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I'm finishing my thesis in LaTeX, using class "book". I use a 1.5 line stretch with \renewcommand{\baselinestretch}{1.5}. Everything is ok, but I'd like the Abstract chapter (\chapter*{Abstract}) to fit in one page. There are 4 or 5 extra lines and I've almost achieved it by decreasing the marging between title and text (\vspace*{-1.1cm} just after the title) and the line stretch of the abstract (decreasing \renewcommand{\baselinestretch}{XX} and reseting it to 1.5 at the end of the abstract).

The problem is that I cannot avoid all lines to go to the next page without making the abstract page a bit weird (too small margin between title and text, too small stretch line...) and I think the easiest way to achieve that is to decrease the margin before the title.

Any idea? Thank you!

MWE:

\documentclass{book}
% Some dummy text
\usepackage{lipsum}
% Defult line stretch of all document
\renewcommand{\baselinestretch}{1.5}

% Starting document
\begin{document}

% The chapter I'd like to fit in one page
\renewcommand{\baselinestretch}{0.5} % Reduce line stretch
% \vspace*{-1.1cm} % doesn't work properly
\chapter*{Abstract}
\vspace*{-1.1cm} % Reduce space between title and text
\lipsum[2-4] % Dummy text
\lipsum[13]
\renewcommand{\baselinestretch}{1.5} % Restore line stretch

% A normal chapter whose behaviour I don't want to change
\chapter{Introduction}
\lipsum[6-20] % Dummy text

\end{document}

Peaso

Peaso
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    Welcome to TeX.SX! Please add a minimal working example (MWE) that illustrates your problem. It will be much easier for us to reproduce your situation and find out what the issue is when we see compilable code, starting with \documentclass{...} and ending with \end{document}. – mafp Jun 05 '13 at 21:53
  • See Chapter formatting or Space above chapter with titlesec. I'm sure one of these will solve your problem. Once you'd had some time to look at them, respond with some feedback as to their usefulness and why/if you need more help. – Werner Jun 05 '13 at 22:54
  • @mafp: I've added a MWE. As you can see, there are two chapters: a special one (the Abstract) and a normal one (Introduction). I'd like to decrease the top margin ONLY for the abstract. – Peaso Jun 06 '13 at 15:04
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    @Werner: thank you for your indications. The problem is that I only want to change the usual behaviour of a certain chapter, not for all chapters. I'll tak a look to titlesec. – Peaso Jun 06 '13 at 15:06
  • I still have no idea of hoy to modify just the margins of some chapters. All examples I've found of titlesec packages are applied to the whole document. Any help? – Peaso Jun 08 '13 at 19:46

2 Answers2

1

LaTeX standard applies. Don't want it global? Limit its scope by fencing it, put it in a cage, or as we like to say, put it in a group. A group can be as simple as a pair of braces.

I defined a helper command, that makes life a bit easier. Space before chapters and contents give us the solution on how to change the spacing.

Disclaimer I cannot advice any human being to do stuff like that. If you want to save space to save the rain forest, don't print it at all. 

\documentclass{book}
\usepackage{etoolbox}
\tracingpatches
\makeatletter
\newcommand{\makeCondensedChap}{%
\patchcmd{\@makeschapterhead}{\vspace*{50\p@}}{}{}{}%
\patchcmd{\@makeschapterhead}{\vskip 40\p@}{}{}{}%
}
\makeatother
\usepackage{lipsum}
\renewcommand{\baselinestretch}{1.5}

\begin{document}

{%Open the group
\makeCondensedChap
\chapter*{Abstract}
}%closing the group
\lipsum[2-4]
\lipsum[13]\par


\chapter*{Introduction}
\lipsum[6-20]

\end{document}
Community
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Johannes_B
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1

I ended up with a simple trick:

\chapter*{\vspace{-20pt} Abstract}

The titlesec trick does not work well for me, because it requires to change the format for chapter titles, which make some long titles look worse.

fengyun liu
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