-point ticks with optional unit suffixes ----------------------------
+    from autoarray.plot.utils import _inward_ticks, _round_ticks, _conf_ticks
+
+    factor = _conf_ticks("extent_factor_2d", 0.75)
+
+    xlo, xhi = ax.get_xlim()
+    ylo, yhi = ax.get_ylim()
+    xticks = _round_ticks(_inward_ticks(xlo, xhi, factor, 3))
+    yticks = _round_ticks(_inward_ticks(ylo, yhi, factor, 3))
+    ax.set_xticks(xticks)
+    ax.set_xticklabels([f"{v:g}{xtick_suffix}" for v in xticks])
+    ax.set_yticks(yticks)
+    ax.set_yticklabels([f"{v:g}{ytick_suffix}" for v in yticks])
 
     if label is not None:
         ax.legend(fontsize=12)