[comp.text.tex] Help with TeX page formatting

randy@rls.UUCP (Randall L. Smith) (04/03/91)

(Please forgive this modified repeat.  I lost my feed temporarily
 but still cannot read posts to this newsgroup.  Please e-mail.)

I wish to use nearly all the whitespace on a page in a document.  That
means, about 1/4" white space on the top, bottom, right and left of the
page.  TeX forces some page spacing which I have been unable to exert
control over. 

		+---------------+		+---------------+
		| xxxxxxxxxxxxx |		|		|
		| xxxxxxxxxxxxx |		|   xxxxxxxxx	|
		| xxxxxxxxxxxxx |		|   xxxxxxxxx	|
     do this;	| xxxxxxxxxxxxx |   not this;	|   xxxxxxxxx	|
		| xxxxxxxxxxxxx |		|   xxxxxxxxx	|
		| xxxxxxxxxxxxx |		|   xxxxxxxxx	|
		| xxxxxxxxxxxxx |		|		|
		+---------------+		+---------------+

Using the command "\topskip 1 in", TeX actually does this, but places the
last 1" of text on the next page maintaining the margins as in the right
hand diagram above!!

I have rtfm, both some local tutorials and Knuths TeXbook.  My suspicions
are some manipulations of the "glue" are in order, but it's all magic to me.

Realizing it *may* involve the dvi driver, I feel obligated to mention I
was using TeX on a 24 pin dot matrix printer and it was adequate, but now
have stepped up to a HP Deskjet 500.  The document came out on the 24 pin
printer just fine, but now has these restricted page orientations.  I am
using the dvidjet driver now.  The header to this text is;

% Documentation ...
%
\batchmode
\nopagenumbers
\parindent=0pt
\hsize 8.5in
\vsize 11.0in
\parskip=0pt
\font\eightit=cmssqi8 scaled \magstep 0		% 8 point slanted sans-serif
\font\tenslit=cmbxsl10 scaled \magstep 0	% 10 point slanted bold
\magnification=\magstephalf
\topskip 1in

\line{\bf blah, blah, blah \hfil right_blah}

etc...

If you need to see the whole document (2 pages), I can e-mail it to you. 
It's my resume, and it doesn't belong in this newsgroup.  Besides, it's
embarrasing.:-}  Post to this newsgroup or e-mail, any help would be
appreciated. 

Cheers!

- randy

Usenet: randy@rls.uucp 
Bangpath: ...<backbone>!osu-cis!rls!randy
Internet: rls!randy@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu
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xiaofei@acsu.buffalo.edu (Xiaofei Wang) (04/04/91)

In article <10710@rls.UUCP> randy@rls.UUCP (Randall L. Smith) writes:
* (Please forgive this modified repeat.  I lost my feed temporarily
*  but still cannot read posts to this newsgroup.  Please e-mail.)
* 
* I wish to use nearly all the whitespace on a page in a document.  That
* means, about 1/4" white space on the top, bottom, right and left of the
* page.  TeX forces some page spacing which I have been unable to exert
* control over. 
* 
* 		+---------------+		+---------------+
* 		| xxxxxxxxxxxxx |		|		|
* 		| xxxxxxxxxxxxx |		|   xxxxxxxxx	|
* 		| xxxxxxxxxxxxx |		|   xxxxxxxxx	|
*      do this;	| xxxxxxxxxxxxx |   not this;	|   xxxxxxxxx	|
* 		| xxxxxxxxxxxxx |		|   xxxxxxxxx	|
* 		| xxxxxxxxxxxxx |		|   xxxxxxxxx	|
* 		| xxxxxxxxxxxxx |		|		|
* 		+---------------+		+---------------+

I think the answer is simpler than the question itself.
For horizontal part, do this:

\hoffset=-x in
\hsize= (orginal hsize) plus 2x (why 2 * x ?)

For example:

\hoffset=-0.5 in
\hsize=7.5 in (The default \hsize=6.5 in)

For vertical part, do the same thing with

\voffset and \vsize. 

Please let me if I miss your point.
-- 
xiaofei@acsu.buffalo.edu / rutgers!ub!xiaofei / v118raqa@ubvms.bitnet

Damian.Cugley@prg.ox.ac.uk (Damian Cugley) (04/12/91)

		  HOW TO SET THE MARGINS in plain TeX.
			 (One-sided printing.)

    \newdimen\marge \marge=20mm		% size of margins
    \hsize=210mm \vsize=297mm 		% A4 paper (210x297)
    \advance\hsize-2\marge		% subtract space for margins
    \advance\vsize-2.5\marge		% bot margin is 50% larger
    \hoffset=\marge \advance\hoffset-1in
    \voffset=\marge \advance\voffset-1in

This assumes:

 \\ Plain TeX, not LaTeX: the principles are the same but every command
    and dimen name is different (thank you, Mr La);

 \\ \hoffset isn't set in \output (and for 2-sided printing you need to
    set \hoffset for each page individually);

 \\ you don't mind editing that code to make the paper a different size.

Finally, \topskip has a very different function and oughtn't to be used
in an attempt to alter margins.

Hope this helps

Damian