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diff --git a/Master/texmf-dist/doc/generic/FAQ-en/html/FAQ-2letterfontcmd.html b/Master/texmf-dist/doc/generic/FAQ-en/html/FAQ-2letterfontcmd.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..c87a5c088e6 --- /dev/null +++ b/Master/texmf-dist/doc/generic/FAQ-en/html/FAQ-2letterfontcmd.html @@ -0,0 +1,124 @@ +<head> +<title>UK TeX FAQ -- question label 2letterfontcmd</title> +</head><body> +<h3>What’s wrong with <code>\</code><code>bf</code>, <code>\</code><code>it</code>, etc.?</h3> +<p/>The font-selection commands of LaTeX 2.09 were <code>\</code><code>rm</code>, <code>\</code><code>sf</code>, +<code>\</code><code>tt</code>, <code>\</code><code>it</code>, <code>\</code><code>sl</code>, <code>\</code><code>em</code> and <code>\</code><code>bf</code>; they were modal +commands, so you used them as: +<blockquote> +<pre> +{\bf Fred} was {\it here\/}. +</pre> +</blockquote><p> +with the font change enclosed in a group, so as to limit its effect; +note the italic correction command <code>\</code><code>/</code> that was necessary at the +end of a section in italics. +<p/>At the release of LaTeX2e in summer 1994, these simple commands were +deprecated, but recognising that their use is deeply embedded in the +brains of LaTeX users, the commands themselves remain in LaTeX, +<em>with their LaTeX 2.09 semantics</em>. Those semantics were part of +the reason they were deprecated: each <code>\</code><em><code>xx</em></code> overrides +any other font settings, keeping only the size. So, for example, +<blockquote> +<pre> +{\bf\it Here we are again\/} +</pre> +</blockquote><p> +ignores <code>\</code><code>bf</code> and produces text in italic, medium weight (and the +italic correction has a real effect), whereas +<blockquote> +<pre> +{\it\bf happy as can be\/} +</pre> +</blockquote><p> +ignore <code>\</code><code>it</code> and produces upright text at bold weight (and the +italic correction has nothing to do). The same holds if you mix +LaTeX2e font selections with the old style commands: +<blockquote> +<pre> +\textbf{\tt all good friends} +</pre> +</blockquote><p> +ignores the <code>\</code><code>textbf</code> that encloses the text, and produces +typewriter text at medium weight. +<p/>So why are these commands deprecated? — it is because of confusions +such as that in the last example. The alternative (LaTeX2e) +commands are discussed in the rest of this answer. +<p/>LaTeX2e’s font commands come in two forms: modal commands and +text-block commands. The default set of modal commands offers weights +<code>\</code><code>mdseries</code> and <code>\</code><code>bfseries</code>, shapes <code>\</code><code>upshape</code>, +<code>\</code><code>itshape</code>, <code>\</code><code>scshape</code> and <code>\</code><code>slshape</code>, and families +<code>\</code><code>rmfamily</code>, <code>\</code><code>sffamily</code> and <code>\</code><code>ttfamily</code>. A font selection +requires a family, a shape and a series (as well as a size, of +course). A few examples +<blockquote> + +<pre> +{\bfseries\ttfamily and jolly good company!} +</pre> +</blockquote><p> +produces bold typewriter text (but note the lack of a + + <a href="FAQ-bold-extras.html">bold typewriter font</a> +in the default Computer Modern fonts), or +<blockquote> + +<pre> +{\slshape\sffamily Never mind the weather\/} +</pre> +</blockquote><p> +(note the italic correction needed on slanted fonts, too). +<p/>LaTeX2e’s text block commands take the first two letters of the +modal commands, and form a <code>\</code><code>text</code><em><code>xx</em></code> command from +them. Thus <code>\</code><code>bfseries</code> becomes <code>\</code><code>textbf{</code><em>text</em><code>}</code>, +<code>\</code><code>itshape</code> becomes <code>\</code><code>textit{</code><em>text</em><code>}</code>, and <code>\</code><code>ttfamily</code> +becomes <code>\</code><code>texttt{</code><em>text</em><code>}</code>. Block commands may be nested, as: +<blockquote> +<pre> +\textit{\textbf{Never mind the rain}} +</pre> +</blockquote><p> +to produce bold italic text (note that the block commands supply +italic corrections where necessary), and they be nested with the +LaTeX2e modal commands, too: +<blockquote> + +<pre> +\texttt{\bfseries So long as we're together} +</pre> +</blockquote><p> +for bold typewriter, or +<blockquote> + +<pre> +{\slshape \textbf{Whoops! she goes again}\/} +</pre> +</blockquote><p> +for a bold slanted instance of the current family (note the italic +correction applied at the end of the modal command group, again). +<p/>The new commands (as noted above) override commands of the same type. +In almost all cases, this merely excludes ludicrous ideas such as +“upright slanted” fonts, or “teletype roman” fonts. There are a +couple of immediate oddities, though. The first is the conflict +between <code>\</code><code>itshape</code> (or <code>\</code><code>slshape</code>) and <code>\</code><code>scshape</code>: while many +claim that an italic small-caps font is typographically unsound, such +fonts do exist. Daniel Taupin’s <i>smallcap</i> package enables +use of the instances in the <a href="FAQ-ECfonts.html">EC fonts</a>, and +similar techniques could be brought to bear on many other font sets. +The second is the conflict between <code>\</code><code>upshape</code> and <code>\</code><code>itshape</code>: +Knuth actually offers an upright-italic font which LaTeX uses for +the “£” symbol in the default font set. The combination is +sufficiently weird that, while there’s a defined font shape, no +default LaTeX commands exist; to use the shape, the (eccentric) user +needs LaTeX’s simplest font selection commands: +<blockquote> + +<pre> +{\fontshape{ui}\selectfont Tra la la, di dee} +</pre> +</blockquote><p> +<dl> +<dt><tt><i>smallcap.sty</i></tt><dd><a href="ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/smallcap.zip">macros/latex/contrib/smallcap</a> (<a href="ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/smallcap.tar.gz">gzipped tar</a>, <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/smallcap/">browse</a>) +</dl> +<p/><p>This question on the Web: <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=2letterfontcmd">http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=2letterfontcmd</a> +</body> |