[texhax] Strange formatting.

[Tom Backer Johnsen]

Thanks for the responses, and I'll have to think about them.  I fail 
think that the lack of any descenders in the first line is the real 
cause of the problem.  Having to replace "Dear" with "Deary" is contrary 
with what I regard as the basic philosopy of LaTex.  On the other hand, 
having to add a blank line before the \normalsize (which worked very 
nicely, thank you) smacks a little of a magic wand, At least at the 
moment I cannot understand the explanation, I'll have to mull on that one.

Given my limited experience with LaTex (three or four years), I hardly 
dare to imply that this must be a bug.  However, given the documentation 
I have read, I am inclined to regard anything after the \Huge command as 
being formatted accordingly, regardless of descenders. Once you turn on 
that effect it remains in power, until some other command changes that 
attribute for the formatting of the text.  The fact that I would have to 
to do something  (completely illogical in my eyes) at the very END of 
that particular section to get everything right in the BEGINNING of that 
section, is in my eyes completely illogical.  And very confusing for 
users.  I have to add that my experience with programming goes back at 
least forty years.  I have generated many bugs of many different kinds.

Sorry, I regard this as strange behavior of the LaTex system.  I am 
inclined to think this is a bug.

Tom

Tom Backer Johnsen wrote:
> This is something I have never seen with LaTex before.  If you look at 
> the .pdf file, you see that the line height for the second line (and 
> possibly the first as well) is smaller than the others.  This the source:
>
> \documentclass[11pt,a5paper]{article}
>
> \usepackage{geometry}
> \geometry{a4paper,tmargin=3cm,bmargin=3cm,lmargin=2.5cm,rmargin=2cm}
> \renewcommand\familydefault{ppl}
> \begin{document}
> \Huge
>
> Dear brothers: I think that God has made us apostles the most abject 
> of mankind.  We experience hunger and thirst, we are naked, we are 
> roughly handled, and we have no fixed abode ... They curse us and we 
> bless.  They persecute us and we suffer it ... They treat us as the 
> scum of the earth, the dregs of humanity ... to this very day.
> \normalsize
>
> \end{document}
>
> For the curious:  This is part of Leonard Bernstein's MASS.  I am to 
> read this text as part of the performance premiere on Saturday  (in 
> Bergen, Norway), and that is why I want the text to be in a large font.
>
> Tom
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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