Re: [PLUG] Org Mode Latex pdf publishing margins

["Paul L. Snyder" <plsnyder@drexel.edu>]

On Thu, 17 Nov 2011, Rich Freeman wrote:

> On Thu, Nov 17, 2011 at 10:03 AM, Paul L. Snyder <plsnyder@drexel.edu> wrote:
> > You can specify a different LaTeX document class, if you have one you like,
> > using #+LaTeX_CLASS and #+LaTeX_CLASS_OPTIONS.
> 
> Here's a question that has been bugging me:  Is there any place one
> can find these classes, beyond the dozen or so that come with Latex
> and a few published by math/CS journals?

The canonical repository for all things TeX-related is CTAN (from which
CPAN takes its name, in fact).

  http://ctan.org

Unfortunately, its organization is a bit old-school.  Despite its power and
general awesomeness, TeX is rather painful to customize.  The generally
available classes look very good when used for their intended purposes, but
trying to tweak them too far leads to depressing ugliness.  It is worth
checking if there's something in CTAN that suits what you're trying to do,
at least.

> I've tried to use Latex/Lyx and this is something that ends up driving
> me nuts.  I realize that you're supposed to focus on content and let
> it do the formatting, but sometimes I just don't like the formatting.
> I realize that there is probably some study that shows that 3" margins
> are better on the eye, but if I wanted to do that I'd just buy A5
> paper and save a forest.

A lot of academic journals have made the LaTeX classes they use for
formatting generally available.  When the Springer LNCS style is printed on
8.5"x11" paper the margins are ludicrous, but when they actually publish
books they are indeed using a smaller page size.  

> It is clear that the "right" way to do Latex is to just use a
> different document class, but it seems like there are about 15 of them
> on the planet, or nobody is sharing.  How is it that xmms can have 387
> different skins, but we can't format a document more than a dozen
> ways?

You have to admit, though, that most of those xmms skins look like crap.

Here's a really pretty class I found recently:

  http://code.google.com/p/tufte-latex/

Like most of them, though, it's only good if it fits your exact use-case.

Do you have a particular type of document you're trying to create right
now?

Paul
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