%% %% This is file `a0_eng.tex' %% %% Copyright (C) 1997-2004 Gerlinde Kettl and Matthias Weiser %% %% It may be distributed and/or modified under the %% conditions of the LaTeX Project Public License, either version 1.2 %% of this license or (at your option) any later version. %% The latest version of this license is in %%    http://www.latex-project.org/lppl.txt %% and version 1.2 or later is part of all distributions of LaTeX %% version 1999/12/01 or later. %% \documentclass[12pt]{article} \usepackage{german,a4} \renewcommand{\familydefault}{\sfdefault} \begin{document} \parindent=0pt \thispagestyle{empty} \begin{center} {\Large a0poster}\\[0.5cm] Version 1.22b\\ \vspace{1cm}\small Gerlinde Kettl ({\ttfamily tex@kettl.de})\\ and\\ Matthias Weiser \footnote{Thanks to Martin Eckl, Berend van der Wall and Bernhard Steininger} \end{center} \vspace*{1cm} \normalsize {\bfseries\large 1. What is this package good for?} \bigskip Printing a poster with \TeX\ and {\ttfamily dvips} on a DIN A0 printer was quite complicated (inserting lines in the postscript file and so on). The a0poster package ants to make this easier. {\ttfamily a0poster.cls} provides fonts in sizes of 12pt ({\ttfamily$\backslash$tiny}) up to 107pt ({\ttfamily$\backslash$VERYHuge}). a0poster also makes sure that in math formulas the symbols appear in the right size. {\ttfamily $\backslash$textwidth} and {\ttfamily$\backslash$textheight} will have reasonable values. The package also creates a postscript header file for dvips which manages that the poster will be printed in the right size. Meanwhile the sizes DIN A0, DIN A1, DIN A2 and DIN A3 are also supported. \bigskip {\bfseries\large 2. What the package can't do} \bigskip You still have to think about the best positioning of pictures and text. \bigskip {\bfseries\large 3. System requirements and installation} \bigskip Required are \LaTeX {\ttfamily <1995/06/01>} and {\ttfamily dvips}. \bigskip Contents of the package: \bigskip \begin{tabular}{lp{0.75\textwidth}} {\ttfamily a0poster.cls} & the class file\\ {\ttfamily a0size.sty} & adaption of the font sizes\\ {\ttfamily a0\_eng.tex} & this manual\\ {\ttfamily a0.tex} & this manual in german\\ \end{tabular} \bigskip The files {\ttfamily a0poster.cls} and {\ttfamily a0size.sty} have to be copied in a directory that \TeX\ scans for input files. Now the installation is done. But the package expects that dvips searches for header files in the current directory also. \bigskip {\bfseries\large 4. Options} \bigskip a0poster is a class like article. There are the following options: \bigskip \begin{tabular}{lp{0.8\textwidth}} {\slshape landscape} & landscape format, is default\\ {\slshape portrait} & portrait format\\ {\slshape a0b} & ``DIN A0 big'' - that's a somewhat widened DIN A0 format that uses the full width of an HP Designjet 650C. This is also default.\\ {\slshape a0} & DIN A0\\ {\slshape a1} & DIN A1\\ {\slshape a2} & DIN A2\\ {\slshape a3} & DIN A3\\ {\slshape posterdraft} & reduces the postscript output to DIN A4 size, so test printings can be made with ordinary DIN A4 printers.\\ {\slshape draft} & {\bfseries obsolete}--does the same as {\slshape posterdraft}, but while options are passed to other packages, this can lead to collisions with other packages (e.\,g. {\ttfamily graphics}). \\ {\slshape final} & makes postscript output in original size; is default.\\ \end{tabular} \bigskip Therefore the beginning of the \TeX\ file can look like that: \begin{verbatim} \documentclass[portrait,a0b,posterdraft]{a0poster} \usepackage{german,epsf,pstricks} \begin{document} \end{verbatim} The following font sizes are available: \begin{verbatim} \tiny 12pt \scriptsize 14.4pt \footnotesize 17.28pt \small 20.74pt \normalsize 24.88pt \large 29.86pt \Large 35.83pt \LARGE 43pt \huge 51.6pt \Huge 61.92pt \veryHuge 74.3pt \VeryHuge 89.16pt \VERYHuge 107pt \end{verbatim} {\ttfamily a0poster.cls} is based on the article class, so all commands of this class can be used. Some register values were adapted to the size of the page. While \TeX ing a file named {\ttfamily a0header.ps} is created that is read by dvips and manages that the poster is printed in the right size.\footnote{If this doesn't work with the option draft, use dvips with the option {\ttfamily -Z} (if not already used in the configuration file {\ttfamily config.ps} of dvips). That also results in a smaller size of the postscript file. If it still doesn't work. then bigger paper sizes than DIN A3 in {\ttfamily config.ps} may be the cause. Then the {\slshape draft} option doesn't work -- sorry.} \bigskip \bigskip \bigskip \bigskip {\bfseries\large 5. Colors, frames etc.} \bigskip This package supports neither colors nor pictures, but this ist possible with other packages like pstricks of Timothy Van Zandt. With {\ttfamily$\backslash$red} the following text or formula will be displayed in red. The colors {\slshape red, blue, yellow, green, cyan} and {\slshape magenta} and the grey scales {\slshape white, lightgray, gray, darkgray} and {\slshape black} are already defined, but other colors can be defined, for example \begin{verbatim} \newrgbcolor{DarkOrange}{1 .498 0} \DarkOrange blabla \end{verbatim} The numbers range from 0 to 1 and describe the color in the rgb system. With pstricks lots of other things can be done (frames, shadowboxes, etc.) For details, see the pstricks manual. \bigskip {\bfseries\large 6. Anything else?} \bigskip We are sure that this package still contains lots of bugs. So we would like to hear bug reports, complaints, suggestions etc. (just send an email to \\ {\ttfamily gerlinde.kettl@physik.uni-regensburg.de}). \bigskip {\bfseries\large 7. History} \bigskip Version 1.22b: \begin{itemize} \item Added License. \item Replaced option {\slshape draft} by {\slshape posterdraft}. \end{itemize} \bigskip Version 1.21b: \begin{itemize} \item Draft option available in combination with option a3. \item Modified ghostview removed. \item {\ttfamily a0size.tex} renamed to {\ttfamily a0size.sty}. \end{itemize} \bigskip Version 1.2b: \begin{itemize} \item Support of DIN A0, DIN A1, DIN A2 und DIN A3. \item Option draft available. \item Modified ghostview for viewing the poster. \end{itemize} \end{document}