[Tex/LaTex] fancyhdr – anomalous behaviour on first page

fancyhdrheader-footer

I am having trouble typesetting multi-line headers using fancyhdr
The header on the first page behaves differently than the header on subsequent pages. The first page header has no depth, but produces a greater vertical displacement on subsequent pages.

Here is a sample tex file to illustrate the difficulty

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{fancyhdr}

\chead{line 1\\line 2\\line 3\\line 4\\line 5\\line 6\\line 7\\line 8}

\cfoot{footer}

\fancypagestyle{plain}{}

\pagestyle{fancy}

\begin{document}
\thispagestyle{fancy}
page 1 \newpage
page 2 \newpage
page 3 


\end{document}

Best Answer

You get a warning when you compile your MWE:

Package Fancyhdr Warning: \headheight is too small (12.0pt): 
 Make it at least 94.54448pt.
 We now make it that large for the rest of the document.
 This may cause the page layout to be inconsistent, however.

Adding \setlength{\headheight}{96pt} fixes the problem.

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Fancyhdr adding multiline header causes footer margin to be inconsistent

With the second example, I get the warning

Package Fancyhdr Warning: \headheight is too small (12.0pt): 
 Make it at least 46.54448pt.
 We now make it that large for the rest of the document.
 This may cause the page layout to be inconsistent, however.

Solution:

\usepackage[height=9in,width=7in,headheight=48pt,heightrounded]{geometry}

(or 46.6pt, I prefer a multiple of \baselineskip. The addition of heightrounded is not related to the problem, but it's better to always use it.

When the document class is article (one sided), geometry applies some heuristics for setting the unspecified lengths. Since you just specify the text height to 9in, it will divide the space at the top and bottom according to a 2:3 ratio; thus the space above is 0.8in.

The default value of \headsep is 25pt; it's the distance from the baseline of the header to the top of the text block. With a \headheight of 48pt, it makes 73pt, which is slightly more than 1 inch, so part of the header will disappear above the top of the paper.

Since you need 48pt for the header, you have to adjust also other parameters. Let's say you want 18pt (1/4 in) above the header and also a reduced \headsep, say 12pt. Then adding

top=78in,

will do, because 18+48+12=78. Of course, the text block will be shifted down.

Complete example:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[
  height=9in,      % height of the text block
  width=7in,       % width of the text block
  top=78pt,        % distance of the text block from the top of the page
  headheight=48pt, % height for the header block
  headsep=12pt,    % distance from the header block to the text block
  heightrounded,   % ensure an integer number of lines
  showframe,       % show the main blocks
  verbose,         % show the values of the parameters in the log file
]{geometry}
\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\pagestyle{fancy}
\fancyhf{} % clear all fields

\fancyhead[L]{Left Header \\ 2nd left header \\ 3rd left header \\ 4th left header}
\fancyhead[R]{Right Header \\ 2nd right header \\ \  \\ Skipped 3rd}
\fancyfoot[C]{\thepage}
\fancyfoot[R]{\textit{Left footer}}
\renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0pt}

\usepackage{lipsum}

\begin{document}
\lipsum[1-20]
\end{document}

With showframe some hairlines will outline the main blocks, with verbose the computations will be shown in the log file.

enter image description here

The documentation of the geometry package is very extensive. Here is a link, but you can surely find it on your system (texdoc geometry from a command line).

[Tex/LaTex] How to make pages after the first come out correctly with fancyhdr

If you don't set a proper head height, fancyhdr reports the following:

Package Fancyhdr Warning: \headheight is too small (XX.Xpt): 
 Make it at least YY.YYYYpt.
 We now make it that large for the rest of the document.
 This may cause the page layout to be inconsistent, however.

As such, the newly-set \headheight will be the same throughout the document. To avoid this, I've created the following minimal document that sets a consistent head height, adding a vertical space (gap) on the first page to simulate a larger header:

enter image description here

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{fancyhdr,datetime,geometry,lipsum,graphicx}

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%date in format Sunday, October 25, 2011
\usdate
\def\theday {\dayofweekname{\day}{\month}{\year}}
\def\mydate {\theday , \today}

%%%%%%%%%%return address%%%%%%%%%%
\def\myname         {Frank Thorne}
\def\mydeptname     {Department of Mathematics}
\def\myaffiliation  {University of South Carolina}
\def\mystreet       {1523 Greene Street}
\def\mycitystatezip {Columbia,~SC \quad 29208}
\def\myphone        {\textit{Phone:} (803)404-4057 (home)}
\def\office         {(803)777-4224}
\def\fax            {\textit{Fax:}(803)777-3783}
\def\email          {thorne@math.sc.edu}
\def\url            {\texttt{http://www.math.sc.edu/~thornef}} % NOTE: use $\sim$ for tilde
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%margins%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\geometry{
  margin = 1in,
  headheight = 13.5pt
}
\setlength{\parindent}{0pt} %controls how the indentation of new paragraphs behaves
\setlength{\parskip}{6pt} %controls the space between paragraphs

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%letterhead%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\fancyfoot{}
\renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0pt}
\renewcommand{\footrulewidth}{0pt}
\pagestyle{fancy}%

\fancypagestyle{firstpage}{
  \fancyhf{}% Clear header/footer
  %%%usc logo
  \fancyhead[L]{\raisebox{\dimexpr-\height+\baselineskip}[0pt][0pt]{\includegraphics[width=2.5in]{example-image}}}
  %%%%%%%%%%return address on right%%%%%%%
  \fancyhead[R]{\leavevmode\footnotesize\itshape%
  \begin{tabular}[t]{l@{}}
    \myname \\ \mydeptname \\
    \myaffiliation \\ \mystreet \\
    \mycitystatezip \\ \email \\[\normalbaselineskip]
    \mydate
  \end{tabular}}
}

\begin{document}

\thispagestyle{firstpage}

\vspace*{8\baselineskip}

\lipsum[1-10]

\bigskip

\hspace{.5\textwidth}%
\begin{tabular}{@{}l}
  Sincerely, \\[2\normalbaselineskip]
  Frank Thorne \\
  \textit{Assistant Professor of Mathematics}
\end{tabular}

\end{document}

I've used geometry to adjust the page layout - it's just easier/more convenient.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Fancyhdr adding multiline header causes footer margin to be inconsistent

[Tex/LaTex] How to make pages after the first come out correctly with fancyhdr

Related Question