From d17aa208bbd22fd8bb038df09fe7ddf091764458 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Max <max.lindqvist@ipp.mpg.de>
Date: Sat, 7 Nov 2026 15:27:26 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] Docs: web figures in the Plotly tutorial.

---
 docs/src/content/docs/guides/web-figures.md |  9 ++-
 tutorials/tutorial_08_plotly.ipynb          | 77 +++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 83 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/docs/src/content/docs/guides/web-figures.md b/docs/src/content/docs/guides/web-figures.md
index 7db2373..5b8a5ec 100644
--- a/docs/src/content/docs/guides/web-figures.md
+++ b/docs/src/content/docs/guides/web-figures.md
@@ -43,11 +43,14 @@ import PlotlyFigure from '@max-models/starlight-theme/components/PlotlyFigure.as
 The path is relative to the site root; the component adds the site's base path.
 
 :::note
-The theme's `PlotlyFigure` already loads plotly.js on demand and recolours text, grid and
-backgrounds. The data palette and the hints below take effect with the next release of
-starlight-theme.
+The data palette and the hints below need starlight-theme 0.8 or later; sites on the `v0` tag
+of its docs workflow get it without a change.
 :::
 
+A figure shown in a notebook of the docs (`fig` as the last line of a cell) is embedded the same
+way, without saving it: the docs build writes the notebook's Plotly outputs as figures for
+`PlotlyFigure`. The [Plotly tutorial](/maxplotlib/tutorials/tutorial-08-plotly/) shows both.
+
 ## The format
 
 The file is Plotly figure JSON: `data`, `layout` and, for an animation, `frames`. Compared with
diff --git a/tutorials/tutorial_08_plotly.ipynb b/tutorials/tutorial_08_plotly.ipynb
index 0bc6123..ec27496 100644
--- a/tutorials/tutorial_08_plotly.ipynb
+++ b/tutorials/tutorial_08_plotly.ipynb
@@ -399,6 +399,7 @@
    "metadata": {},
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
+    "import json\n",
     "import os\n",
     "\n",
     "canvas.savefig(\"figure_bundled.html\", backend=\"plotly\")\n",
@@ -432,6 +433,82 @@
    "cell_type": "markdown",
    "id": "24",
    "metadata": {},
+   "source": [
+    "## 9 · Web figures for a docs site\n",
+    "\n",
+    "A page of a max-models docs site (the Starlight theme) shows Plotly figures without\n",
+    "plotly.js in the figure file. Save the canvas as a **web figure**, `<name>.plotly.json`:\n",
+    "Plotly JSON without a template, a fixed size or backgrounds of its own, so the page draws it\n",
+    "in the site's light or dark colours."
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "id": "25",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "x = np.linspace(0, 2 * np.pi, 200)\n",
+    "\n",
+    "canvas = Canvas(width=\"10cm\", ratio=0.5)\n",
+    "canvas.plot(x, np.sin(x), label=\"sin(x)\")\n",
+    "canvas.plot(x, np.cos(x), label=\"cos(x)\")\n",
+    "canvas.plot(x, 0 * x, color=\"black\", linewidth=0.8)  # a reference line\n",
+    "canvas.set_xlabel(\"x\")\n",
+    "canvas.set_title(\"Two waves\")\n",
+    "canvas.set_legend(True)\n",
+    "\n",
+    "canvas.savefig(\"waves.plotly.json\", backend=\"plotly\")\n",
+    "print(f\"waves.plotly.json: {os.path.getsize('waves.plotly.json') / 1024:.0f} kB\")\n",
+    "\n",
+    "web = json.loads(canvas.to_json(alt=\"A sine and a cosine wave over one period\"))\n",
+    "print(web[\"layout\"][\"meta\"][\"web\"])\n",
+    "print([trace.get(\"line\", {}).get(\"color\") for trace in web[\"data\"]])"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "markdown",
+   "id": "26",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "source": [
+    "The two waves have no colour of their own, so they take the site's data palette, in order; a\n",
+    "trace in a default colour (Matplotlib's `C0`..`C9`, Plotly's default colours, Okabe–Ito) would\n",
+    "take the palette colour of its position. The black reference line takes the text colour, so it\n",
+    "stays visible in dark mode. Other colours you name, such as `\"steelblue\"` above, stay as they\n",
+    "are. The\n",
+    "hints in `layout.meta.web` give the page the aspect ratio of the canvas and a text\n",
+    "alternative.\n",
+    "\n",
+    "To embed the file, put it under `docs/public/` and use the theme's `PlotlyFigure` in an MDX\n",
+    "page; plotly.js is loaded only when the figure scrolls into view:\n",
+    "\n",
+    "```mdx\n",
+    "import PlotlyFigure from '@max-models/starlight-theme/components/PlotlyFigure.astro';\n",
+    "\n",
+    "<PlotlyFigure src=\"/figures/waves.plotly.json\" />\n",
+    "```\n",
+    "\n",
+    "A figure shown in a notebook (`fig` as the last line of a cell) needs nothing of this: the docs\n",
+    "site turns the notebook's Plotly outputs into the same kind of figure, which is how the figures\n",
+    "on this page are shown. The [web figures guide](/maxplotlib/guides/web-figures/) has the format.\n",
+    "And the figure of the last cell, shown here, takes the palette too:"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "id": "27",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "fig = canvas.show(backend=\"plotly\")"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "markdown",
+   "id": "28",
+   "metadata": {},
    "source": [
     "## Summary\n",
     "\n",