Best way to display Seaborn/Matplotlib plots with a dark iPython Notebook profile

To display Seaborn/Matplotlib plots with a dark background in iPython Notebook, we can use sns.set_style("dark") method. This creates an aesthetic dark theme that's easier on the eyes during extended coding sessions.

Setting Up Dark Style

The set_style() method controls the visual appearance of plots. The "dark" style provides a dark background with light grid lines ?

import pandas as pd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import seaborn as sns
import numpy as np

# Set figure parameters
plt.rcParams["figure.figsize"] = [7.50, 3.50]
plt.rcParams["figure.autolayout"] = True

# Apply dark style
sns.set_style("dark")

print("Dark style applied successfully!")

Dark style applied successfully!

Creating a Dark-Themed Plot

Let's create a bar plot with the dark style applied ?

import pandas as pd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import seaborn as sns
import numpy as np

# Configure plot settings
plt.rcParams["figure.figsize"] = [8, 4]
plt.rcParams["figure.autolayout"] = True

# Set dark style
sns.set_style("dark")

# Create sample data
np.random.seed(42)  # For reproducible results
data = pd.DataFrame({
    "Category": [f"Item_{i}" for i in range(8)],
    "Values": np.random.randint(5, 25, 8)
})

# Create bar plot
plt.figure(figsize=(8, 4))
bar_plot = sns.barplot(x='Category', y='Values', data=data, palette='viridis')
plt.xticks(rotation=45)
plt.title("Sample Bar Plot with Dark Theme")
plt.tight_layout()

plt.show()

Available Dark Styles

Seaborn provides several style options for dark themes ?

import seaborn as sns

# Available styles
styles = ["darkgrid", "dark", "whitegrid", "white", "ticks"]

print("Available Seaborn styles:")
for style in styles:
    print(f"- {style}")
    
# Dark-specific styles
print("\nDark theme options:")
print("- 'dark': Dark background with no grid")
print("- 'darkgrid': Dark background with white grid lines")

Available Seaborn styles:
- darkgrid
- dark
- whitegrid
- white
- ticks

Dark theme options:
- 'dark': Dark background with no grid
- 'darkgrid': Dark background with white grid lines

Comparison of Dark Styles

Additional Dark Theme Customization

You can further customize the dark appearance using context and palette settings ?

import seaborn as sns
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Set comprehensive dark theme
sns.set_theme(style="dark", context="notebook", palette="dark")

# Verify current style
print(f"Current style: {sns.axes_style()['axes.facecolor']}")
print("Dark theme configuration applied!")

Current style: #EAEAF2
Dark theme configuration applied!

Conclusion

Use sns.set_style("dark") for clean dark backgrounds or sns.set_style("darkgrid") for dark themes with grid lines. This creates eye-friendly visualizations perfect for iPython Notebook environments during extended data analysis sessions.