'return True if directly on axes frame
This is useful for determining if a spine is the edge of an
old style MPL plot. If so, this function will return True.'

def is_frame_like(self):

    self._ensure_position_is_set()
    position = self._position
    if isinstance(position, six.string_types):
        if (position == u'center'):
            position = (u'axes', 0.5)
        elif (position == u'zero'):
            position = (u'data', 0)
    if (len(position) != 2):
        raise ValueError(u'position    should    be    2-tuple')
    (position_type, amount) = position
    if ((position_type == u'outward') and (amount == 0)):
        return True
    else:
        return False
