The titling package allows users to customise the appearance of the document title, to include multiple titles etc. In addition to allowing customisation of \maketitle, it defines a new environment, titlingpage, which is similar to titlepage but allows the use of \maketitle within the environment to typeset the title, author, date etc.
Here's an example based on code from page 5 of the manual:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{titling}
\title{Title}
\author{Author}
\begin{document}
\begin{titlingpage}
\setlength{\droptitle}{30pt}% lower the title
\maketitle
A few words\dots
\begin{abstract}A few more words\dots\end{abstract}
\end{titlingpage}
\end{document}
In trying to answer this question, I tried to use titlingpage to typeset the title below an image to be typeset first. When this failed, I produced the following modification of the above example:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{titling}
\title{Title}
\author{Author}
\begin{document}
\begin{titlingpage}
A few words\dots
\setlength{\droptitle}{30pt} % lower the title
\maketitle
\begin{abstract}A few more words\dots\end{abstract}
\end{titlingpage}
\end{document}
Not what I expected based on the documentation....
Obviously, it is possible to use titlingpage, like titlepage, to typeset the title below other things here. But I cannot figure out how to do so using \maketitle.
Is this a bug or a feature? Either way, is there a workaround? (If a feature, is this a bug in the documentation?!)
Note that on page 4, the manual says that it defines \maketitle 'essentially' as follows:
\renewcommand{\maketitle}{%
\vspace*{\droptitle}
\maketitlehooka
{\pretitle \title \posttitle}
\maketitlehookb
{\preauthor \author \postauthor}
\maketitlehookc
{\predate \date \postdate}
\maketitlehookd
}
So, again, nothing to suggest that \maketitle will itself start a new page - especially in the titlingpage environment.
I'm assuming this is not really how it is defined. (And, indeed, the actual code when the titlepage option is not active and the document is in one-column mode includes a suspicious-looking newpage...)
It seems to me that titlingpage ought to do something like
\let\oldnewpage\newpage
\let\newpage\relax
and
\let\newpage\oldnewpage
at the beginning and end of the environment if titlingpage is to work as advertised. (But I'm sure this particular suggestion would either not work at all or have horrible side-effects or both.)
\newpageI mentioned. Note that this is not specific toarticle, though. The same happens withbookandreport. Do you think the behaviour is intentional, then, and the documentation buggy? Or is the code intentional but not this effect? Or neither? – cfr Jul 08 '14 at 02:36bookorreportwill trigger thetitlepageenvironment which will start a new page. But is this intended given the description oftitlingpageand\maketitlein the manual? The code makes it look clearly intended but I'm not quite sure why it would be given the purpose oftitlingpage. – cfr Jul 08 '14 at 02:40\newpages commands (I updated my answer showing that there are really two of them involved here) were intentional (as apparently they try to emulate the behaviour of the original definitions in standard classes), but perhaps the package should somehow make them optional and not hard-coded. – Gonzalo Medina Jul 08 '14 at 02:48\newpages are intentional in a sense but I'm not sure that their effect intitlingpageis. Just before introducing that environment, the manual saysDo not use \maketitle within the titlepage environment as it will start yet another page.The next paragraph then beginsThe titlingpage environment falls between the titlepage option and the titlepage environment. Within the titlingpage environment you can use the \maketitle command, and any others you wish.It seems an odd description if the effect is intended as a feature... – cfr Jul 08 '14 at 02:55\newpages. I have the impression that the package author assumed users are familiar with the behaviour of\maketitlefrom the standard classes and wanted to follow the\newpagefeature. – Gonzalo Medina Jul 08 '14 at 03:02\maketitle) that the whole point oftitlingpagewas precisely to turn that particular aspect of the standard definitions off. (That is, I was familiar with that effect in the standard definitions but the documentation I took to imply thattitlingaltered it for thetitlingpageenvironment specifically. That kind of seemed the point of the environment...) But I guess you are right and I must have misunderstood the intended meaning. – cfr Jul 08 '14 at 03:06\maketitlecontained there can be misleading since it doen's mention the\newpage. – Gonzalo Medina Jul 08 '14 at 03:17