Smaller font size that keeps proportions

Question

I am only using this preamble for my document:

\documentclass[8pt]{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage[dvipsnames]{xcolor}
\usepackage[margin=10mm]{geometry}
\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage{amsmath}

The problem is I am doing a formula sheet for my exam and I want to be able to insert many formulas, so I want the font size to be small, 8pt is too big. I tried \small, \footnotesize, \scriptsize and \tiny and they are ok but the problem is that the smaller the font gets, the more the text seems to have been horizontally stretched. It feels like the text is only losing height and not width.

article does not support 8pt only 10pt, 11pt, and 12pt. However, do you think, someone would like to read a document in 8pt? — cabohah, Jan 10 '24 at 16:45
Your problem is also not very clear, but maybe you are searching: Reducing font size in equation — cabohah, Jan 10 '24 at 16:47
@cabohah This sheet is for me to read, it contains important formulas and theory for my exam. I printed the pdf file today with 8pt and it is very big. Maybe something is not scaling properly, because I don't understand how you say it is small. — hugh_maths, Jan 10 '24 at 16:47
@cabohah No, I am looking to scale everything at once, not just equations. I have much text and equations all over the page. — hugh_maths, Jan 10 '24 at 16:48
As I already told you: article does not support 8pt. So your document still uses the default font size 10pt. See the link in my first comment. — cabohah, Jan 10 '24 at 16:48
@cabohah I have already tried a lot of things, including \usepackage{scrextend} \changefontsizes[2pt]{2pt} and the problem is still there. The text loses height but not width. It seems I have stretched the text horizontally. — hugh_maths, Jan 10 '24 at 16:51
Show a minimal working example of what you've tried. \usepackage[fontsize=8pt]{scrextend} would reduce the font size. However, depending on the selected size, you would also need a scalable font like \usepackage{lmodern}. But without MWE this is only a guess. — cabohah, Jan 10 '24 at 16:55
Sorry, a screenshot is not a MWE. Please, don't ignore links in comments. — cabohah, Jan 10 '24 at 16:59
See https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/328228/appearance-of-tiny-or-scriptsize-fontsize-in-latex-horizontal-stretch — Steven B. Segletes, Jan 10 '24 at 17:02
You screenshot show that you premise is not true. In point 4, line 2, there are 4 more words on the right column fo the next line, so indeed the smaller text loss height and width. Maybe you think this because the line before end in "table " in both cases, but at naked eye is also clearly narrower in the right, so .... there are nothing wrong here except that maybe you are forcing a line break or paragraph skip in the first line, but have no sense speculate about without a MWE (your preamble fragment is not a MWE). — Fran, Jan 10 '24 at 18:35
If you want to create a cheatsheet, the better option is to prepare a document at, say, A3 size (big page) and then scale it globally to what you need at the PDF stage. — Rmano, Jan 10 '24 at 19:40
You appera to be using \raggedright so the line ends when the next word won't fit. The smaller the words, the more fit in one line. — John Kormylo, Jan 10 '24 at 19:51

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 10 '24 at 17:18

Can you compile using lualatex? If so, \usepackage{fontspec} just below the document class. You will then use OpenType or TrueType fonts.

Fontspec allows you to Scale a font to any size, even decimal values such as 7.6pt, using \addfontfeature{Scale=X} where X is a multiplier of the main font size. This does not change the baselineskip. For that, \def\baselinestretch{Y} where Y is a multiplier of prevailing baselineskip.

Fontspec allows you to stretch/shrink the horizontal size of fonts, which is what you need. \addfontfeature{FakeStretch=Z} where Z is a multiplier, such as 0.9.

Now, you noted that the existing smaller fonts seem to be more widely spaced than expected. But this is not unusual. In fact, it is standard with many fonts. Depends on fonts and technology. Small fonts often have their glyphs not in proportion to the larger sizes, for readability and for a more uniform "gray density" throughout the page.

Smaller font size that keeps proportions

1 Answers1