Talk:KOMA-scrartcl Type Area

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Even after reading this page a couple of times, I'm rather unclear on what the LaTeX code is trying to do, and why the ConTeXt "equivalent" takes so much convoluted and nearly-unreadable code. (It's the usual comp.text.tex problem of "Ok, so that's the what; why are you doing this?)

If the intent is simply to figure out what size the textarea is, for diagnostic purposes, the ConTeXt \showframe is a convenient one-liner that does the same thing and more.

If the intent is to illustrate how to put a framed box around the text area, then all but the last three lines are irrelevant.

It appears, from some testing of the files, that the significant amount of ConTeXt code other than the last three lines is there for the purpose of duplicating the calculations the scrartcl uses to define the page area. If this is indeed the case, this really should be explained in the text -- or should it simply be removed to some other page entirely?

...

Or am I misunderstanding the whole point of the page, and the point is to illustrate how to duplicate the Komascript page layout?

I'll go put some things in the page to make it a little more clear what part of the code is doing what, but it really needs a heavy-duty refactoring (or at least more explanation), and I don't want to do that without some sense of what the purpose of the page is.

--Brooks

  • My guess: the latex code just demonstrates the page area as-defined-by scrartcl.sty. KOMA classes try to calculate a 'pleasing' typearea, and that is what the ConTeXt code attempts to mimic. In fact, it looks like the context code is transliteration of the LaTeX equivalent (which is at least in part why it looks a bit funny).

--Taco