[Tex/LaTex] New to LaTeX, want to write recommendation report

formattingsectioningtemplates

I'm just starting LaTeX, but i want to learn how to write documents with it. I have to write a recommendation report and thought this would be as good of a time as any to learn. I started looking at the wiki tutorial here
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX, but I was wondering if there is something I could look at that's related to a recommendation report.

One thing I'm not sure how to do is create sections. I know there is \section{} and \subsection{}, but it's not what I am looking for. I am looking for formatting like \begin{abstract} where it will center it. And the subsections will be italicized and left justified.

Is there a way to do this, so when creating the table of contents, it will still create a full table of contents?

Best Answer

Generally, selecting a suitable document class is the "correct" solution. Unfortunately, most document styles either look the same (LaTeX default styles) or are very complicated (memoir and other highly customizable styles). To apply a hotfix to one of the standard LaTeX styles, use the titlesec package, specifically the \titleformat command:

\titleformat{\section}[block]{\centering\bfseries\normalsize}{\arabic{section}}{3pt}{}
\titleformat{\subsection}[hang]{\itshape}{\arabic{section}.\arabic{subsection}}{3pt}{}

What you're doing then is redefining the style of the \section and \subsection commands, i.e. how they're typeset. Their regular semantic meaning (among other things giving them an entry in the table of contents) will remain the same. The resulting section and subsection titles will look like this:

$Document appearance after applying \titleformat commands$

For further information on the titlesec package, see its manual on CTAN.

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[Tex/LaTex] LaTeX template for a technical reference manual / user guide

You may find the refman class a good starting point; it's designed to be an all-in-one package for technical reference manuals.

Having said that, I use memoir for my technical manuals. It's very customisable, and many people have published such customisations, for example, these chapter styles. The last manual I wrote used a slightly modified version of one of these chapter styles, along with a slightly tweaked page style to give larger margins for handwritten and margin notes.

The manual for memoir is widely regarded as a great document to read in its own right, having good information on typesetting in general, and defining useful terminology in a way that's easy to read.

[Tex/LaTex] Show/hide the sections, subsections and subsections that I want from the navigation sidebar (beamer, Berkeley)

Use the optional argument of the sectioning commands and leave it empty to not include the unit in the sidebar; the unit will, however, be included in the ToC; an example:

\documentclass{beamer}
\usetheme{Berkeley}

\begin{document}

\begin{frame}
\tableofcontents
\end{frame}

\section{Test Section One}
\begin{frame}test\end{frame}
\subsection[]{Test Subsection One One}
\begin{frame}test\end{frame}
\subsection{Test Subsection One Two}
\begin{frame}test\end{frame}

\section[]{Test Section Two}
\begin{frame}test\end{frame}

\section{Test Section Three}
\begin{frame}test\end{frame}
\subsection[]{Test Subsection Three One}
\begin{frame}test\end{frame}

\end{document}

The ToC:

enter image description here

and one of the frames with hidden units in the sidebar:

enter image description here

Best Answer

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[Tex/LaTex] LaTeX template for a technical reference manual / user guide

[Tex/LaTex] Show/hide the sections, subsections and subsections that I want from the navigation sidebar (beamer, Berkeley)

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