[Tex/LaTex] Help modifying a memoir chapter style

chaptersmemoirsectioning

I'm very new to TeX and I'm from a graphic design background, so I apologize if I'm missing something very obvious.

I want to modify the memoir style VZ14. What I would like is:

=====h double line======== Chapter title =====h double line=======

so that the top line is a little thicker than the bottom. And I don't want Chapter numbers.

\makeatletter 
\newcommand\thickhrulefill{\leavevmode \leaders \hrule height 1ex \hfill \kern \z@} 
\setlength\midchapskip{10pt} 
\makechapterstyle{VZ14}{
    \renewcommand\chapternamenum{} 
    \renewcommand\printchaptername{} 
    \renewcommand\chapnamefont{\small\scshape} 
    \renewcommand\printchapternum{%
    \chapnamefont\null\thickhrulefill\quad
    \@chapapp\space\thechapter\quad\thickhrulefill}
\renewcommand\printchapternonum{%
    \par\thickhrulefill\par\vskip\midchapskip
    \hrule\vskip\midchapskip
}
\renewcommand\chaptitlefont{\small\scshape\centering}
\renewcommand\afterchapternum{%
\par\nobreak\vskip\midchapskip\hrule\vskip\midchapskip}
\renewcommand\afterchaptertitle{%
\par\vskip\midchapskip\hrule\nobreak\vskip\afterchapskip}
}
\makeatother
\chapterstyle{VZ14}

Best Answer

The code below shows one possibility:

\documentclass{memoir}

\newlength\chaptitlelength
\newlength\chaptitlerlength

\makeatletter 
\newcommand\thickhrulefill[1]{%
  \leavevmode \leaders \hrule height #1 \hfill \kern \z@} 
\setlength\midchapskip{10pt} 
\makechapterstyle{mystyle}{
  \setlength\beforechapskip{0pt}
  \renewcommand\chapternamenum{} 
  \renewcommand\printchaptername{}
  \renewcommand\printchapternum{} 
  \renewcommand\chaptitlefont{\small\scshape\centering}
  \renewcommand*{\printchaptertitle}[1]{%
    \settowidth\chaptitlelength{\hspace*{1em}\chaptitlefont##1\hspace*{1em}}%
    \ifnum\chaptitlelength>\dimexpr0.7\textwidth\relax%
      \setlength\chaptitlelength{0.7\textwidth}%
    \fi%
    \setlength\chaptitlerlength{\textwidth}%
    \addtolength\chaptitlerlength{-\chaptitlelength}%
    \addtolength\chaptitlerlength{-2em}%
    \noindent\parbox[c]{.5\chaptitlerlength}{\normalsize\thickhrulefill{0.3ex}\par\vskip-1.5ex\thickhrulefill{0.2ex}}\hspace*{1em}%
    \parbox[c]{\chaptitlelength}{\chaptitlefont##1}\hspace*{1em}%
    \parbox[c]{.5\chaptitlerlength}{\normalsize\thickhrulefill{0.3ex}\par\vskip-1.5ex\thickhrulefill{0.2ex}}%
  }%
}
\makeatother
\chapterstyle{mystyle}

\begin{document}

\chapter{Test Chapter One}

\chapter{Test Chapter Two With a Long Title Spanning Two Lines And Some More Text}

\end{document}

The idea is to use three vertically centered \parboxes; the first and third ones contain the rules and the middle one contains the title; some provision was made in case the title is too long: the middle box width won't exceed 0.7\textwidth to guarantee that both lines will always show:

An image of a short title:

enter image description here

An image of a long title:

enter image description here

Of course, feel free to adjust the settings according to your needs.

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