Page Layout ⇒ Comparison of style sheets

[jiddoo]

Hi,

I am about to start writing my PhD thesis and I am looking for a fancy LaTeX stylesheets.
Is there any website where different stylesheets are compared and made available for download?
I tried to search the web, but most stylesheets I found simply added minor changes to the header or footer and changed the titlepage. But I know that LaTeX can do a lot more! And I have seen really fancy designs, with different colors, fancy boxes and so on.

I know that I could probably create all this stuff on my own, but this would take me ages.

So any help is appreciated.

[localghost]

Certain style sheets in form of special classes and packages can be found in the TeX catalogue [1]. The classicthesis package does a general approach for formatting a thesis.

[...] And I have seen really fancy designs, with different colors, fancy boxes and so on. [..]

You are going to write a scientific document. So you should spare with such things and similar flourish. They only deflect the reader's attention from the contents.

[1] The TeX Catalogue Online, Topic Index - Typesetting Theses and Papers for Journals


Best regards and welcome to the board
Thorsten

[jiddoo]

Yes, of course you are right, that the layout should not distract from the content, but nevertheless a nicely formatted document is more enjoyable to read than a boring one.

Thank you for the links. Too bad that they did not post a pdf example for all the different styles.

[jiddoo]

I took a look at the classicthesis package, which is really beautiful. But I am not sure about the consequences of it beeing published under the GPL. Does that mean I have to make all may TeX-files freely available when writing my thesis? That would be kind of strange.

[localghost]

Do you have the same concerns when working with other GPL software? The license affects only modifications to the software itself and not the work done with it.

[jiddoo]

Really? I always thought that if you write a software program using GPL components, you would have to publish your source code and use the GPL for your program as well. Where is the difference?

[localghost]

That's correct. But you are not going to write a new package based on classicthesis. You only want to typeset a document with its help. Compare that to writing a document with OpenOffice.org (OOo). It would mean that you always have to bundle your document with that software. I don't think that the author would choose a license that complicates things in this way. And CTAN only accepts uncritical licenses. You see a problem where none exists. You misunderstand the GPL quite a little bit.

[jiddoo]

That's an interesting note, but it makes sense.
Thank you.