Bold first letter combined with smallcaps?

Question

I am trying to automate this:

I found this tip which provides the small caps (cool!) but not the bold first letter. The "bold first letter" answers I found were too convoluted for me to use them with what I already found. Can someone help me out?

\documentclass{article}
\providecommand\newthought[1]{%
   \addvspace{1.0\baselineskip plus 0.5ex minus 0.2ex}%
   \noindent\textsc{#1} % small caps text out
}
    \begin{document}

\newthought{\textbf{W}hat you see here} a new thought.

\end{document}

The capital letter of a small cap font is the same as capital letter in normal font so the W is the same within sc or outside it. — Sigur, Jan 19 '16 at 23:52

score 7 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:34

7

Or this? This allows you to pass a single argument rather than two. Unlike my original code, this makes an approximate adjustment for the loss of kerning when switching fonts (bold -> small-caps), based on David's suggestion.

\documentclass{article}% don't use minimal for examples
\newlength\ltempa
\newlength\ltempb
\newcommand\newthought[1]{%
   \addvspace{1.0\baselineskip plus 0.5ex minus 0.2ex}%
   \noindent\expandafter\formatnewthought#1\relax}
\def\formatnewthought#1#2\relax{%
  \settowidth\ltempa{\textsc{#1#2}}%
  \settowidth\ltempb{\textsc{#1\mbox{}#2}}%
  \addtolength\ltempa{-\ltempb}%
  \textbf{#1}\kern\ltempa\textsc{#2}%
}
\begin{document}

\newthought{What you see here} a new thought.

\end{document}

Here's a comparison of the current definition, with the kerning adjustment, and my original definition, which made no adjustment for kerning:

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:34

Community

1

answered Jan 20 '16 at 00:16

cfr

198,882

I'm also not sure you want the \addvspace part. – cfr Jan 20 '16 at 00:17
1

yes , like that:-) – David Carlisle Jan 20 '16 at 01:16
I removed the \addvspace part per @cfr's recommendation, and it seems to have done nothing (except removing superfluous space, of course.) – Kristian Nordestgaard Jul 17 '16 at 23:01
@KristianNordestgaard Er ... what were you expecting it to do? – cfr Jul 17 '16 at 23:21
@cfr: I'll have to think about that ;) – Kristian Nordestgaard Jul 18 '16 at 09:44

Sigur · Answer 2 · 2016-01-20T00:06:34.623

2

Is this what you want?

The command newthought now has 2 arguments and the 1st is the first letter to be typeset in bold.

\documentclass{minimal}
\providecommand\newthought[2]{%
   \addvspace{1.0\baselineskip plus 0.5ex minus 0.2ex}%
   \noindent\textbf{#1}\textsc{#2}% small caps text out
  %\noindent\textsc{\textbf{#1}#2}% prettier code
}
    \begin{document}

\newthought{W}{hat you see here} a new thought.

\end{document}

ps. I'm not sure you need the \addvspace part.

edited Jan 20 '16 at 00:06

answered Jan 19 '16 at 23:55

Sigur

37,330

1

Maybe worth noting that this loses kerning. (Inevitably.) – cfr Jan 20 '16 at 00:02
1

@cfr if you wanted to put the kerning back you could compare the width of \textsc{Wh} and \textsc{W\mbox{}h} and add a a kern of the difference (which ignores the difference between a bold and non-bold first letter, but still.) – David Carlisle Jan 20 '16 at 00:37
@DavidCarlisle Thanks! You mean like this? (Below, not above, obviously.) – cfr Jan 20 '16 at 01:10

Bold first letter combined with smallcaps?

2 Answers2