Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!jarthur!sif.claremont.edu
From: dhosek@sif.claremont.edu (Hosek, Donald A.)
Newsgroups: comp.text.tex
Subject: Re: LaTeX Preamble Needed
Message-ID: <7912@jarthur.Claremont.EDU>
Date: 24 Jul 90 05:51:33 GMT
Sender: news@jarthur.Claremont.EDU
Reply-To: dhosek@sif.claremont.edu
Organization: Harvey Mudd College
Lines: 37

In article <1905@gmuvax2.gmu.edu>, ccoleman@gmuvax2.gmu.edu (Chuck Coleman) writes...
>I seem to be having a recurrent problem with LaTeX - I can't get
>decent margins on 8 1/2" x 11" paper.  LaTeX gives me margins that are
>too wide on all sides.  I tried the manual's commands and some Plain
>TeX tricks to no effect.  I wish I remembered what I did 4 years ago.
>Anyway, I could use a preamble to produce 1" margins on all sides.  I
>use the article documentstyle.  My installation is an Ultrix VAX
>running LaTeX v 2.09, dated 25 Jan 88, documentstyle article dated 5
>Feb 88 and TeX for Berkeley UNIX [sic] v. 2.9, dated 28 of something.
>I have had the same trouble with VAX/VMS and IBM-PC versions.  Thanks
>in advance.

Think really hard about whether you *really* want to do this or
not. 6.5" lines are very hard to read in most text typesizes.
12pt is borderline and 11pt is only workable if the text is
doublespaced. 10pt is out of the question at this size under all
circumstances (standard practice for setting line widths is to go
on the basis of word count (10-15 words per line) lines going
longer than this can be made more readable by increasing
interline spacing).

If you have no binding reason to change the margins, don't do it.
The default margins of LaTeX are designed for optimum
readability.

If you absolutely feel you *must* change the margins to standard
1 inch margins, the style option fullpage.sty in
[anonymous.tex.inputs.latex-contrib] will do what you want, but I
wash my hands of the matter.

-dh

---
Don Hosek                         TeX, LaTeX, and Metafont Consulting and
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