A package to help with layout generation? Graph paper in the background?

Question

Once in a while I have to create a layout given by several parameters, such as "left margin 3cm, logo 4 cm from the right margin, 2cm high" etc. Now I use geometry package an other helpers to create a layout, but I need to print out the result in order to check if everything is correct (well, I use Acrobat for that, but not everyone has access to it).

What I am thinking: is there a package to put graph paper with a 1cm grid (and millimeter ticks) in the background, so I could easily check if my layout is correct?

Answer 1

I think the »eso-pic« package provides any easy method to get what you want.

\documentclass[11pt,a4paper]{article}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[
  grid,
  gridcolor=red!20,
  subgridcolor=green!20
]{eso-pic}
\usepackage{lipsum}

\begin{document}
  \lipsum[1-4]
\end{document}

The grid is customizable in many ways. The package manual has more details.

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Answer 2

A TikZ solution might look like this.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\begin{document}
  \begin{tikzpicture}[remember picture, overlay]
    \draw[very thin, green!20,step=1mm,xshift=7.5mm,yshift=7.5mm] (current page.south west) grid (current page.north east);
    \draw[very thin, red!20,step=1cm,xshift=7.5mm,yshift=7.5mm] (current page.south west) grid (current page.north east);
  \end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

I am not entirely sure why the shifting is necesarry, but it is if you want the grid to 'start' at the top left.

Edit: Here is a robust solution:

\documentclass[a4paper]{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[remember picture, overlay,shift={(current page.north west)}]
  \draw[very thin, blue!10,step=2mm]
  (current page.south west) grid (current page.north east);
  \draw[very thin, red!20,step=1cm]
  (current page.south west) grid (current page.north east);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}