trunk/doc/ltnews07.tex

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  29 % Filename: ltnews07.tex
  30
  31 % This is issue 7 of LaTeX News.
  32
  33 \documentclass
  34 %    [lw35fonts]
  35    {ltnews}
  36
  37 % \usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
  38
  39 \publicationmonth{June}
  40 \publicationyear{1997}
  41 \publicationissue{7}
  42
  43 \begin{document}
  44
  45 \maketitle
  46
  47 \section{T1 encoded Computer Modern fonts}
  48 As in the last release the base \LaTeX\ distribution contains
  49 three different sets of `fd' files for T1 encoded fonts.
  50
  51 In this release the default installation uses \texttt{ec.ins}
  52 and so installs files suitable for the current `EC fonts'
  53 distribution. If you have still not updated to the EC fonts and
  54 are using the earlier test versions, known as DC then you should
  55 unpack \texttt{newdc.ins} (for DC release 1.2 or later) or
  56 \texttt{olddc.ins} (for the original releases of the DC fonts).
  57 This should be done after unpacking \texttt{unpack.ins} but
  58 before making the format by running ini\TeX{} on \texttt{latex.ltx}.
  59 There are further details in \texttt{install.txt}.
  60
  61
  62 \section{T1 encoded Concrete fonts}
  63 The Metafont sources for T1 encoded `Concrete' fonts have been
  64 removed from the \textsf{mfnss} distribution as they were based
  65 on the now obsolete DC fonts release 1.1. Similarly the
  66 \textsf{cmextra.ins} install file in the \textsf{base} distribution no
  67 longer generates fd files for the `Concrete' fonts.
  68 To use these fonts in either T1 or OT1 encoding it is
  69 recommended that you obtain Walter Schmidt's \textsf{ccfonts} package
  70 and fonts from CTAN \texttt{macros/latex/contrib/supported/ccfonts}.
  71
  72
  73 \section{Further input encodings}
  74 Two more \textsf{inputenc} packages have been added: for latin5,
  75 thanks to H. Turgut Uyar; and for latin3, thanks to J\"org Knappen.
  76
  77
  78 \section{Normalising spacing after punctuation}
  79 The command \verb|\normalsfcodes| was introduced at the last patch
  80 release. This is normally given the correct definition automatically
  81 and so need not be explicitly set. It is used to correct a problem,
  82 reported by Donald Arseneau, that punctuation in page headers has
  83 always (in all known \TeX\ formats) been potentially incorrect if the
  84 page break happens while a local setting of the space codes (for
  85 instance by the command \verb|\frenchspacing|) is in effect. A common
  86 example of this happening in \LaTeX\ is in the \textsf{verbatim}
  87 environment.
  88
  89
  90 \section{Accessing Bold Math Symbols}
  91 The \textsf{tools} distribution contains a new package, \textsf{bm},
  92 which defines a command \verb|\bm| that allows individual bold symbols
  93 to be accessed within a math expression (in contrast to
  94 \verb|\boldmath| which makes whole math expressions default to bold
  95 fonts). It is more general than the existing \textsf{amsbsy} package;
  96 however, to ease the translation of documents between these two
  97 packages, \textsf{bm} makes \verb|\boldsymbol| an alias for
  98 \verb|\bm|.
  99
 100 This package was previously made available from the `contrib' area of
 101 the CTAN archives, and as part of Y\&Y's \LaTeX\ support for the
 102 MathTime fonts.
 103
 104
 105 \section{Policy on standard classes}
 106
 107 Many of the problem reports we receive concerning the standard classes
 108 are not concerned with bugs but are suggesting, more or less politely,
 109 that the design decisions embodied in them are `not optimal' and
 110 asking us to modify them.
 111
 112 There are several reasons why we have decided not to make such changes
 113 to these files.
 114 \begin{itemize}
 115 \item
 116   However misguided, the current behaviour is clearly what was
 117   intended when these classes were designed.
 118 \item
 119   It is not good practice to change such aspects of `standard classes'
 120   because many people will be relying on them.
 121 \end{itemize}
 122
 123 We have therefore decided not to even consider making such
 124 modifications, nor to spend time justifying that decision.  This does
 125 not mean that we do not agree that there are many deficiencies in the
 126 design of these classes, but we have many tasks with higher priority
 127 than continually explaining why the standard classes for \LaTeX{}
 128 cannot be changed.
 129
 130 We would, of course, welcome the production of better classes, or of
 131 packages that can be used to enhance these classes.
 132
 133
 134 \section{New addresses for TUG}
 135 For information about joining the \TeX{} Users Group, and about lots
 136 of other \LaTeX-related matters, please contact
 137 them at their new address:
 138 \begin{quote}\small
 139    \TeX{} Users Group, P.O. Box 1239,\\
 140    Three Rivers, CA~93271-1239, USA\\
 141    Fax:~+1~209~561~4584\\
 142    E-mail: \texttt{tug@mail.tug.org}\\
 143    URL: \texttt{http://www.tug.org/}
 144 \end{quote}
 145
 146 \end{document}