Styling

Everything about how a statement looks is metadata, written after an @ on the statement it styles. Anything left out keeps Desmos’ own default, so a statement only names what it changes.

Writing metadata

Inline, properties follow the @ separated by commas. When there are more than sit comfortably on the line, @{ … } holds the same properties one to a line, and inside it the newline is the separator:

y = x ^ 3 @ color: BLUE, lineWidth: 4, lineOpacity: 0.6
y = x ^ 4 @{
    color: GREEN
    lineWidth: 4
    lineStyle: DASHED
}

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A property that is true or false may be written bare, and a bare one means true: @ hidden, fill is @ hidden: true, fill: true. false has to be written out, as in points: false.

Values that are one of a fixed set - DASHED, OPEN, above - are not case-sensitive, so lineStyle: dashed is fine. Each property takes one kind of value and the checker holds it to that, so lineWidth: "thick" is an error rather than something Desmos quietly ignores. The property reference says what each one takes and where it may be written.

Colour

color takes one of three things.

• A hex literal, #c74440 or the short #c44.
• One of the Desmos palette’s colours by name: RED, BLUE, GREEN, PURPLE, ORANGE or BLACK.
• Any other expression that works a colour out: rgb(255, 128, 0), hsv(h, 1, 1), or a variable holding one.

y = 3 @ color: #2d70b3, lineWidth: 6
y = 2 @ color: ORANGE, lineWidth: 6
warm = rgb(230, 120, 40)
y = 1 @ color: warm, lineWidth: 6
hue = 200 @ slider: 0..360 step 1
y = 0 @ color: hsv(hue, 0.8, 0.9), lineWidth: 6
K = [0...9]
(K - 4.5, -1) @ color: hsv(36K, 1, 1), pointSize: 16

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A colour worked out by an expression moves with whatever it depends on - drag hue and the line changes colour - and a list of colours gives each point of a list its own. Left out altogether, Desmos gives each statement the next colour of its palette in turn.

Palette names, unlike enum values, are case-sensitive. That is because any other spelling is already an expression: red is the product r·e·d, which Desmos would accept and draw in no colour you meant. So a palette name in the wrong case is an error, unless the file defines a variable of that name itself:

y = x @ color: red

The palette lists the six with their hex values. The config colours - backgroundColor, textColor, accentColor - take only a hex literal or a palette name, since Desmos wants a fixed colour there.

Lines

lineStyle is SOLID, DASHED or DOTTED; lineWidth is a thickness in pixels, and lineOpacity fades the line from 1 down to 0.

y = x + 4 @ color: RED, lineStyle: SOLID, lineWidth: 5
y = x + 2 @ color: BLUE, lineStyle: DASHED, lineWidth: 3
y = x @ color: GREEN, lineStyle: DOTTED, lineWidth: 3
y = x - 2 @ color: PURPLE, lineWidth: 8, lineOpacity: 0.35

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lineWidth and the opacities take any expression, so they can follow a slider like everything else.

Points

pointStyle is POINT, OPEN, CROSS, SQUARE, PLUS, TRIANGLE, DIAMOND or STAR; pointSize is its diameter in pixels, and pointOpacity fades it.

(-4, 0) @ color: RED, pointStyle: POINT, pointSize: 20
(-2, 0) @ color: BLUE, pointStyle: OPEN, pointSize: 20
(0, 0) @ color: GREEN, pointStyle: CROSS, pointSize: 20
(2, 0) @ color: ORANGE, pointStyle: STAR, pointSize: 20
(4, 0) @ color: PURPLE, pointSize: 30, pointOpacity: 0.3

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A list of points draws only the points unless it says lines, which joins them up in order; points: false then leaves only the path.

A = [(-5, 2), (-3, 3), (-1, 2), (1, 3)] @ color: ORANGE
B = [(-5, 0), (-3, 1), (-1, 0), (1, 1)] @ color: BLUE, lines
C = [(-5, -2), (-3, -1), (-1, -2), (1, -1)] @ color: GREEN, lines, points: false

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Fills

An inequality shades itself, and fillOpacity says how strongly. A closed parametric curve or a polygon is shaded when it says fill; lines: false keeps the shading and drops the outline.

x ^ 2 + y ^ 2 <= 4 @ color: GREEN, fillOpacity: 0.3
(5 + 2cos(t), 2sin(t)) @ color: BLUE, fill, fillOpacity: 0.25, domain: 0..tau
polygon((-6, -1), (-3, -1), (-4, 2)) @ color: RED, fill, lines: false

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Labels

label is the text, and showLabel puts it on the graph. labelOrientation places it around the point - above, below, left, right, above_left and so on - labelSize scales it, and labelAngle turns it. description is what a screen reader announces for it.

interactiveLabel keeps the label out of sight until the point is hovered or clicked, and editableLabelMode: MATH or TEXT lets the viewer type a new one into the graph. Under a value in the expression list, displayEvaluationAsFraction shows it as a fraction.

(0, 0) @ color: BLACK, label: "Origin", showLabel
(3, 3) @ color: RED, label: "Above", showLabel, labelOrientation: above
(3, -3) @{
    color: BLUE
    label: "Bigger"
    showLabel
    labelSize: 2
    description: "A point with a larger label"
}
(-3, 3) @ label: "Tilted", showLabel, labelAngle: pi / 6
(-3, -3) @ label: "Hover me", showLabel, interactiveLabel
a = 1 / 3 @ displayEvaluationAsFraction

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Hiding things

hidden keeps a statement in the expression list but off the graph, still defined and usable. secret hides it from the expression list as well, which suits the working parts of a construction nobody needs to see.

k = 10 @ hidden
scale = 0.5 @ secret
y = k sin(scale * x)

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Styles

A look used more than once can be named with style and applied with use:, as if its properties had been written there. A property written on the statement itself wins over the style.

style guide { color: BLACK; lineOpacity: 0.3; lineStyle: DASHED }

x = 0 @ use: guide
y = 0 @ use: guide
y = 2 @ use: guide, lineStyle: SOLID

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Macros and styles covers styles properly: styles using styles, several in one clause, and which one wins.