Abstract:

This presentation, titled "LaTeX for Latex Fetishists," is a comprehensive guide by Hans Schülerin on proper LaTeX typesetting, with a strong emphasis on adhering to established style guides for both mathematical notation and general text. The speaker, a self-proclaimed lover of rules, details numerous common LaTeX mistakes and offers typographically correct solutions, often leveraging specific packages and commands. Key areas covered include the correct use of multiplication symbols, operators, units, punctuation, quotation marks, dashes, table formatting, and image placement, alongside practical package recommendations to enhance document quality and consistency. The overarching message encourages users to consult and follow their respective style guides rather than relying on default LaTeX behaviors.

Summarizing LaTeX for Latex Fetishists: Mastering Typographical Precision

• 0:00 Introduction to LaTeX Rules: Hans Schülerin, a "LaTeX fetishist" and computer science enthusiast, shares his passion for precise rules in typesetting text and formulas, claiming that many LaTeX formulas are typed incorrectly. He introduces the concept of style guides for typesetting.
• 1:20 Style Guides for Typesetting: Various style guides are presented, including APA, Chicago Manual of Style, IEEE, DIN 1338, and ISO 80000-2, which dictate typesetting rules for different audiences, covering both text and, in some cases, formulas.
• 2:13 Correct Multiplication Point: For multiplication, the \cdot (center dot) should be used instead of a simple asterisk (*) to ensure correct typographic appearance, with options for spacing.
• 3:09 Variant Greek Letters: Be aware of variant symbols for Greek letters like theta, rho, and phi (e.g., \theta vs. \vartheta) and choose intentionally. Lowercase Greek letters are typically italic, while uppercase are often upright in standard LaTeX.
• 3:30 Proper Operators and Functions: Mathematical operators and functions (e.g., \log, \sin) should use dedicated LaTeX commands or be defined with \DeclareMathOperator to ensure correct spacing and upright text.
• 4:26 Upright vs. Italic for Identifiers and Variables: Variables should always be italic (e.g., M), while identifiers, labels, and physical constants (e.g., "Earth" in M_{\text{Earth}}, e, i, \pi in some contexts) should be upright. Use \mathrm or custom commands like \newcommand{\e}{\mathrm{e}} for consistency.
• 7:19 Text within Formulas: For text blocks within equations (e.g., conditions), use \text{...} to apply the document's text font and ensure correct spacing, as opposed to \mathrm which uses the math font.
• 7:51 Vector Notation: Vectors are typically represented with an arrow over them (\vec) or in bold (\mathbf). The DIN 80000-2 standard is cited for specific rules on scalars (italic, lowercase), vectors (bold or arrow), and matrices/tensors (capital, italic, bold or double arrow).
• 9:20 Scaling Brackets: Use \left and \right to automatically scale brackets around large expressions. For manual control or consistent sizing across different expressions, \big, \Big, \bigg, \Bigg commands are available. The modify_left_right package can fix spacing issues with \left/\right.
• 10:20 Units with siunitx Package: The siunitx package is highly recommended for typesetting numbers and units correctly. It ensures proper spacing between numbers and units, uses upright units, handles prefixes (e.g., kHz), and is highly configurable.
• 12:02 Correct Notation for Units in Context: Avoid using square brackets like V [m/s] to denote units, as [Q] mathematically represents the unit of quantity Q. Instead, use V / (m/s) or t / s for clarity in graphs and text.
• 13:15 Decimal Separators: In German contexts, use a comma as the decimal separator. siunitx allows setting output-decimal-marker = {comma} for consistent output.
• 14:09 Multiplication Symbol (Dimension): For dimensions (e.g., 210mm x 297mm), use the times symbol \times (e.g., \qtyproduct{210 x 297}{mm}) from siunitx for correct representation and spacing, not the letter 'x'.
• 14:47 Degrees and Temperatures: Use the siunitx package's \qty command for degrees and Celsius (e.g., \qty{36}{\celsius}) to ensure correct spacing (no space before \deg, a small space before \degC).
• 15:45 Upright d in Integrals: The differential d in integrals should be upright (\mathrm{d}). Packages like physics or diffcoeff provide commands for this, or it can be a custom operator. Style guides often demand a small space between d and the variable.
• 16:49 Transposing Matrices: For matrix transposition, use an upright T (e.g., \mathrm{T} in a \transposed new command) in the superscript, rather than a simple italic T, to clearly distinguish it as an operator.
• 17:52 Multi-Line Equations: Use \begin{align} and \begin{split} from the amsmath package for multi-line equations. split is for equations that should be numbered once as a single entity, while align allows individual numbering per line.
• 18:27 Avoid $$...$$ for Display Equations: Never use $$...$$ (plain TeX primitive) for display equations in LaTeX documents. Instead, use \begin{equation} (for numbered equations) or \[...\] (for unnumbered equations) for correct spacing, numbering, and package compatibility.
• 19:20 Inline Math: Use single $...$ for inline mathematical expressions to ensure correct formatting and italicization.
• 20:18 Formulas as Sentences: Integrate equations smoothly into sentences, ending them with appropriate punctuation (comma or period) for better readability.
• 21:16 Sentence Spacing after Abbreviations: In English, use Dr.\ Jones (backslash before the space) to prevent LaTeX from interpreting the period after an abbreviation as the end of a sentence, which would cause an extra-wide space.
• 22:38 Umlauts and Unicode: Use \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} (for PDFLaTeX) or preferably XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX to directly input Unicode characters (e.g., umlauts) into your source file.
• 23:03 Typographically Correct Quotation Marks: Avoid straight " quotation marks. Use ,, and '' (or \glqq and \grqq for German) for typographically correct "curly" quotes, or directly insert Unicode characters. The csquotes package can automate this with \enquote.
• 24:12 Ellipsis: For an ellipsis, use \dots or \textellipsis to produce a single, properly spaced character instead of three individual periods. Style guides vary on spacing around ellipses.
• 26:07 Em-Dashes and En-Dashes: Use an en-dash (-- or –) for ranges (e.g., "4–8 years") and an em-dash (--- or —) for parenthetical phrases (in English, usually without spaces; in German, with spaces around –). Avoid using a simple minus sign -.
• 27:27 Language Setting: Always set the document language with \usepackage[english]{babel} or \usepackage[ngerman]{babel} to enable correct hyphenation, quotation marks, and other language-specific typesetting rules.
• 27:51 Emphasis: Use \emph{...} for emphasis instead of \textbf{...}. \emph typically produces italics and allows global style changes later if desired. Bold text should be used sparingly.
• 28:27 Professional Tables: Use the booktabs package (\toprule, \midrule, \bottomrule) for clean, professional-looking tables without vertical lines. Avoid bold text within tables for better readability.
• 29:35 Image Placement: Place figures at the top or bottom of a page ([t] or [b] float specifiers) rather than in the middle of text flow or far from their reference. This improves readability and layout flexibility.
• 30:34 Widows and Orphans: Prevent single lines of a paragraph from appearing alone at the top or bottom of a page (widows and orphans) using \widowpenalty=10000 and \clubpenalty=10000 or the nowidows package.
• 31:22 Small Caps and Old-Style Numerals: While not required by most style guides, \textsc{...} (small caps) and \oldstylenums{...} (old-style numerals) can enhance typographic aesthetics by making abbreviations and numbers blend more smoothly with surrounding text.
• 32:19 Package Recommendations:
  • tikz-plotlib: Generate LaTeX code for Matplotlib figures, making them searchable, vector-based, and consistent with document fonts.
  • menukeys: Nicely display keyboard shortcuts, menu paths, and file paths.
  • bitfield: Create formatted packet diagrams (e.g., TCP/IP headers).
  • cleveref: Smartly reference figures, equations, and sections (e.g., "Figure 15", "Sections 1.1 to 1.3").
  • todonotes: Add side notes/to-do items and placeholders for missing figures (\missingfigure).
  • siunitx: (Reiterated) Comprehensive package for units, numbers, and scientific tables.
• 35:56 Custom Font (New Computer Modern): The speaker uses New Computer Modern font, a thicker variant of the default Computer Modern, which he finds more readable, especially on screens, and offers better Unicode support.
• 36:25 latexindent: A tool for automatically indenting LaTeX files, improving code readability and consistency, especially for environments and tables.
• 37:00 Conclusion: Emphasizes the importance of adhering to specific style guides required by work, projects, or university, and provides GitHub resources for slides.
• 37:31 Q&A - Code Highlighting: For displaying program code, listings (LaTeX-native, consistent) and pygments (more powerful Python-based, but external dependency) are recommended. The speaker prefers listings for consistency.