Page Layout ⇒ Margins for books need to be closer to outer edge?

[insipidtoast]

Since books are bound down the middle, does that create an issue with the default Koma-script book layout, which seems to me to just put the text in the middle of the page?

I'm not too familiar with the printing process, but since they have to bind the pages together on the inside margins, then does it end up looking weird as if there is too much text cluttered towards the spine of the book?

Or is this something that printing companies are used to dealing with and will therefore add a little bit to the inside margins when printing so that when the book is bound everything looks OK?

I'm not sure if I should modify this or not.

[localghost]

Read the KOMA-Script user guide to learn more about type area construction and what you can do to influence the settings. In the Document you can find a special chapter.


Thorsten

[Stefan Kottwitz]

A very short explanation: at first the class takes care of the pure page layout. Imagine an opened two-sided printed book: left outer margin, combined visible inner margin, right outer margin, it's good to have them equal. That's why the inner margin of a page is often set to be half of the outer margin.

Regarding the binding of a book, there's a separate parameter, which you can set, it's BCOR which is described in the KOMA-Script manual. Set them to the value you expect to loose, when binding, depending on the used technique, such as BCOR=10mm as a class option.

Stefan

[insipidtoast]

OK, so my main question: the default for Koma-script book class will work?

I guess it has to do with personal taste. You suggest setting the inner margin at half the size of the outer margin, but I think that would make things look too clustered towards the spine of the book. It's not really a big deal either way, right?
And the Koma-script book default looks OK, right?

[Stefan Kottwitz]

Just open a book before you and compare the visible margins. Yes, I think the KOMA-Script defaults are good.

However, set a BCOR value, if you make a binding which removes some space! Even if you estimate it. The default BCOR value is 0, because the class itself cannot know anything about your binding if you don't tell it. Just imagine an ebook, two-sided opened and read on the screen: there's no binding correction needed, so it's 0. Just note, specify a unit, such as 5mm or 1cm.

Stefan