\
layout
command which draws a diagram of your existing page
layout, with the dimensions (but not their interrelationships) shown.
Even changing the text height and width, \
textheight
and
\
textwidth
, requires more care than you might expect: the height
should be set to fit a whole number of text lines (in terms of
multiples of \
baselinskip
), and the width should be constrained
by the number of characters per line, as mentioned in
“changing margins”.
Margins are controlled by two parameters: \
oddsidemargin
and
\
evensidemargin
, whose names come from the convention that
odd-numbered pages appear on the right-hand side (‘recto’) of a
two-page spread and even-numbered pages on the left-hand side
(‘verso’). Both parameters actually refer to the left-hand margin of
the relevant pages; in each case the right-hand margin is specified by
implication, from the value of \
textwidth
and the width of the
paper. (In a one-sided document, which is the default in many
classes, including the standard article and report
classes, \
oddsidemargin
stands for both.)
The
“origin” (the zero position) on the page is one inch from the top of
the paper and one inch from the left side; positive horizontal
measurements extend right across the page, and positive vertical
measurements extend down the page. Thus, the parameters
\
evensidemargin
, \
oddsidemargin
and \
topmargin
, should
be set to be 1 inch less than the true margin; for margins closer to
the left and top edges of the page than 1 inch, the margin parameters
must be set to negative values.
This question on the Web: http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=marginmanual