General ⇒ Newbie Questions : Pls Help!!

[GMathews]

Hello

Im using Latex for the first time, using Texnicenter to edit the files. Im writing a report so chose to create a new project, using English report as the template.

However, I have two problems.
1. In the title page, why does text only start in the middle of the page? I wanted to put the logo of my university at the top but having problems with that, basically i use the \includegraphics command but it places the image in the first page, and the text only then starts at the second page. Having trouble understanding the bounding box rules which I have come across

2. The space between the text and the top end of the page is huge! How do i reduce this. I tried creating a style, is that the way to go - a sample style would help.

3. How to put page numbers at the bottom right of a page?

Your help is greatly appreciated

[Stefan Kottwitz]

Hi GMathews!

1. you could use the titlepage environment instead of \maketitle, just a quick example:

Code: Select all

\begin{titlepage}
\centering
\includegraphics{logo}

\vspace{2cm}
\Huge Title

\Large Author

\large date

\end{titlepage}

You can design the title page like you want.

2. You could reduce the margins by using the geometry package, for example:

Code: Select all

\usepackage[inner=2cm,outer=3cm,vmargin={2cm,2cm}]{geometry}

Explanation, more information and examples you can find in the geometry documentation.

3. the fancyhdr package is very useful for displaying page numbers and chapter or section titles in headers and footers, have a look at its documentation.

If you have further questions feel free to ask.

Stefan

[GMathews]

Hey Stefan

Thanks, going to try it when i get home, will give feedback. Wow u really know your links hey...

Thanks again for your time, take care

[GMathews]

Ok I played around with the template, used your advice and found the following errors. Here is the code of my project (some comments that were generated from the template were left out).

Code: Select all

\documentclass[a4paper,oneside,11pt]{report}
\newif\ifpdf
\ifx\pdfoutput\undefined
	\pdffalse              %%normal LaTeX is executed
\else
	\pdfoutput=1           
	\pdftrue               %%pdfLaTeX is executed
\fi
\ifpdf
\else
\fi

\ifpdf %%Inclusion of graphics via \includegraphics{file}
	\usepackage[pdftex]{graphicx} %%graphics in pdfLaTeX
\else
	\usepackage[dvips]{graphicx} %%graphics and normal LaTeX
\fi

%% Math Packages %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{amsthm}
\usepackage{amsfonts}
\usepackage{a4ee}

%% Other Packages %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\usepackage{fancyhdr}

\begin{document}
ifpdf
	\DeclareGraphicsExtensions{.pdf,.jpg,.png}
\else
	\DeclareGraphicsExtensions{.eps}
\fi

\pagestyle{empty} %No headings for the first pages.

\begin{titlepage}
\centering

\Huge University of the ...
\includegraphics{untitled}


\vspace{5cm}
\Huge Lab : Fluidised Beds 
\Large Chemical Engineering Laboratory

\Large Our Names


\end{titlepage}
\tableofcontents %Table of contents
\pagestyle{fancy} 

\begin{abstract}
In this paper\ldots
\end{abstract}



\section{Introduction}
The fluidised bed is 

\section{Theory}\label{Theory}
The concept of Fluidised beds..

\addtocontents{toc}{\protect\vspace*{\baselineskip}}



%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%% APPENDICES
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\appendix



\end{document}

Here is the code for the a4ee.sty.

Code: Select all

\NeedsTeXFormat{LaTeX2e}
\ProvidesPackage{A4ee}[1998/11/30 2e.5 A4 SA Layout Wits Elec. Eng.]
\setlength{\topmargin}{-10mm}%
\setlength{\headheight}{5mm}%
\setlength{\headsep}{8mm}%
\setlength{\textheight}{242mm}%
\setlength{\footskip}{12mm}%
\setlength{\textwidth}{140mm}%
\setlength{\marginparwidth}{25mm}%
\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{10mm}%
\setlength{\evensidemargin}{10mm}%
\setlength{\columnsep}{10mm}%
\setlength{\unitlength}{1mm}%
\setlength{\parskip}{2ex}%
\setlength{\parindent}{0em}%
\DeclareOption{doublespacing}{%
  \renewcommand{\baselinestretch}{1.2}%
  \renewcommand{\arraystretch}{0.8}%
  \setlength{\parskip}{2.4ex}%
  }%
\DeclareOption{bindmargins}{%
  \addtolength{\oddsidemargin}{5mm}%
  \addtolength{\evensidemargin}{-5mm}%
  }%
\DeclareOption{widetext}{%
  \addtolength{\oddsidemargin}{-5mm}%
  \addtolength{\evensidemargin}{-5mm}%
  \addtolength{\marginparwidth}{-10mm}%
  \addtolength{\textwidth}{10mm}%
  }%
\ProcessOptions
\endinput
%%
%% End of file `A4ee.sty'.

[GMathews]

Here are the problems i encounter :

1. Page number starts on contents page - I'd like it to start on the introduction page.

2. Abstract - It starts in the middle of the page, I'd like it to start with the same style as the rest of the document, and not begin in the middle of the document (halfway from the top margin)

3. Numbering of chapters - Introduction starts at 0.1 - Id just like it to be 1 and Theory to be 2. Then any sub sections under these should take on for example 2.1

4. Id like to include an appendix that is page numbered in Roman numerals that is subdivided into Appendix A, Appendix B, etc

5. Theory should appear on the next page after introduction and not on the same page.

6. Changing title of Contents page. Id like it to be 'Table of Contents' and not just 'Contents'

I havent included the other files of the project, let me know if u need any of them.

Appreciated

[Stefan Kottwitz]

Hi GMathews,

are some of the questions above still open and when yes, which?

Stefan

[GMathews]

Hey Stefan,

Question 2 does apply yes - about the abstract.

An additional question is..im worried about the amount of space between the Chapter name and the top of the page...it seems to be quite a bit. I have attached the .tex file of my report for you so you can see what Im trying to do lol.
I have commented on the figure part, I still need to play around with it..the one called pressuredrop that is.

Thanks

[Stefan Kottwitz]

Hi,

the abstract environment will be changed to start at the beginning of the page if you set the notitlepage option to \documentclass.

The space before the chapter head is typographically intended, but you could redefine \chapterheadstartvskip, here I take 1\baselineskip, you can change that:

Code: Select all

\renewcommand*\chapterheadstartvskip{\vspace*{1\baselineskip}}

Similar you could change \chapterheadendvskip.

Stefan

[GMathews]

Thanks a lot for ur reply, those commands did exactly what i wanted them to do