Graphics, Figures & Tables ⇒ ctabular with Memoir class, changing font size

[west.logan]

I'm trying to globally change the font size for all of the ctabular environments I've used in a book and cannot seem to figure out how to do that. First, a MWE:

Code: Select all

\documentclass{memoir}

%\let\oldCtabular\ctabular
%\renewcommand{\ctabular}{\oldCtabular\small}

\begin{document}

This is a demo table:

\begin{ctabular}{lll}
Item1 &Item2 &Item3\\
Item4 &Item5 &Item6\\
\end{ctabular}

\end{document}

The commented section is what I originally tried. I have also tried renewing the environment, and looking at the Memoir class code, but am not sure what to do with it.

Code: Select all

\newcommand*{\ctabular}[1][c]{\global\@curtab\@ne
  \ctableftskip\fill
  \ctabrightskip\fill
  \if l#1% left
    \ctableftskip\z@
  \else
    \if r#1% right
      \ctabrightskip\z@
    \fi
  \fi
  \gdef\@halignto{to\hsize}\NC@tabular}

Are there any immediately obvious ways I can change the font size within ctabular?

[localghost]

[…] Are there any immediately obvious ways I can change the font size within ctabular?

You are on the right path. You just have to draw it to an end.

Code: Select all

\documentclass{memoir}

\makeatletter
\renewcommand*{\ctabular}[1][c]{%
  \global\@curtab\@ne
  \small                 % the font size switch
  \ctableftskip\fill
  \ctabrightskip\fill
  \if l#1% left
    \ctableftskip\z@
  \else
    \if r#1% right
      \ctabrightskip\z@
    \fi
  \fi
  \gdef\@halignto{to\hsize}\NC@tabular
}
\makeatletter

\begin{document}
  This is a demo table:

  \begin{ctabular}{lll}
    Item1 & Item2 & Item3 \\
    Item4 & Item5 & Item6 \\
  \end{ctabular}
\end{document}

Thorsten

[west.logan]

Thank you Thorsten. It turns out that there are some things wrong with the "marginfix" package I was using, that causes strange errors such as throwing all kinds of "too many unprocessed float" errors when this redefinition is made, changing heading spacing, and even legend spacing on tables. It's quite odd that the package does all of this.

[localghost]

[…] It turns out that there are some things wrong with the "marginfix" package I was using, that causes strange errors such as throwing all kinds of "too many unprocessed float" errors when this redefinition is made, changing heading spacing, and even legend spacing on tables. It's quite odd that the package does all of this.

What happens if you place the font switch as very first line of the redefinition? Sometimes the sequence of commands has strange effects.

[west.logan]

I get the same error. The LaTeX error is "too many unprocessed floats" (which goes away if I don't use the Marginfix package). The generic error is:

Code: Select all

\GenericError  ...                                
                                  \endgroup 
<argument> \@floatpenalty \z@ \@fltovf 
                          \def \@currbox {\@tempboxa }\def \@ma...

\@next #1#2#3#4->\ifx #2\@empty #4
                      \else \expandafter \@xnext #2\@@ #1#2#3\fi 
\oldM ...{\@tempboxa }\def \@marbox {\@tempboxa }}
                                \fi \@ifnextchar [\@xmpar ...

\marginpar #1->\oldM 
        [\vspace {3pt}\raggedright \footnotesize \sffamily #1]{...
l.468 ...ritons persecuted by the heathen Saxons.}
                                                  %

As I said before, the marginfix package has caused a lot of little odd errors. Your suggestions seem to be fine, it's just the package that has a problem.

[localghost]

So this seems to be worth either a note to the package or the class maintainer.

[west.logan]

Yes, and I did contact the package creator about all the issues I'd run into so far.

I should also note that I am renewing the command for \marginpar to make the font smaller. Because the Marginfix package then had some strange vertical shifts and reversal of left/right margins, I had to do some squirrely changes. However, even when this renewcommand is removed, the "too many unprocessed floats" error remains. The error even remains when no font switch is inserted.

Code: Select all

\let\oldM\marginpar
\renewcommand\marginpar[1]{\oldM[\vspace{3pt}\raggedright\footnotesize\sffamily #1]%
{\vspace{3pt}\raggedleft\footnotesize\sffamily #1}}