Modify How a Theme is Displayed

Say you don't like the colors in which the rivers theme is drawn (imagine not liking hot pink, or whatever random color ArcView assigns your new theme!). You can change how a theme appears in a view -- its symbology, in other words. You do this by first selecting the theme, then telling ArcView how you want it to appear.

Click on rivers theme in the table of contents to select it. The item will appear raised or highlighted in the table of contents. Then double-click on the theme name anywhere other than the check-box; alternatively, you can choose Theme-Edit Legend from the menu, or click the icon for legend editing in the button bar: 

This brings up the legend editor, which looks something like this (your theme may look different; this dialog box also is from Windows 95/NT 4):

With the legend editor you can classify themes by, say, per capita income, with different patterns or colors for each level of income. For now, we'll just change the color for all the rivers.

Double-click on the box in the Symbols column where the colored line is shown . This brings up the palette editor (also called symbol window). The palette editor has six different options, shown with the buttons below the title bar. Click the color palette button (second from right, with the paintbrush icon): 

The color palette gives many different color options; choose an appropriate one (e.g., blue) by clicking on it. Then, back in the legend editor, click the Apply button to make your choice take effect. ArcView will immediately redraw the view with the new rivers color.

Practice using the Legend Editor by changing the colors of each of the other themes (Countries, World30-Grid and States) to more appropriate values.  For each theme, double-click on the theme name in the table of contents (move the Legend Editor and Palette if necessary to see the table of contents).  Then double-click on the symbol box in the Legend Editor, which activates the palette.  Choose another appropriate color, then click Apply back in the Legend Editor.  For the Grid (World30), try making the fill transparent rather than a filled color by clicking on the Fill Palette (left-most button on palette ), and click the no-fill selection .

When you're done changing colors and fills, close both the palette editor and the legend editor by clicking on their respective control boxes ( the "x" in the upper right, or the "-" in the upper left corner if you're using Windows 3.1) and choosing close.

Remember to Save your project periodically...

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Adapted from Bryan Baker's Lab Exercises, 1998

Last updated March 9, 2000