Message-Id: <199402171535.AA10889@mail.cs.tu-berlin.de>
Reply-To: Mailing list for the LaTeX2e Betatest <LATEX-2E@DHDURZ1.BITNET>
Date:         Thu, 17 Feb 1994 15:10:38 LCL
From: Mike Piff <M.Piff@sheffield.ac.uk>
Sender: Mailing list for the LaTeX2e Betatest <LATEX-2E@DHDURZ1.BITNET>
To: Multiple recipients of list LATEX-2E <LATEX-2E@DHDURZ1.BITNET>
Subject:      Re: Query about \textheight computation
Status: R

From:          bbeeton <BNB@MATH.AMS.ORG>

%>mike piff asks why the textheight should be computed so that a
%>whole number of baselineskips fits into the textheight area, since
%>math distorts the layout so that there's not always an same number
%>of lines on each page.
%>
%>mike -- tex is not *just* for math.  in text-only applications,
%>designers often specify that there is to be no stretch between
%>paragraphs, and if the textheight hasn't been calculated in the
%>manner described, this invariably results in distracting and
%>unnecessary "underfull box (10000)" messages.  it is a sensible
%>procedure to design the page for the most restrictive case; all
%>less restrictive uses are much more readily adapted.
%>                                                -- bb

OK, I accept that tex is used by non-mathematicians, and that some classes
will need \parskip=0pt, but we seem to be going round in circles here, as the
standard classes have non-zero stretch on parskip. Thus this consideration at
least does not apply. With native mode, you would have to write your own
class to change that, and then these considerations would probably be decided
for you anyway by the publisher, who says \baselineskip=15pt and 43 lines per
page, with textwidth=4.5in, or whatever.

Also the problem of section headings in large bold and using a different font
family with lesser height would still apply, throwing all those careful
calculations out.

Mike

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%% Dr M J Piff, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of %%
%% Sheffield, UK.                    e-mail: M.Piff@sheffield.ac.uk %%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%