Theses, Books, Title pages ⇒ Change size and line spacing

[vicentear]

Hello everyone!

I would like to change the font size below the minimum value, that actually is 10pt. I have seen that just putting 9 or 8pt do not make anything, so I guess that something else should be changed. In addition, I would be interested in changing the line spacing of my thesis to a custom value, instead of the established options (for instance, a specific line spacing of 5mm). I send you my current header.

I really appreciate any kind of help, thanks in advance

Cheers!

\documentclass[
10pt, % The default document font size, options: 10pt, 11pt, 12pt
%oneside, % Two side (alternating margins) for binding by default, uncomment to switch to one side
english, % ngerman for German
singlespacing, % Single line spacing, alternatives: onehalfspacing or doublespacing
%draft, % Uncomment to enable draft mode (no pictures, no links, overfull hboxes indicated)
%nolistspacing, % If the document is onehalfspacing or doublespacing, uncomment this to set spacing in lists to single
%liststotoc, % Uncomment to add the list of figures/tables/etc to the table of contents
%toctotoc, % Uncomment to add the main table of contents to the table of contents
%parskip, % Uncomment to add space between paragraphs
nohyperref, % Uncomment to not load the hyperref package
headsepline, % Uncomment to get a line under the header
%chapterinoneline, % Uncomment to place the chapter title next to the number on one line
%consistentlayout, % Uncomment to change the layout of the declaration, abstract and acknowledgements pages to match the default layout
]{MastersDoctoralThesis} % The class file specifying the document structure

[Ijon Tichy]

Font size options are class options. So if 8pt or 9pt are reported as unknown global options (see the log-file), your class does not provide them. Depending on the class—MastersDoctoralThesis is more or less a generic name and not available on CTAN, so I do not know, which of the existing classes with this name you are using—their could be different workarounds. For example KOMA-Script based classes provide option fontsize to setup unusual font sizes. They even support to replace the default font size files with customer files (e.g. to change also the line spacing). This feature can be used with other classes by using package scrextend. Another possibility could be to use package extsizes. But AFAIK this should not be used with KOMA-Script based classes.

Linespacing is another question. And a good answer depends on what your real problem with the line spacing is. In general, LaTeX provides \linespread to change the line spacing. Their is also a package to explicitly setup the line spacing by a length, but I've forgotten the name. Maybe package setspace would also be an option. If you are using this MastersDoctoralThesis, then it loads the package already and you can use it.

[vicentear]

I'm sorry, I completely forgot to post which template I'm using. As you mentioned, I am currently working with the Vel's version https://www.latextemplates.com/template ... ral-thesis of the template.

Since I'm writing mathematical expressions that are bigger than the usual linespacing, they are breaking the general scheme, and the result is not very pleasant to the eye. For that reason I'm looking for a smaller font size or a change in the linespacing. Among the packages that you have mentioned, which ones do you recommend me? I have been fiddling with the package setspace and the option \setstretch{ }, but I would like to apply the change only to the text of the chapters, without modifying the alignment of captions, preambles or the first pages.

Thanks for your help

[Ijon Tichy]

Sorry, but because I do not recommend to use MasterDoctorlalThesis-Template, I cannot give a recommendation about packages to use with this template. I can only tell, which packages you could try, as I've done in my last post.

BTW: AFAIK the template also uses package caption so if \setstrech really influences the line spacing of captions, you can use the package to change the line spacing of captions. And you can use \setstrech several times in your document or just after the frontmatter, if the frontmatter should use the usual spacing.

BTW: I would recommend to not use a font size < 10pt. I'm a wearer of glasses and have (even with glasses) problems to read texts with very small font sizes. And a base font size of 9pt would also reduce the sizes of \small and \footnotesize. While 9pt as main size is already stressful, reducing the sizes of footnotes, maybe indicees etc. would be out of the question. So it would be better to search for another solution for your original math expression problem.

[vicentear]

Sorry, but because I do not recommend to use MasterDoctorlalThesis-Template, I cannot give a recommendation about packages to use with this template. I can only tell, which packages you could try, as I've done in my last post.

BTW: AFAIK the template also uses package caption so if \setstrech really influences the line spacing of captions, you can use the package to change the line spacing of captions. And you can use \setstrech several times in your document or just after the frontmatter, if the frontmatter should use the usual spacing.

BTW: I would recommend to not use a font size < 10pt. I'm a wearer of glasses and have (even with glasses) problems to read texts with very small font sizes. And a base font size of 9pt would also reduce the sizes of \small and \footnotesize. While 9pt as main size is already stressful, reducing the sizes of footnotes, maybe indicees etc. would be out of the question. So it would be better to search for another solution for your original math expression problem.

I really appreciate your comments. They have been very useful. The command \begin{spacing}{ x } solved all my issues. And thank you for your recommendation about the font size. l completely agree with you. I would be too small something like 9 or 8 pt.