Center Text Vertically, exactly

Question

I tried two of the solutions given on this forum. Neither of them really center the text. I put one below. It's off by quite a bit. I'd like it centered measuring from the textblock(?...the rectangle where the normal text is written) to the middle of the letter height (the capital letter is fine).

%\documentclass[a4paper, 11pt, oneside]{book} % A4 paper size, default 11pt font size and oneside for equal margins

%PACKAGES
\usepackage{fontspec}
\usepackage{libertine}
\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\usepackage[paperwidth=6in, paperheight=9in, showframe]{geometry}

\fancypagestyle{clearstyle}{\fancyhead{}\fancyfoot{}}

\begin{document}
\begin{center}
\vspace*{\stretch{1}}
{\Huge \textbf{\textit{Too Low}}\par}
\vspace*{\stretch{1}}
\end{center}

\clearpage 
\end{document}

Will there be anything else on the first page? You could consider using eso-pic. — Werner, Mar 22 '20 at 21:31
I have one page kind of like this with just one or two large words. Then I have another with a poem quote+author. — R. B. Jawad, Mar 22 '20 at 22:05

Bernard · Accepted Answer · 2020-03-23T00:11:14.813

4

Just use this (albeit, in my opinion, the golden ratio would be finer).:

\begin{center}
\null\vspace*{\stretch{1}}
{\Huge \textbf{\textit{Too Low}}\par}
\vspace*{\stretch{1}}\null
\end{center}

\clearpage

Here is a code with values for stretch approximating the golden ratio (for the text area):

\begin{center}
\null\vspace*{\stretch{1}}
{\Huge \textbf{\textit{Too Low}}\par}
\vspace*{\stretch{1.72}\null
\end{center}

edited Mar 23 '20 at 00:11

answered Mar 22 '20 at 21:50

Bernard

271,350

What do you mean 'golden ratio'? How would that look? – R. B. Jawad Mar 22 '20 at 22:03
1

The ratio \belowspace/abovespace is equal to (1+squareroot(5))/2 (~1.618). – Bernard Mar 22 '20 at 22:07
Is there a way to modify the example you gave, so I can compare? – R. B. Jawad Mar 22 '20 at 22:15
Do you mean, to approximate the golden ratio? – Bernard Mar 22 '20 at 22:26
Ya, I just wanted to see how that would look on the page. I like the solution you gave. It does what I wanted. – R. B. Jawad Mar 22 '20 at 22:39
Please my addition (it worked with trial and error, to compesate for the text height). – Bernard Mar 22 '20 at 22:59
I don't hate it, but I like 1:1 better. Thanks for your help. – R. B. Jawad Mar 22 '20 at 23:09
That's only a matter of appreciation. – Bernard Mar 22 '20 at 23:19
@Bernard very interesting -- https://www.mathsisfun.com/numbers/golden-ratio.html -- read it in abook I think by John Grisham --human body arms are in the same ratio upper arm to lower arm and petals of a fllower – js bibra Mar 23 '20 at 00:39

Sveinung · Answer 2 · 2020-03-23T08:38:58.727

You may use textpos to place your text absolutely in the middle of a grid- However, when the text is centred in the middle of the page, it will optically look as too low.

I have not compensated for the height of the textbox, so probably, the text should place approximately 2 mm higher.

\documentclass[a4paper, 11pt, oneside]{book}

\usepackage{libertine}
\usepackage[absolute]{textpos}
\TPGrid[-7mm,0mm]{210}{290}

\begin{document}
\begin{textblock}{54}(78,145)
{\Huge \textbf{\textit{Too Low gg}}\par}
\end{textblock}
\end{document}

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 23 '20 at 05:41

Below I use eso-pic's \AtTextCenter to place an object at the centre of the text block. Since the object is text, which is placed on the baseline, dropping (or raising it with a negative distance) it exactly halfway helps to centre it vertically on the page.

\documentclass{book}

%PACKAGES
\usepackage{fontspec}
\usepackage{libertine}
\usepackage{eso-pic}
\usepackage[paperwidth=6in, paperheight=9in, showframe]{geometry}

\begin{document}

\pagestyle{empty}

\mbox{}% Just to put something on the page
\AddToShipoutPicture*{%
  \AtTextCenter{%
    \makebox[0pt]{\raisebox{\dimexpr-.5\height+.5\depth}{\fbox{\Huge\bfseries Lazy fox}}}%
  }%
}

%\clearpage% Ship out page

\end{document}

You can, of course, remove the \fbox and other elements that don't fit with your usage.

Center Text Vertically, exactly

3 Answers3