%% BEGIN poster.doc
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%% Documentation for poster.tex/poster.sty.
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\begin{document}

\begin{center}
\begingroup
  \large\bf
  Documentation for poster.tex/poster.sty\\[2pt]
  Posters and banners with Generic \TeX\\[6pt]
\endgroup
  Version \FileVersion\\
  \FileDate\\[6pt]
  Timothy Van Zandt\\
  tvz@Princeton.EDU
\end{center}

\subsection{The macros}

"poster.tex/poster.sty" contains the macro
\begin{verbatim}
    \poster{<stuff>}
\end{verbatim}
for making posters and banners. <stuff> is processed in restricted horizontal
mode (i.e., "\hbox" or ``LR-mode'') and is then printed on as many sheets of
paper as are needed. You can then construct the poster or banner by trimming
and piecing together the sheets of paper.

You can also write
\begin{verbatim}
    \Poster <stuff>\endPoster
\end{verbatim}
and \LaTeX\ users can write
\begin{verbatim}
    \begin{Poster} <stuff>\end{Poster}
\end{verbatim}

Here are a few details:
\begin{itemize}
\item Use a "\vbox" or \LaTeX's "minipage" or "\parbox" in <stuff> if you want
to include vertical mode material. For more help with LR-boxes, see
"fancybox.sty", available from archives everywhere.

\item Don't worry about margins, headers or footers; "\poster" ignores output
routines entirely.

\item <stuff> can contain "\catcode" changes, such as verbatim environments.
\end{itemize}

If you want to use your regular output routines, and have "poster.tex" print
out each page of your document as a poster, then instead put the command
\begin{verbatim}
    \PosterPage
\end{verbatim}
towards the beginning of your document, or in the \LaTeX\ preamble. Each page
is printed without its margins, but with the headers and footers, if any. (You
can print out your whole dissertation on $8\times 10$-feet pages.) With
"\PosterPage", you do not have to worry about LR-boxes.

\subsection{Making the output look big}

You can use these macros to print a large diagram, such as a genealogical
tree, that would not normally fit on one page. You might also want to magnify
the contents of the poster. For example, you might want to print ``Happy
Birthday'' in 6 inch high letters. Here is a brief description of three ways
to make your output look big. Note that these are not part of "poster.tex",
but are described here for your convenience. For more information, see the
\TeX book.
\begin{enumerate}
\item The simplest and most general method is to set \TeX's "\mag" parameter,
by inserting the line
\begin{verbatim}
    \mag <int>
\end{verbatim}
at or near the beginning of the document (or in the \LaTeX\ preamble). The
integer <int> should be 1000 times the magnification factor. For example, to
double the size of the output, use
\begin{verbatim}
    \mag 2000
\end{verbatim}
You may need to generate big bitmaps if using bitmapped fonts (e.g., \TeX's
usual Metafont fonts), rather than scalable outline fonts (e.g., PostScript
fonts). You can reduce the need for extra font bitmaps by using
\begin{verbatim}
    \mag \magstep<n>
\end{verbatim}
to magnify the document by $1.2^n$. $n$ can be between 1 and 5. For example,
to magnify the document by $1.2^4=2.074$, use
\begin{verbatim}
    \mag \magstep4
\end{verbatim}
You can also set "\mag" to "\magstephalf", which scales the document by
$1.2^{1.5}$.

\item If you are making a banner with just one font, then you can define a
large font. For example,
\begin{verbatim}
  \font\bigroman=cmr at 8in
  \bigroman
  \poster[vcenter=true,landscape=true]{Happy Birthday}
\end{verbatim}
It is best to use scalable fonts, such as PostScript fonts, if available.

\item If you are using a PostScript printer, then you can use macros for
scaling boxes, such as the "\scalebox" and "\scaleboxto" commands in the
PSTricks package. For example, here is the banner from the previous example:
\begin{verbatim}
  \poster[vcenter=true,landscape=true]{%
    \scaleboxto(0,8in){Happy Birthday}}
\end{verbatim}
You must use scalable fonts, because scaled bitmaps look very ugly.
\end{enumerate}

\subsection{Parameters}

 "\poster", "\Poster" and "\PosterPage" use the following parameters:
\begin{center}
  \def\arraystretch{1.1}
  \begin{tabular}{lll}
    {\em Parameter} & {\em Value} & {\em Default}\\[2pt]
    "paperwidth"    & <dim>       & "8.5in"\\
    "paperheight"   & <dim>       & "11in"\\
    "imagewidth"    & <dim>       & "7.5in"\\
    "imageheight"   & <dim>       & "10in"\\
    "landscape"     & "true"/"false" & "false"\\
    "hcenter"       & "true"/"false" & "false"\\
    "vcenter"       & "true"/"false" & "false"\\
    "crop"          & "none"/"corners"/"full" & "corners"\\
    "cropwidth"     & <dim>       & "2pt"\\
    "clip"          & "none"/"pstricks"  & "none"\\
    "immediatewrites" & "true"/"false" & "true"\\
    "numbering"     & "auto"/"rowcol"/"page"/"serial" & "auto"
  \end{tabular}
\end{center}

You can include parameter changes as a list of "<key>=<value>" pairs in an
optional argument to "\poster", "\Poster" or "\PosterPage", enclosed in square
brackets. E.g.,
\begin{verbatim}
  \poster[clip=pstricks,hcenter=true]{foo}
\end{verbatim}
No extraneous spaces, please.

You can also redefine the parameters using "\def" or "\LaTeX"'s
"\renewcommand". For parameter "foo", you should redefine "\POSTERfoo". E.g.,
the next example is like the last one:
\begin{verbatim}
  \def\POSTERclip{pstricks}
  \def\POSTERhcenter{true}
  \poster{foo}
\end{verbatim}
This is mainly of interest when developing your own custom "\poster" command
or "poster.tex" file.

Here are some comments on the parameters:
\begin{itemize}
\item
Don't adjust the "paper" and "image" dimensions for your document's
magnification (and don't use \TeX's "true" dimensions). "poster.tex" does this
for you. (That is, set the "page" and "image" dimensions to the actual values
you want for the output.)

\item
Most printers cannot print right up to the edge of the paper. That is why the
"imagewidth" and "imageheight" should be smaller than the "paperwidth" and
"paperheight". The default values are good for printing on 8.5in by 11in paper
in portrait mode with one-half inch margins.

\item
Setting "landscape" to "true" is just a convenient way to switch the "height"
and "width" parameters. You still have to take care of printing your document
in landscape mode. E.g., with Rokicki's "dvips", use
\begin{verbatim}
    \special{landscape}
\end{verbatim}
For other dvi driver's, consult the documentation.

\item
Setting "hcenter" and "vcenter" to "true" causes the image to be centered
horizontally and vertically, respectively, in the total number of pages that
are printed. E.g., when "vcenter" is "true", extra space is added to the top
of the first row of pages and to the bottom of the last row of pages.

\item
The "crop" parameter specifies what kind of crop marks are drawn, to help you
trim each page to size. When "crop" equals "full", you get crop marks along
the full length of all four sides. "cropwidth" is the width of the crop mark
lines. The crop marks lie entirely off the page, for any width.

\item
Setting "clip" to "pstricks" causes each page to be clipped to the size of the
image (rather than having the image overlap in the margins on each page), but
this only works if you have loaded the PSTricks package.

\item
When "immediatewrites" is "true", all "\write"'s are "\immediate". I.e.,
auxiliary files are written to only when the poster file is first processed.
This is the default. The page references may be incorrect in multi-page
posters. Setting "immediatewrites" to "false" will fix the page references,
but writing to auxiliary files will be repeated with each page of the poster.
E.g., \LaTeX\ users will get errors about multiply defined labels, if they use
the "\label" command in a poster.

\item
The "numbering" parameter sets the page numbers, as recognized by your "dvi"
driver (it does not affect the page numbering as it appears in the document).
Here is the scheme:
\begin{description}
  \item["rowcol"] Each page is numbered  "[<row>.<col>]".
  \item["page"] Each page is numbered "[<page>.<row>.<col>]", where <page> is
"\count0" (e.g., \LaTeX's "page" counter).
  \item["serial"] Pages are numbering serially.
  \item["auto"] Page numbering is "rowcol" for "\poster" and "\Poster", and
"page" for "\PosterPage".
\end{description}
In each case, if the poster contains only one row of pages (i.e., if it is a
banner), the <row> number is suppressed.
\end{itemize}

\subsection{Samples}

The file "poster1.tex" contains the following sample of a framed poster with a
whole page of text:
\begin{verbatim}
    \documentstyle[poster]{article}

    \mag\magstep5  % Magnification of 1.2^5 (roughly 2.5)
    % Use `true' dimensions below for magnified values.

    \begin{document}

    \begin{Poster}[vcenter=true,hcenter=true]
      \setlength{\fboxsep}{.8truein}%
      \setlength{\fboxrule}{.1truein}%
      \fbox{\begin{minipage}{11.1truein}
        <stuff>
      \end{minipage}}%
    \end{Poster}

    \end{document}
\end{verbatim}

The file "poster2.tex" contain the following sample of a banner in landscape
mode. "ptmr" is meant to be the name of the Times-Roman PostScript font, if
your dvi driver supports such a thing.
\begin{verbatim}
    \font\bigroman=ptmr at 7.5in
    \bigroman
    \poster[vcenter=true,landscape=true]{Animals}
\end{verbatim}

\subsection{Changes}

\begin{description}
\item[V1.2, 28 August 1993] Add "cropwidth" parameter.

\item[V1.1, 1 June 1993] Added "immediatewrites" and "numbering" parameters.

\item[V1.0, 13 May 1993] Added "\PosterPage".

\item[V0.93, 11~Feb~1993] First stable release.
\end{description}

\end{document}
%%
%% END poster.doc