Any way to see (exact) default values for things in LaTeX?

Question

I am doing a typography assignment in School where we have to take a random text and then format it to be "typographically correct". Most students use Microsoft Word but I chose to use LaTeX (thought it would be easier). I have finished the task but now my teacher requires us to fill in a paper that states the different values used in the document for different section of the text (font size for [title, sections, text], baseline spacing [title, section, text], spacing for title and sections, Fonts used etc. I left almost every setting at default and I used the "book" document class. I can't seem to find the default values for anything in LaTeX. The only things I have found is the default font for text (Computer Modern Roman) and the font size for text (11pt).

EDIT: This is the beginning of my document:

\documentclass[a4paper,11pt,twoside]{book}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{hyperref}
\usepackage{gensymb}
\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage{float}
\usepackage{fancyhdr}

\pagestyle{fancy}
\fancyhf{}
\fancyhead[LE,RO]{My name\\The future of Virtual Reality}
\fancyhead[RE,LO]{30/09/2017}
\fancyfoot[LE,RO]{\thepage}

\setlength{\parskip}{1em}

\title{The future of Virtual Reality}
\author{My name}
\date{June 2017}

\begin{document}
\frontmatter
\maketitle
\tableofcontents

for page properties, such as margins etc, have a look at the layout package https://ctan.org/pkg/layout?lang=en — samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz, Oct 02 '17 at 12:00
To get the font sizes: https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/109724/36296 — samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz, Oct 02 '17 at 12:11
@samcarter How do I use this? I use sharelatex.com to write my text (I am new to this). — Schytheron, Oct 02 '17 at 12:14
The first one is simply a package to use, the second one is a bit tricky if you are not compiling yourself - you'll have to dig through the .log file until you find a message similar to > \OT1/cmr/m/n/11 . <recently read> \font — samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz, Oct 02 '17 at 12:19
I am a bit skeptical about this. A typography course will be advocating using MS Word? Right click in Adobe Acrobat for the fonts used. — percusse, Oct 02 '17 at 12:24
@samcarter Ok I figured out how to use the \showthe\font command. The only problem is that it show the font settings of the main text no matter where I put the command (I wanna know details for the sections and title too). And also can you show me an example of how to use the \layout package? Do I just import the package and then use \layout anywhere in the code?
EDIT: Okay I figured out how to use the layout package but where do I read the actual output/info? — Schytheron, Oct 02 '17 at 12:33
@Schytheron You'll have to sue the \showthe\font at the place you want to know the font, for example in a chapter title it gives `> \OT1/cmr/bx/n/24.88 . \font
l.26 \chapter{title\showthe\font}` — samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz, Oct 02 '17 at 12:43
@Schytheron Put \layout somewhere inside your document and it will include two images where various page informations are displayed. — samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz, Oct 02 '17 at 12:45
@samcarter \layout gave me every single detail except the one I needed... which was baseline spacing (the space between two lines of text). Any way to get that? — Schytheron, Oct 02 '17 at 13:08
The request is silly. Redo your work in Word and leave it alone. — egreg, Oct 02 '17 at 13:10
You can do \the\baselineskip or \showthe\baselineskip to get its value. — Ulrike Fischer, Oct 02 '17 at 13:14
If you need a response QUICKLY it is best not to use a forum where you are getting help from people in their free time, and it's best not to SHOUT. — David Carlisle, Oct 02 '17 at 13:24
@Schytheron The silliest thing about the request is the idea that there is any "correct" answer to a question like "is this document typographically correct." Since when have all printed books been formatted in the one "correct" way, for example????? — alephzero, Oct 02 '17 at 15:52
The request is not silly. I assure you that MS Word has become so dominant that it is considered a typographic standard by those who do not know better. This is almost certainly the case in schools. Dealing with one print-on-demand service, I was unable to get information beyond "Here are the settings in MS Word." Another person, whose job it is to do printing, did not recognize the word "Garamond," having seen only "Times New Roman." — , Oct 02 '17 at 22:45

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 02 '17 at 18:40

The definitions of the default values are a bit spread out: the font size definitions for option 11pt can be found in a file called size11.clo. The definitions for commands like \chapter, \section, or \title are found in the corresponding class file, in your case book.cls. At last you may need to look up definitions of \@setfontsize, \fontsize and commands like \@xviipt (found in latex.ltx).

The following small file shows at least some of the values:

\documentclass[11pt]{book}

\newcommand*\cs[1]{\texttt{\string#1}}

\begin{document}

\makeatletter

\section*{font size settings in \texttt{book.cls} with option
  \texttt{1\@ptsize pt}}

\begin{itemize}
  \renewcommand\@setfontsize[3]{\cs#1: font size #2pt, leading #3pt}
  \item \tiny
  \item \scriptsize
  \item \footnotesize (footnotes)
  \item \small
  \item \normalsize (normal text)
  \item \large (\cs\subsection)
  \item \Large (\cs\section)
  \item \LARGE (\cs\title)
  \item \huge
  \item \Huge (\cs\chapter)
\end{itemize}

\end{document}

The manual of the memoir class also has a table which lists the default values (rounded to whole pts):

BTW: as others have said in the comments already: there is no way to determine what “typographically correct” means. This depends on the form of the document (is it going to be a letter (a formal one? or an informal one?), or an article in a newspaper, a book, a leaflet, … It may also depend on the text contents (say you want to design an invitation card: do you invite to a birthday (yours? the one of your baby child?) or to a wedding or a funeral?). And then there still is the personal taste of the document designer… Hopefully your professor gave you some context. Otherwise you may well take the random text and design it as a “typographically correct” commercial flyer.

I dont know where others in this post got the idea that I was asking how to write a "typographically correct" text. All I wanted to know was how to find the default values for parameters in LaTeX haha. Thanks for the answer by the way. — Schytheron, Oct 03 '17 at 12:25
@Schytheron I don't think you gave that impression. Not to me at least. :) I still think the assignment “take a random text and then format it to be "typographically correct"” is not solvable – or rather: solvable in hundreds of different ways, but that's certainly not your fault :) — cgnieder, Oct 03 '17 at 12:29

Any way to see (exact) default values for things in LaTeX?

1 Answers1