Font smaller than 10pt ??

[nkulmati]

Hi all!

With Latex, it is very hard to find answers to the simplest questions.

How do I set a font size at anything LESS than the default 10/12/14pt
options??

Thank you.

[Werner Grundlingh]

The following was taken from:
http://texblog.net/latex-archive/fonts/increase-font-size/
http://www.latex-community.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1525

It can easily done by using the \fontsize command followed by
\selectfont. If unusual sizes are used the fix-cm package should be
loaded. A small example for demonstration:
\documentclass[a4paper,10pt]{article}
\usepackage{fix-cm}
\begin{document}
\fontsize{60}{70}\selectfont Huge text
\end{document}

That’s also a possibility to choose an intermediate size, for instance
if \tiny gets too small and \scriptsize gets too big.

Werner

[Werner Grundlingh]

...you can also try reading this entry on the UK TeX FAQ that deals
with font sizes:
http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=fontsize

[nkulmati]

I am sorry, but his does not help at all. :( The provided solution
only shows how to create "\larger-than-huge" command to be used
sporadically in the document.

I need to scale down everything throughout the document.

For example, when you change "documentclass" argument from 12pt to
10pt, then everything in the document is scaled down: fonts of text,
fonts of sections, margins, etc. I need a solution that will FURTHER
scale it down to accommodate for an 8pt text. Placing "\small" in the
beginning of the document does not provide the required result,
because all margins remain regular size, and the result looks really
bad.

[Peter Flynn]

On Wed, Jun 30, 2010 at 6:33 PM, nkulmati <kulmat...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi all!

With Latex, it is very hard to find answers to the simplest questions.

It depends where you look. I find it very hard to get answers to the simple questions about C and Java.
 

How do I set a font size at anything LESS than the default 10/12/14pt
options??

Use the extsizes package.

If you want to do it in a document class option (ie the size automatically applies to the whole document), you need to install these extra class option files. They change the body size, and they also change all the other relative sizes, so that the whole publication looks right.

Be careful to make the margins narrower if you use a small body size, otherwise it will not be readable (the eye needs shorter lines or extra spacing in order to flick back from the end of one line to the start of the next).

The defaults are actually 10/11/12 (not 10/12/14) and if you look at your log file, you'll see files like size10.clo, size11.clo, and size12.clo being used. This is because TeX was designed for books and journals, where 10/11/12 are the most common sizes: it is quite rare to use anything smaller as the body size in a book or journal, although some paperbacks do use 9pt.

If you just want to change the font size for a piece of text, not the whole document. just use the \fontsize command. This needs two arguments, the font size and the baseline distance, in points, eg \fontsize{8}{11} will set in 8pt on 11pt baselines ("8 on 11" or "8pt, 3pt leaded"). This command is documented in all the books and online manuals (eg mine).

///Peter

[Peter Flynn]

On Wed, Jun 30, 2010 at 7:46 PM, nkulmati <kulmat...@gmail.com> wrote:

I need a solution that will FURTHER
scale it down to accommodate for an 8pt text.

The extsizes package has a size8.clo to do this.

///Peter
 

[nkulmati]

This is an extensively informative message, thank you!