I don't think I have a full answer but I found myself with a similar problem one day and solved it using bold versions of smaller fonts. For som fonts it works and for some it doesn't. This is where you skill and taste comes into effect. Here is my case where I think it works: (the \hskips are cause it's an abbreviation)
\documentclass[12pt]{memoir}
\usepackage[osf]{mathpazo}
\begin{document}
\newcommand{\inchi}{%
\mbox{\textsc{i}%
\hskip 0.1 em {\scriptsize \textbf{n}}%
\hskip 0.1 em {\normalsize \textsc{c}}%
\hskip 0.1 em {\scriptsize \textbf{h}}%
\hskip 0.1 em {\normalsize \textsc{i}}%
}
}
Lorem ipsum \inchi dolor\ldots
\end{document}
![rendering of the code above](https://i.stack.imgur.com/DVuez.png)
For the sizes, you can use the current bounding box
together with \pgfgetlastxy
:
\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\newcommand*{\ExtractCoordinate}[3]{\path (#1); \pgfgetlastxy{#2}{#3};}%
\newdimen\tlx
\newdimen\tlx
\newdimen\brx
\newdimen\bry
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw (-3,-1) rectangle (3,1) (-2,-2) rectangle (2,2);
\foreach \x in {north west,south west,south east,north east}
{ \fill[red] (current bounding box.\x) circle (0.01);
}
\ExtractCoordinate{current bounding box.north west}{\tlx}{\tly}
\ExtractCoordinate{current bounding box.south east}{\brx}{\bry}
\pgfmathsetmacro{\myheight}{(+\tly-\bry)/28.452755}
\pgfmathsetmacro{\mywidth}{(-\tlx+\brx)/28.452755}
\node[below right] at (-2,1) {height: \myheight\ cm};
\node[above left] at (2,-1) {width: \mywidth\ cm};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/nAX46.png)
Edit 1: Ah, now I get it. Here is a still not automatic version. You set two commands in each tikzpicture
:
\maximumdimensions{4}{3}
, which is the desired width and height, at the beginning of the picture.
\getscalingfactors
which will draw nodes with a recommended scaling factor in the middle of your picture if the image if to high/wide:
\documentclass{scrartcl}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{xifthen}
\newcommand*{\ExtractCoordinate}[3]{\path (#1); \pgfgetlastxy{#2}{#3};}%
\newdimen\tlx
\newdimen\tlx
\newdimen\brx
\newdimen\bry
\def\xscalefactor{}
\def\yscalefactor{}
\parindent0mm
\newcommand{\getscalingfactors}{%
\ExtractCoordinate{current bounding box.north west}{\tlx}{\tly}
\ExtractCoordinate{current bounding box.south east}{\brx}{\bry}
\pgfmathsetmacro{\myheight}{(+\tly-\bry)/28.452755}
\pgfmathsetmacro{\mywidth}{(-\tlx+\brx)/28.452755}
\pgfmathsetmacro{\xsf}{\maxwidth/\mywidth}
\pgfmathsetmacro{\ysf}{\maxheight/\myheight}
\global\edef\xscalefactor{\xsf}
\global\edef\yscalefactor{\ysf}
\pgfmathtruncatemacro{\xsfc}{\xsf*10000}
\pgfmathtruncatemacro{\ysfc}{\ysf*10000}
\ifthenelse{\xsfc > 10000}{}{\node[fill=white,above] at (current bounding box.center) {x-s: \xsf};}
\ifthenelse{\ysfc > 10000}{}{\node[fill=white,below] at (current bounding box.center) {y-s: \ysf};}
}
\newcommand{\maximumdimensions}[2]{% width, height
\global\edef\maxwidth{#1} % in cm
\global\edef\maxheight{#2} % in cm
}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=1]
\maximumdimensions{4}{3}
\draw[fill=orange] (-3,-1) rectangle (3,1) (-2,-2) rectangle (2,2);
\getscalingfactors
\end{tikzpicture}
\lipsum[1]
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=1]
\maximumdimensions{4}{3}
\draw[fill=orange!50!gray] (0,0) circle (3);
\draw[fill=red!50!gray] (3,1) circle (1);
\draw[fill=blue!50!gray] (-2,2) circle (1);
\draw[fill=green!50!gray] (-3,-2) circle (1);
\draw[fill=yellow!50!gray] (2,-1) circle (1);
\getscalingfactors
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/mzspZ.png)
If you scale the picture down enough, the nodes inside the picture vanish:
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=0.66]
and \begin{tikzpicture}[scale=0.497]
![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ni1ll.png)
Best Answer
It would be much better to choose a font designed to your liking. Obviously, this depends on more than just the size of small-caps, but here's one example,
Note that no font will make them the same width since the shapes of upper and lowercase letters differ and, hence, so do those of small-caps and lowercase. But I assume you can't really want small-caps
i
to be the same width as lowercasei
....