Producing PDFs to non-standard page sizes

[LMS journals]

My understanding is that you have to set up \paperheight (and/or
\textheight) and \paperwidth in your style file; otherwise Latex will
default to either letter paper or A4.  Would it help to set up a "custom"
size paper in your general printer setup, so that you have that as an
option?

I work on a non-standard size, but the system was set up for me before I
took it on -- I understand, though, that this is how it was done -- there
are certainly things like "\paperheight{49\baselineskip}" in my class file).
For printing to file, I have to specify letter paper (chosen from the
"advanced" printer options in dviwindo) with an added top margin of 2" (-y
142 in the DVIPSONE command line).  This actually centers it beautifully on
the A4 paper that I use, so I suspect the whole thing may be some sort of
"bodge" -- so I'd be interested to hear if and how you solve the problem!

But I reckon the basic steps are to
1. make sure your latex is generating the size you want
2. use printer options to select paper size
3. use the command line to put it where you want on the page.
4. set up a page of appropriate size in distiller.

All the best

Sue


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Support for users of Y&Y's TeX system
> [mailto:YANDYTEX at LISTS.UCC.IE] On Behalf Of John Hodgson
> Sent: 10 June 2004 14:37
> To: YANDYTEX at LISTS.UCC.IE
> Subject: Producing PDFs to non-standard page sizes
>
>
> Hi everyone
>
> I am trying to produce a PDF of a book to a non-standard page
> size (though it is a standard book size) The publishers we
> are working for require that the PDF has a logical page size
> of 216x138 mm. Try as I might I haven't been able to produce
> a .PS file with this page size, and Acrobat Distiller
> doesn't/won't/can't override the page size when producing the
> PDF. We've tried cropping the page size in Acrobat, which
> works when you view the PDF in Acrobat, but apparently the
> underlying page size remains in the PDF file and gives the
> printers (ie the firm who are printing the book) impossible
> problems when trying to send the book to plate. I've tried
> messing with the -l flag in DVIPSONE with no success.
>
> Has anyone run up against this problem and know what the solution is?
>
> Thanks for your help.
>
> John Hodgson
>
> PS I'm a listserv newbie and apologise for any contravention
> of listserv etiquette!!
>