LaTeX, a way to PDF

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by frabjous

Not sure what device you're talking about, however; neither the Pocket Loox 720 nor the JoinTech JE100 has a 5" screen, as far as I know.

My Mini! (BeBook Mini...) I read Mobi on both my loox and JE100. Which is why I originally wanted a way to convert my HTML to LaTeX. I now create three formats with one source. (epub + mobi, mobi is converted from the epub and the PDF).

Originally Posted by frabjous

Put this in the preamble:

\usepackage{xcolor}
\pagecolor{black} % sets background color of whole document
\color{white} % sets color of the text

I had no idea how to make a black page at the time, so, I simply used a black image that I showed full screen... That's the joy () of finding things out yourself, you have to do everything the hard way and only find out later there are easier ways of doing things

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by frabjous

Of course, you have a 5" diagonal without having 3" by 4" sides. 25 is the sum of 9 and 16, but there are other numbers that add up to 25 (so long as there are fractions)!

I thought the same, but actually 3x4 are the only dimensions that yield a 5 diagonal, if the aspect ratio is 3:4. And if the pixel count is 600x800 and the pixels are square, the aspect ratio is 3:4

[frabjous]

Originally Posted by Jellby

I thought the same, but actually 3x4 are the only dimensions that yield a 5 diagonal, if the aspect ratio is 3:4. And if the pixel count is 600x800 and the pixels are square, the aspect ratio is 3:4

What makes you think the aspect ratio is 3:4, or that it is 600x800? I haven't seen any tech specs on it. (Then again, I haven't looked.)

Or it could be that some small part of the screen is reserved by the device itself, like the Sony, for example, whose screen is 9cm x 12cm (90mm x 120mm), but it's best to use 88.184mm x 113.854mm in LaTeX because that's the display left over for a PDF.

[Sweetpea]

The aspect ration of the Mini is 600x800. And yes, that's what I think it is. Because my PDF files won't write in certain areas where I do have visual in mobi, for example.

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by frabjous

What makes you think the aspect ratio is 3:4, or that it is 600x800? I haven't seen any tech specs on it. (Then again, I haven't looked.)

The fact that the Gen3 screen is 600x800 and 6 inches, and that most (all?) e-ink screens seem to have the same specs. And, of course, the fact that arma_virumque wrote "Display 600 x 800 pixel, 6 inch E Ink display", which is what I was replying to

[arma_virumque]

hi again,

please bear with me I am ultra-newbie with LaTeX.

The reason I took this up is because the books that I want although available they are in html or plain text format. These are latin texts, project gutemberg has some epubs but their are not the whole collection. Books by latin authors without transliteration are sold by very few publishers and they are mad expensive, to the tune of $60 apiece.

So far I have had relative success with this:

\documentclass{book}
\usepackage[paperwidth=88.184mm,paperheight=113.854mm,margin=2mm]{geometry}
\title{Aeneidos}
\author{Vergilius Maron}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\usepackage{xunicode}
\usepackage{xltxtra}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{hyperref}
\usepackage[tiny,compact]{titlesec}
\usepackage[absolute]{textpos}
\setcounter{secnumdepth}{0}
\usepackage[8pt]{extarticle}
\usepackage{savetrees}

\begin{document}

\thispagestyle{empty}
\begin{textblock*}{\paperwidth}(0mm,0mm)
\noindent\includegraphics[width=\paperwidth,height=\paperheight]{Vergilius.jpg}
\end{textblock*}
\null
\clearpage
\maketitle

\tableofcontents

\chapter{LIBER I}
\label{sec:LIBER I}
...
vi superum saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram; \\
5multa quoque et bello passus, dum conderet urbem, \\
inferretque deos Latio, genus unde Latinum, \\
...

But not all is purrty. For instance I would like to squeeze my table of contents on a single page, as it's now the spacing splits my TOC and puts two chapters on a new page.

1.- How can I tweak the spacing between lines in the table of contents?

The next problem has to do with this:

\chapter{LIBER I}
\label{sec:LIBER I}

Somehow both Chapter and Liber show up on each chapter.

2.- How can I make 'chapter' disappear and just have liber?

thanks, getting there little by little.

[arma_virumque]

I solved my first problem on the TOC with the following in the pre-amble:

\usepackage{tocloft}
\setlength\cftparskip{-5pt}
\setlength\cftbeforechapskip{10pt}
\setlength\cftaftertoctitleskip{2pt}

With this I am able to tweak the table of contents and make it show on a single page on the nook.

[frabjous]

The argument to \chapter is supposed to be the title of the chapter. If your chapters have no title, leave that blank.

\chapter{}

Use

\chapter*{}

for a chapter without a number.

The word used in the title of the chapters is stored in a command called "\chaptername". You can change this like so:

\renewcommand{\chaptername}{LIBER}

The numbering of the chapters is taken care of for you. You shouldn't need to insert them yourself. If you want them to show up with Roman numerals rather than arabic numerals, however, you should put it:

\renewcommand{\thechapter}{\Roman{chapter}}

Both can go in your preamble.

In the document is in Latin, you should load the hyphenation patterns for Latin. I'll check to see if I can figure out how this is done.

EDIT: It's

\usepackage[latin]{babel}

You might want to consult the Documentation for babel having to do with Latin for some additional Latin-specific options.

(BTW, this changes the name of the chapters to "Caput", but you can still change it to LIBER as described above; just do that after loading babel.)

Consider adding:

\sloppy

right after \begin{document}. With a small page, LaTeX is rather too fussy and ends up running things into margins rather than putting larger gaps between words on a given line.

There are some other funny things about your code. The packages:

\usepackage{fontspec}
\usepackage{xunicode}
\usepackage{xltxtra}

Are meant for use with XeLaTeX, which is geared to use true type and open type fonts. Yet nowhere do you load any such fonts. And right after that you have:

\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}

That's basically telling it to use Type 1 fonts, typically used with regular LaTeX or pdfLaTeX. Which is it? Pick one and stick with it.

Feel free to visit us at the forums at latex-community.org for more help. I'm on there a lot, as are many who know more than I.

[Jellby]

And when you start to feel that you want to change too many things and load lots of packages (to format headers, change the page layout, table of contents, etc.), consider changing the class to "memoir" and use all the options it provides instead.

[mh445]

As an alternative to the momoir class, I can recommend the KOMA-Script bundle. It's manual does not only describe functions, but you learn quite a bit of typography by reading it (http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/mac...t/scrguien.pdf).

[arma_virumque]

hi again,

I made an account on latex-community.org already, that place looks more hardcore.

This is now how I have it so far.

\documentclass[8pt]{extbook}
\usepackage[paperwidth=88.184mm,paperheight=113.854mm,margin=2mm]{geometry}
\title{Aeneidos}
\author{Vergilius Maron}
\usepackage[latin]{babel}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\usepackage{xunicode}
\usepackage{xltxtra}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{hyperref}
\usepackage[tiny,compact]{titlesec}
\usepackage[absolute]{textpos}

\usepackage{tocloft}
\setlength\cftparskip{-5pt}
\setlength\cftbeforechapskip{10pt}
\setlength\cftaftertoctitleskip{2pt}
\renewcommand\chaptername{LIBER}
\renewcommand{\thechapter}{\Roman{chapter}}
\renewcommand{\contentsname}{Contenidos}
\setcounter{secnumdepth}{0}

\begin{document}
\thispagestyle{empty}
\begin{textblock*}{\paperwidth}(0mm,0mm)
\noindent\includegraphics[width=\paperwidth,height=\paperheight]{Vergilius.jpg}
\end{textblock*}
\null
\clearpage
\maketitle

\tableofcontents
\newpage
\include{vergilius_liber1}
\include{vergilius_liber2}
\include{vergilius_liber3}
\include{vergilius_liber4}
\include{vergilius_liber5}
\include{vergilius_liber6}
\include{vergilius_liber7}
\include{vergilius_liber8}
\include{vergilius_liber9}
\include{vergilius_liber10}
\include{vergilius_liber11}
\include{vergilius_liber12}
\end{document}

But I noticed some conflicts, the contents with \usepackage[latin]{babel} now is called Index. I think I shouldn't worry about \renewcommand{\contentsname}{Contenidos} and leave it like that, it's a latin text after all. So prolly no need to rename it.

However now I my table of contents looks like this:

I LIBER I .... page #
II LIBER II .... page #
III LIBER III .... page #

How may I make it look like this?

LIBER I .... page #
LIBER II .... page #
LIBER III .... page #

I wonder whether that's proper even. I can always look at a real latin book to consult this lol.

The next problem is that now, well, I had this before as well, the beginning of each chapter has Caput I and Liber I. Taking half the page :-(

I am using xelatex because in certain situations there are unicode latin characters, so I think \usepackage{fontspec}
has to stay. I've tried without \usepackage[T1]{fontenc} and it distorts the text in the e-reader. With both I can match more or less the small font in native e-pub format of the NOOK.

BUT, if there's a better font, by all meas let me know!! Which unicode font would look good on an e-reader?

thanks!!

[mh445]

As mentioned before, use \chapter*{} in order to avoid automatic chapter numbers.

[arma_virumque]

Originally Posted by mh445

As mentioned before, use \chapter*{} in order to avoid automatic chapter numbers.

Do you mean turn this into:

\chapter{LIBER I}
\label{sec:LIBER I}

this?

\chapter*{LIBER I}
\label{sec:LIBER I}

That somehow gets rid of each chapter listing in the TOC entirely. However I found out tha by using \setcounter{secnumdepth}{-1} it comes out the way I want.

One more gripe here is that the entry on each chapter takes half page. Is there a way to center the title and push it to the top of the page?

thanks

[frabjous]

However now I my table of contents looks like this:

I LIBER I .... page #
II LIBER II .... page #
III LIBER III .... page #

How may I make it look like this?

LIBER I .... page #
LIBER II .... page #
LIBER III .... page #

I wonder whether that's proper even. I can always look at a real latin book to consult this lol.

Not sure what's causing that. (I'd need to see how you're handling the \chapter commands inside you're includes.)

Here's how I'd handle it. Since you're already suing tocloft, just add:

\addtolength{\cftchapnumwidth}{1.5cm}
\renewcommand{\cftchappresnum}{LIBER }


and then the chapter commands should just be

\chapter{}

No asterisk, and nothing inside the braces. You may need to fiddle with the 1.5cm to get the width of the index entries right depending on font and how large the numbers get. That'll do the numbering for you.

The next problem is that now, well, I had this before as well, the beginning of each chapter has Caput I and Liber I. Taking half the page :-(

Yeah, it turns out if you use babel, you need to change "Caput" to "LIBER" like this:

\addto\captionslatin{%
\renewcommand\chaptername{LIBER}}

That'll change "Caput" to "LIBER". Again, leave the braces in \chapter{} empty, and there'll be no repetition.

To make it take up less of the page, since you're using titlesec, use it to customize the title spacing and format. Here's just a quick suggestion:

\usepackage[compact]{titlesec}
\titleformat{\chapter}[block]{\centering\bfseries\large}{LIBER \thechapter}{0pt}{}{}
\titlespacing{\chapter}{0cm}{0cm}{\baselineskip}

That'll make the chapter titles centered, just slightly larger than normal text, in bold, with a single line of separation between the chapter titles and text. See the package documentation for more info.

Add the titles option to tocloft if you want the above to apply to the title of the TOC too.

\usepackage[titles]{tocloft}

I am using xelatex because in certain situations there are unicode latin characters, so I think \usepackage{fontspec}
 has to stay.

LaTeX has commands for just about all the Unicode characters. The babel documentation has some info on producing certain Latin-specific characters easily, and just about anything you can imagine can be produced with some code from something like The Comprehensive LaTeX symbol list (or use DeTeXify to draw what you want and get a code.)

If you want to use unicode input for regular LaTeX or pdfLaTeX, put in:

\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}

or perhaps:

\usepackage[utf8x]{inputenc}

I've tried without \usepackage[T1]{fontenc} and it distorts the text in the e-reader. With both I can match more or less the small font in native e-pub format of the NOOK.

This is probably only because you haven't loaded any OpenType fonts yet. But if it works, keep it.

BUT, if there's a better font, by all meas let me know!! Which unicode font would look good on an e-reader?

I made some suggestions in your thread at latex-community.org. But I haven't tried all of them. Font choice is highly subjective. See Alan Wood's Unicode font pages for ideas.

Originally Posted by arma_virumque

Do you mean turn this into:

\chapter{LIBER I}
\label{sec:LIBER I}

this?

\chapter*{LIBER I}
\label{sec:LIBER I}

That somehow gets rid of each chapter listing in the TOC entirely. However I found out tha by using \setcounter{secnumdepth}{-1} it comes out the way I want.

No, that's not what I intended at all. See above for that I intended.

If you do want to go with \chapter*{...}, you can use the \addcontentsline command to put things back into the table of contents. But you have to resort to some trickery to make it play nice with hyperref... e.g.,:

\clearpage% 
\phantomsection%
\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{LIBER X}%
\chapter*{LIBER X}%

That should put "LIBER X" into the table of contents. But I think it's much easier just to use \chapter{} with nothing inside, along with the other changes I've described, to let LaTeX do all the numbering and contents-adding.

One more gripe here is that the entry on each chapter takes half page. Is there a way to center the title and push it to the top of the page?

See above.

[arma_virumque]

whoa!! thanks a lot for your throughly reply. Obviously you know your stuff as you show me several ways to achieve basically the same.

Right outta the bat this:

\titleformat{\chapter}[block]{\centering\bfseries\large}{LIBER \thechapter}{0pt}{}{}
\titlespacing{\chapter}{0cm}{0cm}{\baselineskip}

has fixed the problem with wide top margins on each chapter title!!

I am still evaluating the lenghty post, I have to try and see what does get the results in the cleanest way, specially the caput/chapter part.

again thanks a lot!

ps.: oh, now that you mention you are the same over LaTeX forums :-D
ps2.: so far looking good on my NOOK this pdf, except for the font problem.