TeX family notes & snippets.

ConTeXt_suppress_header_footer.tex

% ConTeXt frontmatter
\{start,stop}frontmatter?
> > alternatively, how can I use alphabetic page numbering there?
> > (preferably by using some \setup command that I'd use in my environment
> > file).
>
> \startsectionblockenvironment[frontpart]
>
>    \setupheader[state=stop]
>    \setupfooter[state=stop]
>
> \stopsectionblockenvironment

LaTeX_2col_layout_with_header.tex

\documentclass[12pt,letterpaper]{article}


\usepackage{helvet}
\usepackage{palatino}

\usepackage{sectsty}
\allsectionsfont{\normalfont \sffamily}

\usepackage{multicol}

%\usepackage[parfill]{parskip}

\usepackage{microtype}

%\usepackage[landscape]{geometry}
\usepackage{geometry}
%------------Page Demnsions------------%
\addtolength{\oddsidemargin}{-0.5in} %Sets the odd numbered page margins to 1 inch.
\addtolength{\evensidemargin}{-0.5in} %Sets the even numbered page margins to 1 inch.
\addtolength{\textwidth}{1in} %Widens the text so that flows from margin to margin. This number is double the values set above if odd & even side margins are the same.
\setlength\headheight{.25in} %Sets the height of the header to 1/4 of an inch.
\addtolength{\topmargin}{-.5in} %Sets the top margin to 3/4 of an inch.
\addtolength{\textheight}{1in} %Sets the length from the top margin for the text to start.
%------------Page Demnsions------------%
\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\pagestyle{fancy} %headers & footers
						\fancyhead{}
						\fancyfoot{}
						\cfoot{}
						\rfoot{}
						\chead{\Large \sffamily Center Aligned Header Text }

\begin{document}
\setlength{\columnsep}{30pt}
\begin{multicols}{2}

...some text here...

\end{multicols}
\end{document}

LaTeX_article_section_punctuation.tex

LaTeX section mod
% Put this in your document preamble.
Add period after sectio header | latex

% Requires \documentclass{article}
% Gives:
% 1. Section One instead of 1 Section One

\renewcommand{\thesection}{\arabic{section}.}
\renewcommand{\thesubsection}{\thesection\arabic{subsection}}

LaTeX_cropmarks.tex

FILENAME:latex crop marks.txt
%%Crop marks
\usepackage[cross, letter,center]{crop}

LaTeX_list_decoration.tex

# The \itemsep [value] as illustrated below controls the spacing between items in an ordered or unordered list.
# The \item[value] changes the standard bullet (in an unordered list) to [value]. This will also work for an ordered list, but needs a [value] that is a counter (such as \alph)

\begin{itemize} \itemsep -2pt % reduce space between items
	\item[$\surd$] This is a check-mark
	\item[$\gamma$] Math gamma
	\item[$\bullet$] Bullet point
\end{itemize}

LaTeX_Lulu_crown_quarto_layout.tex

FILENAME:latex lulu.com crown quarto dimensions.txt
%% Lulu: Crown Quarto Color, Perfect Bound (18.91cm x 24.589cm)
\setlength{\paperwidth}{18.91cm} % set size for latex
\setlength{\paperheight}{24.589cm}
\special{papersize=7in,9in} % set size for ghostscript
\typearea[6mm]{1}%% 6 mm for spine

LaTeX_memoir_left_block_poem_title.tex

FILENAME:latex memoir left-block poem title.txt
% When using the Memoir document class: makes the Poem Title flush left the poem body block with using the verse environment
% Example usage:
% \settowidth{\versewidth}{longest verse line} 
% \PlainPoemTitle
% \PoemTitle{Poem Title}
% \begin{verse}[\versewidth]
% ... your poem ...
% \end{verse}

\renewcommand{\PoemTitlefont}{%
\normalfont\scshape\sffamily\flushleft% Remove centering from poem title
\hspace*{0.5\linewidth}\hspace*{-0.5\versewidth}}% Makes poem title flush left with body block.

LaTeX_microtype.tex

\usepackage[final,expansion=true,protrusion=true,kerning]{microtype}

LaTeX_proper_superscript.tex

% It seems a bit weird, but we're in fact asking math mode to bring us in superscript mode, and then go back to text mode to write our text. 
21$^{\textrm{\footnotesize st}}$

LaTeX_show_frame.tex

\geometry{verbose,showframe}

LaTeX_subsections.tex

%% need \setcounter{secnumdepth}{7} in preamble.
%% Allows the use of \subsubsubsection{}, \subsubsubsubsection{}, etc.

\newcounter{subsubsubsection}[subsubsection]
\def\subsubsubsectionmark#1{}
\def\thesubsubsubsection {\thesubsubsection
     .\arabic{subsubsubsection}}
\def\subsubsubsection{\@startsection
     {subsubsubsection}{4}{\z@} {-3.25ex plus -1
     ex minus -.2ex}{1.5ex plus .2ex}{\normalsize\sf}}
% mj02r: original:
%\def\l@subsubsubsection{\@dottedtocline{4}
%     {4.8em}{4.2em}}
% mj02r: for VCE reports:
%\def\l@subsubsubsection{\@dottedtocline{4}
%     {7em}{3.8em}}
% mj02r, 29/12/2004: for thesis:
\def\l@subsubsubsection{\@dottedtocline{4}
     {11.1em}{4.6em}}

\newcounter{subsubsubsubsection}[subsubsubsection]
\def\subsubsubsubsectionmark#1{}
\def\thesubsubsubsubsection {\thesubsubsubsection
     .\arabic{subsubsubsubsection}}
\def\subsubsubsubsection{\@startsection
     {subsubsubsubsection}{5} {\z@} {-3.25ex plus -1
     ex minus -.2ex}{1.5ex plus .2ex}{\normalsize\sf}}
% mj02r: original:
%\def\l@subsubsubsubsection{\@dottedtocline{5}
%     {5.8em}{5.2em}}
% mj02r: for VCE reports:
\def\l@subsubsubsubsection{\@dottedtocline{5}
     {10.7em}{4.5em}}
	 
\newcounter{subsubsubsubsubsection}[subsubsubsubsection]
\def\subsubsubsubsubsectionmark#1{}
\def\thesubsubsubsubsubsection {\thesubsubsubsubsection
     .\arabic{subsubsubsubsubsection}}
\def\subsubsubsubsubsection{\@startsection
     {subsubsubsubsubsection}{6} {\z@} {-3.25ex plus -1
     ex minus -.2ex}{1.5ex plus .2ex}{\normalsize\sf}}
% mj02r: original:
%\def\l@subsubsubsubsubsection{\@dottedtocline{6}
%     {5.8em}{5.2em}}
% mj02r: for VCE reports:
\def\l@subsubsubsubsubsection{\@dottedtocline{6}
     {10.7em}{4.5em}}

\newcounter{subsubsubsubsubsubsection}[subsubsubsubsubsection]
\def\subsubsubsubsubsubsectionmark#1{}
\def\thesubsubsubsubsubsubsection {\thesubsubsubsubsubsection
     .\arabic{subsubsubsubsubsubsection}}
\def\subsubsubsubsubsubsection{\@startsection
     {subsubsubsubsubsubsection}{7} {\z@} {-3.25ex plus -1
     ex minus -.2ex}{1.5ex plus .2ex}{\normalsize\sf}}
% mj02r: original:
%\def\l@subsubsubsubsubsubsection{\@dottedtocline{7}
%     {5.8em}{5.2em}}
% mj02r: for VCE reports:
\def\l@subsubsubsubsubsubsection{\@dottedtocline{7}
     {10.7em}{4.5em}}	 

LaTeX_tikz_rounded_corners.tex

\documentclass[10pt]{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\definecolor{shade}{HTML}{884763}   

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}

\node [fill=shade,rounded corners=5pt]
{
\begin{minipage}{1\textwidth}

Text goes here.

\end{minipage}
};
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

XeLaTeX_quick_start.txt

Using XeLaTeX or XeTeX
1. Don't use inputenc or similar package.

2. Load xltxtra: it will load all other important packages like
fontspec, xunicode, ifxetex (and also graphicx).

3. Read the documentation of fontspec. If you want to use --- and ´´ in
your input you should use [Mapping=tex-text]. 

4. You should have a recent version of the open type version of the
lm-fonts, and a recent version of the euenc-package. 

5. You can load fontenc with option T1 and in certain cases in can be
useful. But I suggest that you leave it out for now. If you load
fontenc, load it before xltxtra (or fontspec). Also load all packages
that perhaps change the fontencoding (e.g. babel with option greek)
before xltxtra. 

6. If your xetex is old (version < .997) you should use
xelatex --output-driver="xdvipdfmx" foo.

7. Delete all driver options like dvips, dvipdfmx, pdftex etc from your
document. Then check carefully in the log that your packages load the
correct drivers. A current hyperref should load hdvipdfm.def, graphicx
should load xetex.def. 

8. geometry needs a recent xetex specific geometry.cfg (from march 2008)
to work properly. Then \usepackage[dvips]{geometry} should work fine
with pdflatex, xelatex and latex+dvips.