[OS X TeX] Lab Manual

[Alan Litchfield]

david craig wrote:

>
> #2:
> I would like to add a cover to the manual.   I have an image I would
> like to fill the page, and want to set some cover text over it.   (If I
> must, I suppose I could add the text in an image editor.)
>
> How do I include the cover as part of the book/manual -- followed by a
> blank page (inside the cover, that is -- or not blank, as the case may
> be), then the title page, then a blank page (back of title page), the
> toc (on the right side), and then the rest of the book.
>

How you do the front cover is dependent upon how it will be bound. For example
if it is perfect bound the covers are all printed on one side and wrapped
around the glued pages of the book. If it is saddle-stitched, the covers vary
a great deal but hard cover books usually have a dust jacket that wraps around
the covers and tucks inside with flaps. That is why you generally find that
document classes for books are geared towards formatting their content
starting with the title page and not the front cover.

Having said that, front covers may be done in page layout programs such as
InDesign, drawing programs such as Illustrator, image editing programs such as
Photoshop. The choice is largely up to the individual and the file format that
is required by the printer who is outputting the covers, or what kind of look
the cover designer is after.

Of course there is no reason why you cannot use your document class to include
the front and back covers but I think it is more work than it is worth to do
so.

HIH
Alan

-- 
Alan Litchfield MBus (Hons), MNZCS
AlphaByte
PO Box 1941, Auckland
http://www.alphabyte.co.nz