summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/Master/texmf-dist/doc/generic/FAQ-en/html/FAQ-fontsize.html
blob: 269010b7c22db7d85be5f88f91881279d4022c9e (plain)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
<head>
<title>UK TeX FAQ -- question label fontsize</title>
</head><body>
<h3>Fonts at arbitrary sizes</h3>
<p/>Almost all fonts, nowadays, are provided with LaTeX control
(<code>.fd</code>) files, so the temptation to risk the
<a href="FAQ-newfontstar.html">problems of <code>\</code><code>newfont</code></a> is usually easy to
resist.
<p/>However, one temptation remains, arising from the way that LaTeX
restricts the sizes of fonts.  In fact, the restriction only
significantly applies to the default (Computer Modern) and the
Cork-encoded (T1) EC fonts, but it is widely considered to be
anomalous, nowadays.  In recognition of this problem, there is a
package <i>fix-cm</i> which will allow you to use the fonts, within
LaTeX, at any size you choose.  If you&#8217;re not using scaleable
versions of the fonts, most modern distributions will just generate an
appropriate bitmap for you.
<p/>So, suppose you want to use Computer Modern Roman at 30 points, you
might be tempted to write:
<blockquote>
<pre>
\newfont{\bigfont}{cmr10 at 30pt}
\begin{center}
  \bigfont Huge text
\end{center}
</pre>
</blockquote><p>
which will indeed work, but will actually produce a worse result than
<blockquote>
<pre>
\usepackage{fix-cm}
...
\begin{center}
  \fontsize{30}{36}\selectfont
  Huge text
\end{center}
</pre>
</blockquote><p>
Note that the <i>fix-cm</i> package was not distributed until the
December 2003 edition of LaTeX; if you have an older distribution,
the packages <i>type1cm</i> (for CM fonts) and
<i>type1ec</i> (for EC fonts) are available.
<dl>
<dt><tt><i>fix-cm.sty</i></tt><dd>Distributed as part of <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/macros/latex/base.zip">macros/latex/base</a> (or <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/macros/latex/base/">browse the directory</a>); <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/help/Catalogue/entries/fix-cm.html">catalogue entry</a> (an unpacked
  version is available at <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/macros/latex/unpacked/fix-cm.sty">macros/latex/unpacked/fix-cm.sty</a>)
<dt><tt><i>type1cm.sty</i></tt><dd><a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/type1cm.zip">macros/latex/contrib/type1cm</a> (or <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/type1cm/">browse the directory</a>)
<dt><tt><i>type1ec.sty</i></tt><dd><a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/fonts/ps-type1/cm-super/type1ec.sty">fonts/ps-type1/cm-super/type1ec.sty</a> (the package is actually part of
  the <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/fonts/ps-type1/cm-super.zip">fonts/ps-type1/cm-super</a> (or <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/fonts/ps-type1/cm-super/">browse the directory</a>) distribution, but it works happily in
  the absence of the scaled fonts)
</dl>
<p/><p>This question on the Web: <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=fontsize">http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=fontsize</a>
</body>