Incongrous function name

[gregorp]

The bbc_style function seems very similar to any other ggplot theme function, like the theme_grey, theme_classic, theme_light, etc., built in to the ggplot2 package, or many others like those in the ggthemes package.

Except the name.

I think it'd be great to change the name of the function to theme_bbc if you'd like greater visibility consider submitting it to ggthemes. With theme_economist, theme_fivethirtyeight, and theme_wsj, theme_bbc would feel right at home :)

[gregorp]

Meant to add in my original post that it looks lovely :)

If you want to make this change internally as well, a nice way to go about renaming (to not break any existing code) is to make a copy. Rename the theme theme_bbc and add the line

bbc_style <- theme_bbc

Try to wean off of bbc_style. In a couple months, change it to

bbc_style <- function() {
  warning("bbc_style is on a deprecation, please use theme_bbc() instead")
  theme_bbc()
}

Eventually upgrade the warning to an error

bbc_style <- function() {
  stop("bbc_style is deprecated, please use theme_bbc() instead")
}

[jonocarroll]

FYI, there's a canonical way to achieve this:

## soft deprecate a function
bbc_style <- function() {
  .Deprecated("theme_bbc")
  
  ## existing code
  list(a = 2, b = 3)
}
## produces a warning
bbc_style()
#> Warning: 'bbc_style' is deprecated.
#> Use 'theme_bbc' instead.
#> See help("Deprecated")
#> $a
#> [1] 2
#> 
#> $b
#> [1] 3

## hard deprecate a function
bbc_style <- function() {
  .Defunct("theme_bbc")
}
## produces an error
bbc_style()
#> Error: 'bbc_style' is defunct.
#> Use 'theme_bbc' instead.
#> See help("Defunct")