summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/Master/texmf-dist/doc/generic/FAQ-en/html/FAQ-gutter.html
blob: 05ddfdb9a15d738fdac49e5a1dbecd32ed9808dc (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
<head>
<title>UK TeX FAQ -- question label gutter</title>
</head><body>
<h3>Why is the inside margin so narrow?</h3>
<p/>If you give the standard classes the <code>twoside</code> option, the
class sets the margins narrow on the left of odd-numbered pages, and
on the right of even-numbered pages.  This is often thought to look
odd, but it is quite right.
<p/>The idea is that the typographic urge for symmetry should also apply
to margins: if you lay an even numbered page to the left of an
odd-numbered one, you will see that you&rsquo;ve three equal chunks of
un-printed paper: the left margin of the even page, the right margin
of the odd page, and the two abutting margins together.
<p/>This is all very fine in the abstract, but in practical book(let)
production it only works &ldquo;sometimes&rdquo;.
<p/>If your booklet is produced on double-width paper and stapled, the
effect will be good; if your book(let) is produced using a so-called
&ldquo;perfect&rdquo; binding, the effect will again be good.
<p/>However, almost any &ldquo;quality&rdquo; book-binder will need some of your
paper to grab hold of, and a book bound in such a way won&rsquo;t exhibit
the treasured symmetry unless you&rsquo;ve done something about the margin
settings.
<p/>The packages recommended in 
&ldquo;<a href="FAQ-marginpkgs.html">setting up margins</a>&rdquo; mostly have provision for
a &ldquo;binding offset&rdquo; or a &ldquo;binding correction&rdquo; &mdash; search for
&ldquo;binding&rdquo; in the manuals (<i>vmargin</i> doesn&rsquo;t help, here).
<p/>If you&rsquo;re doing the job by hand (see 
<a href="FAQ-marginmanual.html">manual margin setup</a>), the trick is to
calculate your page and margin dimensions as normal, and then:
<ul>
<li> subtract the binding offset from <code>\</code><code>evensidemargin</code>, and
<li> add the binding offset to <code>\</code><code>oddsidemargin</code>.
</ul>
which can be achieved by:
<blockquote>
<pre>
\addtolength{\evensidemargin}{-offset}
\addtolength{\oddsidemargin}{offset}
</pre>
</blockquote><p>
(substituting something sensible like &ldquo;<code>5mm</code>&rdquo; for
&ldquo;<code>offset</code>&rdquo;, above).
<p/>The above may not be the best you can do: you may well choose to
change the <code>\</code><code>textwidth</code> in the presence of the binding offset; but
the changes do work for constant <code>\</code><code>textwidth</code>.
<p/><p/><p/><p>This question on the Web: <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=gutter">http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=gutter</a>
</body>