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authorKarl Berry <karl@freefriends.org>2011-09-06 23:43:29 +0000
committerKarl Berry <karl@freefriends.org>2011-09-06 23:43:29 +0000
commite00717e4e1360cacff3625cb7dfd81215968c8a7 (patch)
tree152e579b4e78a299dc607c68f6796e5be508a84c /Master/texmf-dist/doc/generic/FAQ-en/faq-symbols.tex
parent86431735f0e1623beae96cd8a9f0fcd809fe08bf (diff)
FAQ-en 3.23 (6sep11)
git-svn-id: svn://tug.org/texlive/trunk@23849 c570f23f-e606-0410-a88d-b1316a301751
Diffstat (limited to 'Master/texmf-dist/doc/generic/FAQ-en/faq-symbols.tex')
-rw-r--r--Master/texmf-dist/doc/generic/FAQ-en/faq-symbols.tex84
1 files changed, 52 insertions, 32 deletions
diff --git a/Master/texmf-dist/doc/generic/FAQ-en/faq-symbols.tex b/Master/texmf-dist/doc/generic/FAQ-en/faq-symbols.tex
index 1a1cf1d9757..f12b9a0c254 100644
--- a/Master/texmf-dist/doc/generic/FAQ-en/faq-symbols.tex
+++ b/Master/texmf-dist/doc/generic/FAQ-en/faq-symbols.tex
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-% $Id: faq-symbols.tex,v 1.9 2011/04/13 09:45:46 rf10 Exp $
+% $Id: faq-symbols.tex,v 1.11 2011/08/28 10:13:19 rf10 Exp rf10 $
\section{Symbols, etc.}
@@ -221,8 +221,8 @@ catalogue entries.
\item[eucal.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{amsfonts}
\item[euler fonts]Distributed as part of \CTANref{amsfonts}
\item[ghostscript]Browse \CTANref{ghostscript}
-\item[mathabx]\CTANref{mathabx}
-\item[mathabx \nothtml{rmfamily}in Type 1 format]\CTANref{mathabx-type1}
+\item[mathabx \nothtml{\rmfamily}as \MF{}]\CTANref{mathabx}
+\item[mathabx \nothtml{\rmfamily}in Type 1 format]\CTANref{mathabx-type1}
\item[mathrsfs.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{jknappen-macros}[mathrsfs]
\item[mnsymbol \nothtml{\rmfamily}fonts]\CTANref{mnsymbol}
\item[rsfs \nothtml{\rmfamily}fonts]\CTANref{rsfs}
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ catalogue entries.
\item[urwchancal]\CTANref{urwchancal}[urwchancal]
\item[URW Chancery L]Distributed as part of \CTANref{urw-base35}
\end{ctanrefs}
-\LastEdit{2011-03-30}
+\LastEdit{2011-08-17}
\Question[Q-boldgreek]{Setting bold Greek letters in \LaTeX{}}
@@ -319,18 +319,26 @@ created by use of the following macros:
\csx{dashint} gives a single-dashed integral sign, \csx{ddashint} a
double-dashed one.
-\Question[Q-underscore]{How to use the underscore character}
+\Question[Q-underscore]{How to typeset an underscore character}
-The underscore character `\texttt{\_}' is ordinarily used in
-\TeX{} to indicate a subscript in maths mode; if you type
-\texttt{\_}, on its own, in the course of ordinary text, \TeX{} will
-complain. If you're writing a document which will contain a large
-number of underscore characters, the prospect of typing
-\csx{\_} (or, worse, \csx{textunderscore}) for every one of
-them will daunt most ordinary people.
+The underscore character `\texttt{\_}' is ordinarily used in \TeX{} to
+indicate a subscript in maths mode; if you type \texttt{\_}, on its
+own, in the course of ordinary text, \TeX{} will complain. The
+``proper'' \latex{} command for underscore is \csx{textunderscore},
+but the \latexo{} command \csx{\_} is an established alias. Even so,
+if you're writing a document which will contain a large number of
+underscore characters, the prospect of typing \csx{\_} for every one
+of them will daunt most ordinary people.
Moderately skilled macro programmers can readily generate a quick hack
-to permit typing `\texttt{\_}' to mean `text underscore'.
+to permit typing `\texttt{\_}' to mean `text underscore' (the answer in
+\begin{hyperversion}
+ ``\Qref{defining characters as macros}{Q-activechars}''
+\end{hyperversion}
+\begin{flatversion}
+ \Qref[question]{}{Q-activechars}
+\end{flatversion}
+uses this example to illustrate its techniques).
However, the code \emph{is} somewhat tricky, and more importantly
there are significant points where it's easy to get it wrong. There
is therefore a package \Package{underscore} which provides a general
@@ -338,38 +346,50 @@ solution to this requirement.
There is a problem, though: \acro{OT}1 text fonts don't contain an
underscore character, unless they're in the typewriter version of the
-encoding (used by fixed-width fonts such as \texttt{cmtt}). So either
-you must ensure that your underscore characters only occur in text set
-in a typewriter font, or you must use a more modern encoding, such as
-\acro{T}1, which has the same layout for every font, and thus an
-underscore in every font.
-
-If the requirement is only for occasional uses of underscores, it may
-be acceptable to use the following construct:
+encoding (used by fixed-width fonts such as \texttt{cmtt}). In place
+of such a character, \latex{} (in \acro{OT}1 encoding) uses a short rule
+for the command \csx{textunderscore}, but this poses problems
+for systems that interpret \acro{PDF}~--- for example those
+\acro{PDF}-to-voice systems used by those who find reading difficult.
+
+So either you must ensure that your underscore characters only occur
+in text set in a typewriter font, or you must use a more modern
+encoding, such as \acro{T}1, which has the same layout for every font,
+and thus an underscore in every font.
+
+A stable procedure to achieve this is:
\begin{quote}
\begin{verbatim}
-\def\us{\char`\_}
-...
-\texttt{create\us process}
+% (1) choose a font that is available as T1
+% for example:
+\usepackage{lmodern}
+
+% (2) specify encoding
+\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
+
+% (3) load symbol definitions
+\usepackage{textcomp}
\end{verbatim}
\end{quote}
-The construction isn't in the least robust (in the normal English
-sense of the word), but it \emph{is} robust under expansion (i.e., the
-\LaTeX{} sense of the word); so use it with care, but don't worry
-about section headings and the like.
+which will provide a command \csx{textunderscore} which robustly
+selects the right character. The \Package{underscore} package,
+mentioned above, will use this command.
\begin{ctanrefs}
\item[underscore.sty]\CTANref{underscore}
\end{ctanrefs}
+\LastEdit{2011-08-17}
\Question[Q-atsign]{How to type an `@' sign?}
-Long ago, some packages used to use the `@' sign as a command, so that
-special measures were needed to type it. While those packages are
-still in principle available, few people use them, and those that do
-use them have ready access to rather good documentation.
+Long ago, some packages used to use the `@' sign as a special
+character, so that special measures were needed to type it. While
+those packages are still in principle available, few people use them,
+and those that do use them have ready access to rather good
+documentation.
Ordinary people (such as the author of this \acro{FAQ}) need only type
`@'.
+\LastEdit{2011-08-16}
\Question[Q-euro]{Typesetting the Euro sign}