[texhax] Job applications in LaTeX

[Reinhard Kotucha]

On 2011-09-21 at 10:19:43 -0400, Steve Murgaski wrote:

 > Reinhard Kotucha wrote:
 > > Steve Murgaski wrote:
 > <snip>
 > > > I made a resume/CV using Andrew McNabb's really interesting
 > > > template at http://www.mcnabbs.org/andrew/linux/latexres/ I've
 > > > converted a resume I made with that to pdf, and am really happy
 > > > with it.
 > > >
 > > > Now, of course, I need to make a cover letter.  I'd like my cover
 > > > letter to have a similar font and formatting to the resume I made
 > > > from McNabb's template.  How can I do this?  How do I change the
 > > > default font for my document?
 > >
 > > \usepackage{tgpagella}
 > 
 > [...]
 
 > So I'm assuming that \usepackage{tgpagella} instructs the TeX compiler to
 > use this family of fonts (as its default?) 

Yes.

 > If I put that command above \usepackage[t1]{fontenc} would that
 > cause only t1 fonts in the tgpagella family to be used?

T1 is the font encoding for Western European.  By default, OT1 is
used, which is sufficient for English.  There are some brief
explanations for beginners about the encoding mess in

http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/language/vietnamese/vntex/doc/generic/vntex/vntex.pdf

on page 2.

 > > If you look at Andrew McNabb's example PDF file carefully, you'll see
 > > that the "T" and the "D" look very ugly on screen and maybe even on
 > > paper.  You could also add this line to your CV in order to fix them.
 > 
 > McNabb's resume template has commands in it like:
 > \fontfamily{phv}\selectfont
 > 
 > Would that command be effected by including \usepackage{tgpagella}
 > in the preamble?

No, it loads Helvetica.
 
 > > > I have made some sample letters using the built-in "letter"
 > > > document class, and scrlttr2, but I don't understand how to
 > > > control the font beyond [10/11/12pt] in the initial setting of
 > > > the document class.  What else can I do to change the standard
 > > > font of my letter?
 > >
 > > Specify 11pt, or better 12pt, in the preamble and use relative
 > > sizes like \large or \small when needed.
 > 
 > If I increase the font by using \large in a lot of places, that
 > wouldn't be very elegant.  Decreasing it again would mean going
 > through and taking out all those \large commands.  

Try this:

  The {\tiny little} brown fox jumps over the {\LARGE big} dog. 

 > Is there no better way to get a greater than 12 point font if I
 > want it as the default?

There are certainly macro packages which allow this, but there is no
reason to use a larger font.  Books are written at 10pt, typewriters
use 12pt.  Don't expect to get a job only because your font size is
greater than that of your competitors.

 > > > Pointers to useful documents/tutorials would be good also.  I've
 > > > found a lot of quite advanced treatises about fonts, but nothing
 > > > that just spells out for me how to set a default font for my
 > > > document and start writing.
 > >
 > >  http://tug.org/begin
 > >
 > > You can also try to run
 > >
 > >  texdoc lshort
 > >
 > > on the command line.
 > 
 > That command isn't working for me (in Windows Vista).  I get the error,
 > "Documentation for lshort could not be found"

If you have TeX Live, it's recommended to install the whole thing.

MiKTeX installs packages on the fly, hence I assume that you have to
install documentation which is not part of any macro package
separately.

  http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/lshort/english/lshort.pdf

Regards,
  Reinhard
 
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Reinhard Kotucha                                      Phone: +49-511-3373112
Marschnerstr. 25
D-30167 Hannover                              mailto:reinhard.kotucha at web.de
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