metatools
SDTM supplemental-qualifier merging got sturdier, then the package went quiet for two years.
Comparison · Analytics
marquee vs tern.mmrm
A side-by-side editorial comparison of marquee and tern.mmrm — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
marquee vs tern.mmrm: at a glance
What is marquee?
marquee is filling in the typographic details — outlines, border types, real font metrics for underlines.
marquee renders markdown text onto R graphics devices, and backs element_marquee() and geom_marquee() in ggplot2. Development ran in a tight burst through August and September 2025: 1.1.0 added text outlines, a size shortcut and remote PNG/JPEG support, 1.2.0 added border and outline line types and moved underline placement onto font metrics, and 1.2.1 cleaned up the bugs those introduced.
What is tern.mmrm?
An MMRM tabulation package that has published nothing since its 2024 CRAN releases.
tern.mmrm wraps mixed models for repeated measures into the tern tabulation and plotting layer used by teal clinical modules. The visible history ends with three CRAN releases in mid-to-late 2024; before that the feed carries only automated version bumps from 2022. The most recent change adds axis limit arguments to the LS-means plot.
marquee vs tern.mmrm: editorial side-by-side
marquee
0.0ANALYTICS
marquee is filling in the typographic details — outlines, border types, real font metrics for underlines.
◆ Current state
marquee renders markdown text onto R graphics devices, and backs element_marquee() and geom_marquee() in ggplot2. Development ran in a tight burst through August and September 2025: 1.1.0 added text outlines, a size shortcut and remote PNG/JPEG support, 1.2.0 added border and outline line types and moved underline placement onto font metrics, and 1.2.1 cleaned up the bugs those introduced.
◆ Where it's heading
The package is converging on typographic fidelity rather than new capability. Early work settled layout semantics — CSS margin collapsing, inline padding reserving space during shaping, devices without glyph support — and recent releases refine how decorations are drawn and measured. The naming cleanup in 1.2.0, border_size becoming border_width, reads as an API being tidied ahead of wider use rather than one still being explored.
◆ Prediction
Expect continued small releases sanding down rendering edge cases in ggplot2 contexts, since that is where the recent bug reports come from; nothing here signals a new feature area.
tern.mmrm
0.0ANALYTICS
An MMRM tabulation package that has published nothing since its 2024 CRAN releases.
◆ Current state
tern.mmrm wraps mixed models for repeated measures into the tern tabulation and plotting layer used by teal clinical modules. The visible history ends with three CRAN releases in mid-to-late 2024; before that the feed carries only automated version bumps from 2022. The most recent change adds axis limit arguments to the LS-means plot.
◆ Where it's heading
Content per release is thin and largely organisational: a maintainer change, replacing scda with random.cdisc.data in vignettes, and adapting to new {mmrm} versions. The package appears to be in maintenance, tracking its upstream dependency rather than developing independently.
◆ Prediction
Nothing here signals new functionality; the realistic next event is another compatibility release when {mmrm} or {rtables} changes underneath it.
Alternatives to marquee and tern.mmrm
Other Analytics 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 marquee or tern.mmrm.
logrx
A clinical-script logger that stopped shipping after its 0.2 line, changelogs made of merged PRs.
lobstr
R's object inspector is losing its view of the internals as CRAN closes off the private C API.
GSODR
A weather-station data client that broke one return type to hand back distances instead of bare IDs.
giscoR
giscoR's 1.0 moved its dataset index into the cache, so new Eurostat releases arrive without a package update.
FedData
FedData has spent two major versions migrating US federal geodata off R's retiring spatial stack.
See all marquee alternatives → · See all tern.mmrm alternatives →
Recent activity from marquee and tern.mmrm
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 11mo agomarqueeBug fixes for relative sizes, outlines and guide width
- 11mo agomarqueeBorder and outline line types; underlines follow font metrics
- 11mo agomarqueeRotated text width fixed; factor input supported
- 0y agomarqueeText outlines, size shortcuts and images from URLs
- 1y agomarquee1.0 settles margin collapsing and inline decoration spacing
- 1y agotern.mmrmAxis limits added to the LS-means plot
- 2y agotern.mmrmMaintainer change and scda replaced in vignettes
- 2y agotern.mmrmCRAN 0.3.0 release, mostly workflow housekeeping
- 3y agotern.mmrm2022_10_13
- 3y agotern.mmrm2022_08_16
- 4y agotern.mmrm2022_06_09: [skip vbump] (#63)
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between marquee and tern.mmrm?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. marquee and tern.mmrm 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 marquee better than tern.mmrm?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. marquee and tern.mmrm 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 Analytics products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to marquee?
Top marquee alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "marquee alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/marquee for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to tern.mmrm?
Top tern.mmrm alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "tern.mmrm alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/tern-mmrm for the full list with editorial commentary on each.