[OS X TeX] Still fighting with the {letter} documentclass

[Maarten Sneep]

On 17 dec 2004, at 14:58, Google Kreme wrote:

> I don't like how the return address is formatted.  Or the automatic
> placement of the date.
> I'd like the date to be set flush right, but since the date is never
> even specified in the document, I can't see how to format it.

I think you can put a \date{} command in to remove the data altogether, 
but
my copy of the Lamport book is elsewhere, so this is from memory.
(the default is to use \today, but you can set it to anything you like).
The location is determined independently, and changing that is no fun.

I think the second edition of Kopka & Daly had an example on how to 
create
your own letterhead on top of the letter class. All I remember is that I
wouldn't have been able to figure that out on my own. I'm afraid this 
example
was removed from later editions - but you'd have to check with someone 
who
actually has a copy.

> As for the labels, they seem to be quite spread out on the page, and I
> can't find an Avery label sheet that matches up quite right.  And it
> appears the \makelabels is laid out to skip alternate labels on a page
> as there is a LOT of white space between them.

I don't know what paper-size you use (I'm in Europe: A4 for me), but I 
can tell
you that with the A4 setting Avery number 3424 does work (although two 
labels
are not used on each page). If you're willing to use an even dirtier 
trick I
wrote before, you're welcome, just drop me a line. This script will 
also generate
a tex file - but this time you get to specify the size of the labels. 
Written in Awk,
readability is not guaranteed.

> I looked at the other letter options, but none provided for 
> \makelabels.

Some may have given it a different name. Anyway: my alternative 
solution works
independently of the letter document class.

Maarten

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