Page LayoutConsistency in the header

Information and discussion about page layout specific issues (e.g. header and footer lines, page formats, page numbers).
Post Reply
User avatar
Cham
Posts: 937
Joined: Sat Apr 02, 2011 4:06 pm

Consistency in the header

Post by Cham »

Recently, I add to refresh the header of some large book I wrote, and I noticed an inconsistency in the font size. Here's a MWE to show it:

Code: Select all

\documentclass[11pt,letterpaper,twoside]{book}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{lmodern}
\usepackage{slantsc}
\usepackage[total={6in,10in},left=1.5in,top=0.5in,includehead,includefoot]{geometry}
\usepackage{microtype}
\usepackage[pagestyles,medium]{titlesec}

\newcommand*{\headerstyle}{\slshape\small\MakeUppercase} % slshape\scshape

\newpagestyle{principal}{
	\sethead[\thepage][][\headerstyle{\chaptername\ \thechapter. \chaptertitle}]{\headerstyle{\thesection\ \sectiontitle}}{}{\thepage}
	\headrule
}

\usepackage{blindtext}

\begin{document}
\frontmatter
\tableofcontents
\mainmatter
\pagestyle{principal}

\chapter{A first chapter title}
\blindtext[5]
\section{A funny section title}
\blindtext[5]
\section{Another hilarious section title}
\blindtext[5]
\chapter{Some funky chapter title}
\blindtext[5]
\section{This section title is really boring}
\blindtext[5]
\section{Really funny section title}
\blindtext[5]

\end{document}
The page number is in normal size, while the chapter/section title is using a small font (\slshape\small\MakeUppercase). The titles are pretty big if I remove the \small command. I could use Small Caps instead (and the slanted version from the slantsc package).

But then I'm wondering about the normal, professional or common headers out there. What should be the proper size of chapters and sections titles in the header, relative to the page number?

And is Small Caps (and its slanted version) a good header style for a typical book?

Recommended reading 2024:

LaTeXguide.org • LaTeX-Cookbook.net • TikZ.org

NEW: TikZ book now 40% off at Amazon.com for a short time.

User avatar
Johannes_B
Site Moderator
Posts: 4182
Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2012 4:08 pm

Consistency in the header

Post by Johannes_B »

The smart way: Calm down and take a deep breath, read posts and provided links attentively, try to understand and ask if necessary.
Post Reply