Recto/verso printing, collating
Introduction to recto/verso printing
Recto/verso printing allows you to set up a mom document in such
a way that it can be printed on both sides of a printer sheet and
subsequently bound.
With recto/verso, mom automatically takes control of the following
aspects of alternating page layout:
- switching left and right margins (if they’re not equal)
- switching the left and right parts of the default 3-part
headers
or
footers
(see the
General description of headers)
- switching
HEADER_RECTO
and
HEADER_VERSO
if user-defined, single string recto/verso headers
or footers are used in place of the default 3-part
headers or footers
- switching the page number position (if page numbers are not centred)
Macro: RECTO_VERSO
If you want mom to set up alternating pages for recto/verso
printing, simply invoke RECTO_VERSO, with no argument, anywhere in
your document (most likely before
START).
Note:
Recto/verso always switches the left and right parts of
headers
or
footers
on odd/even pages. However, it only switches the left and right
margins if the margins aren’t equal. Consequently, it is
your responsibility to set the appropriate differing left and right
margins with
L_MARGIN
and
R_MARGIN
(prior to
START)
or with
DOC_LEFT_MARGIN
and
DOC_RIGHT_MARGIN
(before or after START).
Equally, recto/verso only switches the page number position if page
numbers aren’t centred, which means you have to set the page
number position with
PAGENUM_POS
(before or after START).
Macro: FORCE_RECTO
It is a common convention with two-sided printing to ensure that
cover pages, title pages, and chapters or major sections of a document
always begin on the recto side of a page. This sometimes
necessitates inserting a blank page before the start of a new
chapter or major section.
If you would like mom to take care of this for you automatically,
simply invoke FORCE_RECTO before the first
START
of the document.
Macro: SWITCH_HEADERS
SWITCH_HEADERS switches the location of the header left string
(by default, the author) and the header right string (by default,
the document title). If you don’t like mom’s default
placement of author and title, use SWITCH_HEADERS to reverse it.
SWITCH_HEADERS can also be useful in conjunction with
RECTO_VERSO.
The assumption of RECTO_VERSO is that the first page of a document
(ie recto/odd) represents the norm for header-left and header-right,
meaning that the second (and all subsequent verso/even) pages of the
document will reverse the order of header-left and header-right.
If mom’s behaviour in this matter is not what you want, simply
invoke SWITCH_HEADERS on the first page of your recto/verso document
to reverse her default treatment of header parts. The remainder of
your document (with respect to headers) will come out as you want.
Introduction to collating
Many people wisely keep chapters of a long work in separate
files, previewing or printing them as needed during the draft
phase. However, when it comes to the final version, mom requires
a single, collated file in order to keep track of page numbering
and recto/verso administration, generating tables of contents and
endnotes, ensuring that
docheaders
get printed correctly, and a host of other details.
The COLLATE macro, which can be used with any
DOCTYPE
except LETTER, lets you glue mom-formatted text files
together. You need only concatenate chapters into a single file
(most likely with the cat command), put .COLLATE at the end of each
concatenated chapter, follow it with the
reference macros
(metadata) needed for the new chapter, e.g.,
CHAPTER
or
CHAPTER_STRING,
make any pertinent style changes to the upcoming chapter (unlikely,
but possible), and re-invoke the
START
macro. (Most likely, the metadata and .START are
already there.) Each chapter will begin on a fresh page and behave
as expected.
Even if you always work with monolithic, multi-chapter files, every
chapter and its associated metadata plus .START
still needs to be preceded by a .COLLATE command.
Note:
COLLATE assumes you are collating documents/files with similar
type-style parameters hence there’s no need for PRINTSTYLE
to appear after COLLATE, although if you’re collating
documents that were created as separate files, chances are the
PRINTSTYLE’s already there.
Two words of caution:
- Do not collate documents of differing
PRINTSTYLES (ie don’t try to
collate a TYPESET document and TYPEWRITE
document).
- Use .DOC_FAMILY instead of
.FAMILY if, for some reason, you want to
change the family of all the document elements after
.COLLATE. .FAMILY, by itself, will
change the family of paragraph text only.
collate
Macro: COLLATE
The most basic (and most likely) collating situation looks like
this:
.COLLATE
.CHAPTER 17
.START
A slightly more complex version of the same thing, for chapters
that require their own titles, looks like this:
.COLLATE
.CHAPTER_TITLE "Geek Fatigue: Symptoms and Causes"
.START
Tip:
If the last line of text before .COLLATE
falls too close to the bottom margin, or if the line is followed
by a macro likely to cause a linebreak (e.g., .LIST OFF or
.IQ), mom may output a superfluous blank page before
the start of the following document.
In order to avoid this, insert
.EL
after the last line of text, before .COLLATE and/or any
concluding macros. For example,
some concluding text.\c
.EL
.COLLATE
or
some concluding text.\c
.EL
.LIST OFF
.COLLATE