Latex templates for MASCOS posters

The philosophy is minimalist, being designed not to get in the way of your use of LaTeX. It is based on my own experience that writing my own layout is easier than trying to tweak someone else's undocumented defaults.

Versions

Of the four potential combinations, the current availability is:
only 3-column latex/dvips. The implications of 3-column vs 4-column are obvious.
The implications of processing mode are:

latex/dvips

Process by latex and then dvips. Imported graphics should be eps. If pdf is required, subsequent processing by adobe distiller or equivalent will be required. Distiller will probably need to be told the page size.

pdflatex

Produces pdf directly. Imported graphics should be pdf or jpeg. This option (when available) is the best way to import photos because the pdf incorporates the jpeg encoding unchanged (unless asked to change it).

Files provided

poster.tex

the latex file that is processed to produce the poster

frame.eps

A graphic that is included to provide the blue frame, the MASCOS logo and name of centre.

Files you need to provide

The minimal version of file defs.tex needs to contain two lines
\renewcommand{\TITLE}{The actual title}
\renewcommand{\AUTHORS}{The actual authors}

You may need to insert spacing commands to tweak the layout.

The files file1.tex etc contain the latex source for columns 1,2,3 (and 4). The file poster.tex (and variants thereof) accesses these files via a \input command within a minipage environment which is in turn within a picture environment. This may place restrictions on what you do (e.g. if you try sub-nesting of picture/minipage environments, you are on your own). The picture unitlength has been set to 1cm if you want to access the picture layout features directly.

The only macro that is designed for use in file1.tex etc is \HEADING{heading text}, which does timesroman headings.

Other things you may want to do with file defs.tex are:

• other \usepackage commands
• do a \renewcommand{\DOTITLE} definition that can do whatever you want (e.g. import the title as a graphic to give access to larger fonts)

Get files here

Essential files

Demo files

Old versions

How it is done

• latex2e slides class, so that the default font is an appropriate size (and sans serif);
• postional layout is done by putting everything in a latex picture environment;
• \special commands are used to declare a papersize of 59cm wide by 41cm high;
• frame and logo are done by importing a single graphic (frame.eps or frame.pdf) into the picture;
• file poster.tex has \usepackage commands for packages graphicx (which it uses), times (which it uses for authors and titles) color and amsmath (which are packages you might use);
• everything is included in one file (with the input command) so different parts can happily cross-reference each other (e.g. author list referencing affiliation list).
• The minipage environments for the columns, set \raggedright and reduce baseline ship by 2mm before file1.tex etc are input.

Approved hacks

Some of the things you may want to change are:

• Use additional packages - one reason for doing the template with standard latex commands rather than an existing package is to allow use of other packages without risk of incompatibilities.

Issues and bugs

Future plans

• Tweaks to spacing
• Separate versions of dvips/pdflatex and 3 vs 4 column.
• Macros to allow both 1-line and 2-line titles.

Disclaimer

Any aspects of this document that relate (or may be taken as relating) to Australian Government policy on climate change (or any other matter) are purely personal opinions which are in no way connected to CSIRO.

Ian Enting: last change 21/2/06.