Re: Visualizing cladograms

["David Marjanovic" <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

> P.S.  Maybe I should combine coding and slight indentation (indentation
> alone is too confusing in larger classifications).  Is this easier to
> visualize than the straight columns?:
> >
> >Charophycea
> >    1  Chlorokybales
> >      2  Klebsormidiales
> >        B  Conjugales
> >      3  Coleochaetales
> >        4  Charales
> >        5  {{Metaphyta}}

(I have enlarged the spaces above, they are very small on my screen because
plain text is displayed in Times New Roman. I hope I haven't misinterpreted
anything.)

Well, this implies IMHO that Charales and Metaphyta are part of
Coleochaetales, that Conjugales is a part of Klebsormidiales is a part of
Chlorokybales, and that they all are part of Charophycea. Only the last is
correct.

What about the following?

1 Charophycea
   1.1 Chlorokybales
     1.2.1.1 Klebsormidiales
     1.2.1.2 Conjugales
    1.2.2.1 Coleochaetales
      1.2.2.2.1 Charales
      1.2.2.2.2 = 2 Metaphyta

(The "= 2" part is meant to represent your paraphyly, or not, anyway so that
you can begin with "2" on the next page and the number rows don't grow
infinitely.)This could spare you the indentation. But because 1.2, 1.2.1,
1.2.2 and 1.2.2.2 are unnamed, it is just as confusing IMHO as your coding
(so I don't recommend skipping the indentation). It works perfectly only
when all nodes are named, but then indentation alone is enough, too. The
same again:

1 Charophycea
  1.1 Chlorokybales
  1.2 unnamed
    1.2.1 unnamed
      1.2.1.1 Klebsormidiales
      1.2.1.2 Conjugales
    1.2.2 unnamed
      1.2.2.1 Coleochaetales
      1.2.2.2 unnamed
        1.2.2.2.1 Charales
        1.2.2.2.2 = 2 Metaphyta

This conveys all sister-group information without the need to explain
complex coding IMHO. But it needs about the same amount of space as a
cladogram, if not more, because in a cladogram unnamed nodes actually save
space rather than occupying lines like named taxa. This isn't exactly your
intent, if I understand it correctly.