Message-Id: <199401270935.AA00148@mail.cs.tu-berlin.de>
Reply-To: Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project <LATEX-L@DHDURZ1.BITNET>
Comments:     Resent-From: schoepf@sc.ZIB-Berlin.DE (Rainer Schoepf)
Comments:     Originally-From: wtt@bellcore.com (William T. Trotter)
Date:         Wed, 26 Jan 1994 17:52:06 -0500
From: Rainer Schoepf <schoepf@SC>
Sender: Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project <LATEX-L@DHDURZ1.BITNET>
To: Multiple recipients of list LATEX-L <LATEX-L@DHDURZ1.BITNET>
Subject:      Posting to latex-l
Status: R

Greetings from New Jersey, which recently has
looked and felt more like Alaska!

Several posts to latex-l have raised the issue
of the "layout" of the standard latex documentstyle
article.sty.   Count me as among those who think
it is particularly unattractive - independent of
any discussion about paper sizes.

Recognizing all the pitfalls inherent
in designing good style files, there must be some
relatively competent people out there who have
taken up the challenge.  Some would argue that
amsart.sty is a good example.  Are there others?
If somebody knows of the existence of particularly
"nice" style files for LaTeX articles, I surely
would appreciate learning how one might acquire
a copy.

Has anyone ever raised the idea of having a
"competition" for style files?  Wouldn't it
be fun to have a set, say of 6, really attractive
style files - available on CTAN servers - from which to
choose in writing an article?

I have in mind style files which are as easy
(or easier) to use as article.sty with more or less
the same constructs.  So the user prepares a file
which is something like:

\documentclass{greatart}
\usepackage{amstex,amssymb}
\begin{document}
\title{}
\author1{}
\address{}
\curraddr1{}
\email1{}
\author2{}
\address{}
\curraddr2{}
\email2{}
...
\thanks1{}
\thanks2{}
\thanks3{}
\begin{abstract}
...
\end{abstract}
\maketitle
\section{Introduction}\label{s:intro}
...
\end{thebibliography}
\end{document}

AND out comes a really beautiful document!  Now if the
paper goes to a journal with radically different formatting
requirements, things can be adjusted with a minimum
of trouble.

Now that we have all these wonderful LaTeX2e tools, shouldn't
we pay a little attention to "beauty"?


Cheers,

Tom Trotter
========================================
William T. Trotter
Director, Combinatorics and Optimization
Bell Communications Research
445 South Street 2L-367
Morristown, New Jersey 07962-1910
========================================
Telephone:  (201) 829 - 4175
Fax:        (201) 829 - 2645
E-mail:     wtt@bellcore.com
========================================