LATEX-L Archives

Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project

LATEX-L@LISTSERV.UNI-HEIDELBERG.DE

Options: Use Classic View

Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Condense Mail Headers

Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Sender: Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project <[log in to unmask]>
From: Ruben Prins <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2000 21:06:45 +0100
Reply-To: Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project <[log in to unmask]>
Parts/Attachments: text/plain (82 lines)
>  > 1) You should use `totalheight', not `height' --- just try Palatino J,
or
>  > just about any Q. (BTW, this mistake is also made by the dropping
package).
>
> i beg to disagree. point is that for certain letters \height may not be
right
> but in my opinion \totalheight would be worse. In most circumstances
alinging
> the baseline of the initial with a bseline of the text is a good starting
> point (even if the initial has decenders) --- and if it is not adequate
the
> template offers ample possibilities to adjust the placement.

Maybe a simple switch: if true, then use totalheight, otherwise, use height
and ignore depth (most of the time initials with descenders will overlap the
text, and only horizontal/vertical adjustment will solve this). If
further/no adjustments are wanted, one could always manually adjust the
initial template (IMO, your argument backfires ;-). This probably handles
more cases correctly. Just look at

  \DeclareInstance{initial}{default}{std}{
    initial-font    = \fontfamily{ppl}\fontsize{40}{40}\selectfont,
    parshape-list   = {0pt,0pt},
    text-sep = 2pt,
    initial-format  = \fbox{#1} % extra illustration of my argument
   }
  ...
  \selectlanguage{dutch}
  \Initial{IJ}[muiden.]
  Onzegbaar verdriet, koningin, vraagt u mij te vernieuwen,
  hoe Troje's macht, dat beklagenswaardige rijk,
  verwoest is door Grieken, de ellende die ik zelf
  heb gezien en waarin ik een groot aandeel gehad heb.
  Wie kan bij zulke verhalen, Myrmidoon of Doloop
  of soldaat van de harde Ulixes, zijn tranen bedwingen?

There's no justification for this result. Yuck! Adjustments of the template
should be used to beautify the result, not to correct a (preventable) wrong
result (that's my opinion).

>  > 2) Accented characters can be used for initial if you just use
>  > \meaning/\@onelevel@sanitize or a plain \string (compare the code the
>  > accents use to check for existing `template instances'  [=composites]).
>
> True, but then either \DeclareInstance would need to do the same or the
whole
> thing would not work either. And I'm not that keen on allowing anything in
> template/instance names but would rather prefer a lean name space there.
>
> It kind of feels wrong to me to open up that name space just to be able to
> support \"A as an instance name --- but convince me otherwise :-)
>

Well, maybe a special interface for the initials is at place here:

  \DeclareInitial{\"A}[std]{...}

Which will execute

  \DeclareInstance{initial}{\string\"A}{std}{...}

And \Initial will use \UseInstance{initial}{\string#1}. This hides the
template mechanism somewhat, but most cases are served:

  \Initial{\"U}[ber den sieben Bergen] ...
  \Initial{\TH}[orn], but my knowledge of Icelandic isn't what it
    used to be...
  \Initial{\DJ} (Croatian)
  \Initial{\'E}[colle], whatever

And it doesn't require any change to the template mechanism (nor does it
create a "Missing \endcsname inserted" message). Guess what? I'm stubborn
and don't take "no" for an answer ;-)

Ruben Prins
(who would currently like to have an accented initial himself).

PS
I'm ignoring inputenc, so \DeclareInitial{\'E} and \DeclareInitial{É} won't
be the same -- call it a feature ;-)

ATOM RSS1 RSS2