Hi Uwe, Thanks for the response. My question doesn't really have much to do with LyX, but rather about the defaults selected by particular LaTeX distributions. I asked it on the users list mostly because it's where I know the most people and there are multiple TeX experts who hang out here.
On Oct 13, 2010, at 7:48 AM, Uwe Stöhr wrote: > Seems that you misunderstood me. A document class defines how a document > should look, e.g. if the title uses a sans serif font in size "huge". I think part of the reason for the misunderstanding is that we think about document "appearance" differently (very, very differently as it turns out) and I was operating under a serious misunderstanding. When you say that document classes define "how a document should look" (please correct me if I'm wrong), you appear to be referring to styles (family [roman, sans, typewriter], weight [bold, medium, light], italics, small caps, etc.), margins, indentation, spacing. but not the typeface itself? I know that the default typeface for LaTeX is CM, and from your comments it sounds as though the default typeface is determined at the level of LaTeX distribution and not at the level of document class. Is that right? > What font you are using for sans serif is your decision. Here's my background. I mostly come to LyX from a somewhat traditional printing background (I worked in a printer's shop part of my time during college and later did a turn as the production editor for a journal), though I am hardly an expert on anything. But in that environment, when someone uses the word "appearance", they are referring to all of the properties you describe in addition to the font. Perhaps most especially the font. > Note that the default font depends on the settings of your > LaTeX-distribution. It is possible that the default fonts are set to Latin > modern or CM super instead of Computer modern. So when you want to have a > certain font, you should select one in the LyX document settings. To find out that document classes don't provide a recommendation for the default, which has been chosen to match the spacing and design of a particular class, is a little shocking. It's like learning that a composer had no preference of instruments and that a concerto for flute could also be played on an oboe, or violin without causing people to raise an eyebrow. Certainly, you are free to change it, but the default typeface is the default typeface. And I'm trying to wrap my head around the idea that such an important decision is apparently left up to the packagers of the LaTeX distribution. (With the assumption that Computer Modern will be right in nearly all instances.) In most publishing houses, that decision is made at the level of design template (which would be roughly analogous to document class). If you told a publication designer that there is a default typeface that is right for all documents, I think most would look at you like you were crazy. (That would be the response of most I've known, at least.) > KOMA-script doesn't hardcode things. When you create a KOMA-script document > and set in LyX the fonts to "default" you get usually computer modern for the > fonts. This I was aware of, but I still assumed that all document classes provided a recommendation of font, in addition to paper size, margins, spacing and all the rest. After all, they all build on themselves. A document that has been carefully designed to use CM or LM won't necessarily look good when typeset with Palatino. Changing a font is a big modification to the document's design, and usually requires that you adjust several others so that things look "right." Because of my previous experience, I just assumed that LaTeX functioned according to similar principles. I knew that CM was the default for LaTeX in general, but I had thought that class/package authors also made individual design choices based upon the goals of their class. Are you aware of anyplace where the design conventions are more explicitly described? I checked the "LaTeX2e for class and package writers" in addition to "The LaTeX companion", but I haven't been able to find someplace where it is spelled out. (I don't currently have access to Lamport's original book.) (The request for references is mostly so that I can describe the conventions correctly. I'm probably going to need to re-write a major section.) Again, thanks for responding. I appreciate that the information is only tangentially related to LyX (and of only marginal interest to most), but I'd really like to get things right. Cheers, Rob
