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The LaTeX relsize package

Version: 5.5 - Scientific WorkPlace & Scientific Word

In LaTeX, these font size commands, listed from smallest to largest, are available:

\tiny, \scriptsize, \footnotesize, \small, \normalsize, \large, \Large, \LARGE, \huge, \Huge

The relsize package provides a way to change the font size of text by stepping through the font size hierarchy. The \relsize command has as its argument a positive or negative number that specifies the number of steps by which the current size should be changed. Thus, if the command \relsize{3} occurs when the current font size is footnotesize, the next text will be typeset as large. If the command \relsize{-4} occurs when the current font size is LARGE, the next text will be typeset as small.

The commands appear in TeX fields in the body of your document. The package includes several shortcut commands, \larger and \smaller, which change the text font size by one step in the corresponding direction. An additional command specifies the text font size based on a scale factor, not unlike the scalefnt package.

The package provides two commands for stepping through the mathematics size styles, which from smallest to largest are:

\scriptscriptstyle, \scriptstyle, \textstyle, \displaystyle

However, because mathematical operators and delimiters are scaled automatically in SWP and SW, this package feature isn't particularly useful. If you choose to use the commands, note that they are not always reliable because spacing problems can occur. For more information, use an ASCII editor to open TCITeX/TeX/LaTeX/contrib/misc/relsize.sty in your program directory and scroll to the information at the end of the file.

Here's how to step the text font size up or down:

  1. Add the relsize package to your document.

  2. Place the insertion point where you want the change in font size to begin.

  3. Enter an encapsulated TeX field.

  4. In the entry area, type \relsize{x} where x is the number of steps you want to move through the hierarchy of font sizes.

  5. Choose OK.

The package is installed in the TCITeX/TeX/LaTeX/contrib/misc directory.

Added 07/26/05