← Back to home
Comparison · Infra & APIs

ethiodate vs nmfspalette

A side-by-side editorial comparison of ethiodate and nmfspalette — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

ethiodate vs nmfspalette: at a glance

Featureethiodatenmfspalette
SectorInfra & APIsInfra & APIs
Velocity score0.00.0
Sparks · 30d00
Top themescalendars, ethiopia, date-handling, ggplot2color-palettes, noaa-fisheries, branding, reproducibility
Last editorial update2h ago1h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is ethiodate?

The Ethiopian calendar becomes a first-class R date class, ggplot2 axes included.

ethiodate implements the Ethiopian calendar as an R date class. Over three releases it has gone from conversion helpers to something that behaves like a date type: ggplot2 scales and breaks, quarter extraction, and seq() and cut() methods defined for the ethdate class. The most recent release is a robustness fix for summary.ethdate() under R 4.6.0 and later.

Read the full ethiodate trajectory →

What is nmfspalette?

A NOAA Fisheries colour palette that ships when the branding guide changes

nmfspalette supplies the NOAA Fisheries colour palette as an R package, for figures that have to follow agency branding. Its five releases track the branding guide rather than any software need: a first version in 2020, a breaking switch to CSS-compatible colour names in 2021, an update to the 2022 branding colours applied in July 2023, and a 2024 release whose stated purpose is to mint a DOI. There is no functionality here beyond supplying colours.

Read the full nmfspalette trajectory →

ethiodate vs nmfspalette: editorial side-by-side

E
ethiodate
INFRA · APIS
0.0

The Ethiopian calendar becomes a first-class R date class, ggplot2 axes included.

◆ Current state

ethiodate implements the Ethiopian calendar as an R date class. Over three releases it has gone from conversion helpers to something that behaves like a date type: ggplot2 scales and breaks, quarter extraction, and seq() and cut() methods defined for the ethdate class. The most recent release is a robustness fix for summary.ethdate() under R 4.6.0 and later.

◆ Where it's heading

The work follows the standard path for a custom date class in R: get the arithmetic right, then implement the generics the rest of the ecosystem calls, then handle vector recycling and precision. Switching internal storage from integer to double in 0.3.0 is a quiet but load-bearing change, and accepting numeric months widens the input surface. Each release closes another gap between ethdate and Date.

◆ Prediction

Expect the remaining base generics and formatting paths to be filled in, and continued fixes tracking R's own changes. The package is close enough to full coverage that the next releases will mostly be about edge cases.

N
nmfspalette
INFRA · APIS
0.0

A NOAA Fisheries colour palette that ships when the branding guide changes

◆ Current state

nmfspalette supplies the NOAA Fisheries colour palette as an R package, for figures that have to follow agency branding. Its five releases track the branding guide rather than any software need: a first version in 2020, a breaking switch to CSS-compatible colour names in 2021, an update to the 2022 branding colours applied in July 2023, and a 2024 release whose stated purpose is to mint a DOI. There is no functionality here beyond supplying colours.

◆ Where it's heading

This is a package whose release schedule is set outside the project — it changes when NOAA publishes new branding, and the 2022 guide took until 2023 to land here. The one release with real user impact was the 2021 breaking change, which replaced the branding guide's colour names with CSS-compatible ones and would have broken any code naming a colour directly. The DOI release indicates the maintainer expects it to be cited in publications, which is the natural end state for an agency-standard palette.

◆ Prediction

Expect the next release when NOAA Fisheries revises its branding guide again; on the 2022-to-2023 precedent, it will follow the guide by several months.

Alternatives to ethiodate and nmfspalette

Other Infra & APIs products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either ethiodate or nmfspalette.

See all ethiodate alternatives → · See all nmfspalette alternatives →

Recent activity from ethiodate and nmfspalette

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 7mo agoethiodateRobustness fix for summary.ethdate() under R 4.6
  2. 8mo agoethiodateNumeric months accepted; internal storage moves to double
  3. 1y agoethiodateggplot2 scales and base generics make ethdate plottable
  4. 2y agonmfspaletteMinor updates and DOI
  5. 2y agonmfspaletteUpdate to new 2022 colors
  6. 5y agonmfspaletteRelease with CSS compatible names
  7. 5y agonmfspaletteRelease update to work with r-cmd-check
  8. 5y agonmfspaletteThe first release of nmfspalette

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between ethiodate and nmfspalette?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. ethiodate and nmfspalette are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 0.0 vs 0.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is ethiodate better than nmfspalette?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. ethiodate and nmfspalette are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 0.0 vs 0.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to ethiodate?

Top ethiodate alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "ethiodate alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/ethiodate for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to nmfspalette?

Top nmfspalette alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "nmfspalette alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/nmfspalette for the full list with editorial commentary on each.