The LaTeX Letter Problem
Paul Hayman
\closing{} and \signature{}are positioned against the left margin? I've
tried the "fullblck" package, but that also left-aligns the sender's address
and the date, which is not what I'm after.
I just want the format commonly seen in British business letters - it
appears to be
what is termed "semi-block" format, but with the valediction and signature
left-aligned.
Why is the U.K. format not supported? Is it not the correct way to lay out
a business letter?
Are the British simply "doing it wrong"?
Any help is appreciated.
P.H.
Gert und Ulrike Fischer
Paul Hayman schrieb:
Copy letter.cls to myletter.cls. Then look in myletter.cls for
\newcommand{\closing}[1]{\par\nobreak\vspace{\parskip}%
\stopbreaks
\noindent
\ifx\@empty\fromaddress\else
\hspace*{\longindentation}\fi %<---- this is the indentation
\parbox{\indentedwidth}{\raggedright
\ignorespaces #1\\[6\medskipamount]%
\ifx\@empty\fromsig
\fromname
\else \fromsig \fi\strut}%
\par}
and change the line \hspace*....
You could also change \indentedwidth at the begin of your document. I
don't think that this length is used at another place.
I don't know the U.K.-letter-format. And I don't know if someone wrote a
better letter.cls for you. There was a mention of lettre.cls some days
ago in this group. And there exists other classes like dinbrief,
scrlettr (from Koma) and perhaps more. You could take a look at them.
Ulrike Fischer
Paul Thompson
Paul Hayman wrote:
> Can anyone tell me exactly how to create a LaTeX letter in which both
> \closing{} and \signature{}are positioned against the left margin? I've
> tried the "fullblck" package, but that also left-aligns the sender's address
> and the date, which is not what I'm after.
You may wish to look at my .cls newlfm (new letter fax memo). This is a far
superior (IMHO) letter class.
Paul Hayman
trying out newlfm.
P.H.
Pieter
Paul Hayman heeft geschreven in bericht
<9cabav$lpq$1...@news7.svr.pol.co.uk>...
>Thank you all for your suggestions: at the moment, I'm in the throes of
>trying out newlfm.
Which, in the best tradition of TeX-related material, comes without
any useful documentation and/or helpful hints...
Pieter
Robin Fairbairns
>Paul Hayman heeft geschreven...
>>Thank you all for your suggestions: at the moment, I'm in the throes of
>>trying out newlfm.
>
>Which, in the best tradition of TeX-related material, comes without
>any useful documentation and/or helpful hints...
apart from (what seems to me) a pretty-well-written .dtx file and a
substantial series of examples.
pretty hopeless, i agree. these people ... writing code and then
hiding the details of the documentation in really obscure places like
the distribution.
--
Robin Fairbairns, Cambridge
Peter Flynn
> Can anyone tell me exactly how to create a LaTeX letter in which both
> \closing{} and \signature{}are positioned against the left margin? I've
This has been answered elsewhere (just redefine the commands).
> Why is the U.K. format not supported? Is it not the correct way to lay out
> a business letter?
> Are the British simply "doing it wrong"?
No, but Leslie Lamport's default styles were based on document
models which have long since been abandoned this side of the
pond. The letter style in particular reflects a layout not seen
here since between the wars. I don't think it's "UK" layout --
more just "European".
The distinction is even more noticeable in MS Word, which
superscripts the ordinal after numbers (st, nd, rd, th),
a style which went out of fashion here before WW1. It still
makes documents look Victorian to a European's eyes (apart
from being an unnecessary typographic abortion).
///Peter