LaTeX documentclass options illustrated

22 Comments

The three most commonly used standard document-classes in LaTeX include: article, report and book. A number of global options allows customization of certain elements of the document by the author. Different document-classes might have different default settings. The following post illustrates available options with figures, provides alternatives and highlights the default option for each document-class.

To change the default behavior, the option is provided as an optional parameter to the documentclass command.

\documentclass[option1, option2, etc.]{article}

 

  • Font size (10pt, 11pt, 12pt)
  • Paper size and format (a4paper, letterpaper, etc.)
  • Draft mode (draft)
  • Multiple columns (onecolumn, twocolumn)
  • Formula-specific options (fleqn and leqno)
  • Landscape print mode (landscape)
  • Single- and double-sided documents (oneside, twoside)
  • Titlepage behavior (notitlepage, titlepage)
  • Chapter opening page (openright, openany)

    •  

    Font size

    LaTeX knows three standard font sizes:

    • 10pt (default)
    • 11pt
    • 12pt

    Other global and local font sizes are available through various packages.

    The following example sets the global document font size to 12pt. The picture below compares the three LaTeX standard font sizes.

    \documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage{blindtext}
\begin{document}
\blindtext
\end{document}

    font-size

     

    Paper size and format

    Different regions of the world use different standard physical paper sizes. Available are:

    • a4paper (default)
    • letterpaper (default in some distributions)
    • a5paper
    • b5paper
    • executivepaper
    • legalpaper

    The following example compares (from left to right): legal, A4, Letter and A5.

    paper-sizes

    \documentclass[a4paper]{article}
\usepackage{showframe}
\begin{document}
\begin{center}{\Huge A4 paper}\end{center}
\end{document}

    The geometry package provides similar options and additional flexibility for paper size and margins.

     

    Draft mode

    Setting the draft option will speed up typesetting, because figures are not loaded, just indicated by a frame. LaTeX will also display hyphenation (Overfull hbox warning) and justification problems with a small black square. Delete the draft option or replace it with final in the final document version.

    draft

     

    Multiple columns
    • onecolumn (default)
    • twocolumn

    By default, text is typeset in a single column (onecolumn). LaTeX provides an easy way to switch to two columns through the document-class option twocolumn.

    twocolumn1

    The multicol package allows creating more than two columns globally as well as locally.

     

    Formula-specific options
    • fleqn: left-alignment of formulas
    • leqno: labels formulas on the left-hand side instead of right

    These are two independent options manipulating the alignment and label position of formulas.

    The top figure illustrates the default case with neither option set. The bottom figure shows how formulas are typeset when both options, fleqn and leqno, are set.

    leqno-fleqn

     

    Landscape print mode

    The landscape option changes the page layout to landscape mode. This, however, does not change the page margins accordingly (first page in figure), which is why for landscape documents with landscape content the pdflscape or geometry packages (second page in figure and code) are more suitable.

    landscape-vs-geometry

    \documentclass[a4paper]{article}
\usepackage{blindtext, showframe}
\usepackage[landscape]{geometry}
\begin{document}
\blindtext
\end{document}

     

    Single- and double-sided documents
    • oneside (default for article and report)
    • twoside (default for book)

    In single-sided documents (oneside), the left and right margins are symmetric and headers are exactly the same on every page. In other words, the document does not distinguish between inner and outer margin. Twoside, on the other hand, generates double-sided content. The outer margin (even page: left; odd page: right) is wider by default (see figure below). It might appear that the header “switches” sides, but that because they are placed with respect to the margins. The twoside option is usually set for bound texts such as theses or books.

    twoside

    \documentclass[twoside]{report}
\usepackage{blindtext, showframe, fancyhdr}
\pagestyle{fancy}
\begin{document}
\chapter{First chapter}
\section{First section}
\blindtext
\clearpage
\Blindtext
\end{document}

     

    Titlepage behavior
    • notitlepage (default for article)
    • titlepage (default for report and book)

    The option titlepage ends the page after \maketitle and restarts on the next page. In article, the content starts right after \maketitle. The titlepage option is quivalent to:

    \maketitle
\clearpage

    The example below illustrates the default behavior of article.

    notitlepage

    \documentclass{article}
\usepackage{blindtext}
\title{This is an article}
\begin{document}
\maketitle
\begin{abstract}
\blindtext
\end{abstract}
\end{document}

     

    Chapter opening page
    • openany (default for report)
    • openright (default for book)

    Finally, the option openright always starts a chapter on the right (odd pages), leaving one page blank in case the last paragraph of the previous chapter ended on an odd page. It only works and makes sense with the twoside option set. The openany option starts the chapter on the next page (even or odd).

    The openany, openright options are not available in article as it does not support \chapter!

    openright

    \documentclass[twoside, openright]{report}
\usepackage{blindtext}
\begin{document}
\chapter{First chapter}
\blindtext
\chapter{Second chapter}
\blindtext
\end{document}

    22 Comments

    3. Nilson

      Hi,

      How to code many authors and one address without repeating the address in the text of article?

      I code this:

      \author{Moutinho, N. M. S. \thanks{Engenharia Elétrica, Área de Exatas, Faculdade Ingá, Rodovia PR 317, nº 6114, 87035-510, Maringá, Paraná, \texttt{name (at) mail dot com}} \and  Gentilho Junior, E. G. \thanks{Laboratório de Controle Avançado, Robótica e Engenharia Biomédica, Departamento de Engenharia Elétrica, Universidade Estadual de Londrina Centro de Tecnologia e Urbanismo, Rodovia Celso Garcia Cid (PR 445), Km 380, 86057-970, Londrina, Paraná, \texttt{name (at) mail dot com}} \and Rosa Filho, J. E. A. \thanks{Laboratório de Controle Avançado, Robótica e Engenharia Biomédica, Departamento de Engenharia Elétrica, Universidade Estadual de Londrina Centro de Tecnologia e Urbanismo, Rodovia Celso Garcia Cid (PR 445), Km 380, 86057-970, Londrina, Paraná, \texttt{name (at) mail dot com}} \and Gaino, R. \thanks{Laboratório de Controle Avançado, Robótica e Engenharia Biomédica, Departamento de Engenharia Elétrica, Universidade Estadual de Londrina Centro de Tecnologia e Urbanismo, Rodovia Celso Garcia Cid (PR 445), Km 380, 86057-970, Londrina, Paraná, \texttt{name (at) mail dot com}} \and Covacic, 	M. R.\thanks{Laboratório de Controle Avançado, Robótica e Engenharia Biomédica, Departamento de Engenharia Elétrica, Universidade Estadual de Londrina Centro de Tecnologia e Urbanismo, Rodovia Celso Garcia Cid (PR 445), Km 380, 86057-970, Londrina, Paraná, \texttt{name (at) mail dot com}} }

      Is there another way to code latex and get only one address shared by many authors???

      Reply

      • Hi Nilson,

        Thanks for your question. I gave it a try, take a look at the result and let me know what you think. Btw. I removed all special characters and email addresses.

        \documentclass[titlepage]{article}
\usepackage[brazilian]{babel}
\usepackage[latin1]{inputenc}
\usepackage[onehalfspacing]{setspace}

\begin{document}

\title{Some Fancy Title}
\author{
Moutinho, N. M. S. (\texttt{name (at) mail dot com}) \\
\multicolumn{1}{p{.8\textwidth}}{\centering\emph{Engenharia Eletrica, Area de Exatas, Faculdade Inga, Rodovia PR 317, no 6114, 87035-510, Maringa, Parana}} \\
\and Gentilho Junior, E. G. (\texttt{name (at) mail dot com}) \\
\and Rosa Filho, J. E. A. (\texttt{name (at) mail dot com}) \\
\and Gaino, R. (\texttt{name (at) mail dot com}) \\
\and Covacic, M. R. (\texttt{name (at) mail dot com})\\
\multicolumn{1}{p{.8\textwidth}}{\centering\emph{Laboratorio de Controle Avancado, Robotica e Engenharia Biomedica, Departamento de Engenharia Eletrica, Universidade Estadual de Londrina Centro de Tecnologia e Urbanismo, Rodovia Celso Garcia Cid (PR 445), Km 380, 86057-970, Londrina, Parana}}\\
}
\maketitle
\end{document}
        Reply

    5. yogan

      Could u pls help me, i used \documentclass[chap, 12pt, nocenter]{thesis} for my thesis but chapter not printing
      thanks

      Reply

      • tom

        Hi Yogan,

        I assume this is the document class you are referring to. Please provide a minimal working example. The code below prints chapter headings correctly. Note, the option chap doesn’t exist. Did you mean chapterbib instead?

        \documentclass[chapterbib, 12pt, nocenter]{thesis}
\usepackage{blindtext}

\begin{document}
\blinddocument
\end{document}
        Reply

    7. Raphael

      Thanks for the illustration of the documentclass options!

      ‘openright’ always starts a chapter on the right (odd page). Why is this default for scrbook, why does it make sense? I’m interested in the advantages of ‘openright’ (disadvantages would be the waste of an even page and the waste of paper). Is there any?
      Or is ‘openright’ only a matter of taste?

      Reply

      • tom

        I’d say it’s a matter of style. Most decent books start new chapters on an odd page and therefore it makes sense that openright is the default. If you prefer a document without blank pages between chapters, either use the document class scr­reprt or change it through the openany option.

        Cheers, Tom.

        Reply

    9. csg

      Hi, I have a question as well. I am using \documentclass[nopreprint,times,3p,final]{elsarticle}, but still is appearing in footnote the preprint. What would be the solution?

      Reply

      • tom

        Hi there,

        I assume you use the elsarticle class for something other that submitting an article. According to the documentation, there is no option nopreprint. My suggestion is to download the class file and manually remove the line that says “Preprint submitted to …” (on line 451). Then, place the class file in your project directory.

        HTH,
        Tom

        Reply

    10. A

      Hi,

      First off the post was very helpful.

      Second, I like to double space after every period. I know normally LaTex formats everything so it always shows up as one space no matter how many you type in.
      I heard there was an option you could put in brackets after the document class (ie \documentclass [in here] {article} ) but I don’t know what could be.

      Is this true or is there some other way I could add a double space after each period?

      Thanks so much!

      Reply

      • tom

        That’s an interesting question, which I can’t remember having seen before. Apparently, single spacing is referred to as ‘french spacing’. So, by adding the following command to your preamble, you’ll get double spacing between sentences:

        \nonfrenchspacing

%Revert back to single spacing
\frenchspacing

        See here for more details.

        Best, Tom.

        Reply

    Leave a Reply