The LaTeX Companion

Book excerpt: For nearly three decades The LaTeX Companion has been the essential resource for anyone using LaTeX to create high-quality documents. Just like the earlier editions, this completely updated third edition is designed to serve as the stable core resource for users: covering all aspects of document production, from detailed micro-typography questions and macro-typography (heading design, lists, mathematics, tables, graphics, fonts, page-layout, etc.) to bibliography and index production. All chapters have been thoroughly revised and in many cases largely extended to describe new important functionality and features. More than 5,000 add-on packages have been analyzed in detail, out of which roughly 10% have been chosen for inclusion in The LaTeX Companion. All important aspects of these packages are described to provide the user once again with a satisfying one-stop-shop experience for the decade to come. Following the concept of the earlier versions, the new edition is full of novel tips and tricks for using LaTeX in both traditional and modern typesetting, and also shows you how to customize layout features to your own needs--from phrases and paragraphs to headings, lists, and pages. Inside you will find: Expert advice on using LaTeX's formatting tools to create publications of all types and sizes--memos, articles, books, or even encyclopedias. In-depth coverage of all essential extension packages--e.g., for tabular and technical typesetting, floats and captions, multicolumn layouts, graphics, or font selection--including discussions of the underlying typographic and TeXnical concepts. Detailed techniques for generating and typesetting contents lists, bibliographies, indexes, etc. Full coverage of the latest packages for all types of documents--mathematical, multilingual, and many more. Tips and tricks for LaTeX programmers and systems support. Detailed help on all error messages, including those troublesome low-level TeX errors. New to this edition: Inclusion of, or more details on, important new or changed large-scale packages, e.g., biblatex, fontspec, hyperref, mathtools, siunitx, tcolorbox, tikz, and unicode-math, to name just a few. Coverage of newer engine developments, e.g., the use of Unicode engines with LaTeX. Discussion of all vital changes to LaTeX itself, which is undergoing a transformation to keep it relevant in the years to come. Examples are the new hook management system for LaTeX, the extended document command syntax, and the inclusion of the LaTeX3 programming layer into the LaTeX format. Inclusion of many new, useful (smaller) packages in all chapters--each offering additional functionality. Two new chapters devoted to the use of high-quality fonts for text and math (OpenType, TrueType, and Type 1), now available for use with LaTeX. They offer a comprehensive set of samples to choose from (more than 120 text font families and 40 math font layouts), compiled with the help of an expert font designer. Revised discussions of multi-lingual support by the authors of the babel system to typeset text from a wide range of languages and cultures. The chapter on bibliography generation now also covers the styles made available with biblatex and biber. More than 1,500 fully tested examples (an increase of 30%) that illustrate the text and solve typographical and technical problems--all ready to run! In short, the two parts of The LaTeX Companion, Third Edition, cover all you need to know about LaTeX use in the twenty-first century, while also offering expertly curated discussions of the best add-on packages now available--over 500 are covered! The examples can be downloaded from https://ctan.org/pkg/tlc3-examples. Register your book for convenient access to downloads, updates, and/or corrections as they become available.