LaTeX utilities 

" Congratulations! You have purchased an extremely fine device that would give you thousands of years of trouble-free service, except that you undoubtably will destroy it via some typical bonehead consumer maneuver. Which is why we ask you to PLEASE FOR GOD'S SAKE READ THIS OWNER'S MANUAL CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU UNPACK THE DEVICE. YOU ALREADY UNPACKED IT, DIDN'T YOU? YOU UNPACKED IT AND PLUGGED IT IN AND TURNED IT ON AND FIDDLED WITH THE KNOBS, AND NOW YOUR CHILD, THE SAME CHILD WHO ONCE SHOVED A POLISH SAUSAGE INTO YOUR VIDEOCASSETTE RECORDER AND SET IT ON "FAST FORWARD", THIS CHILD ALSO IS FIDDLING WITH THE KNOBS, RIGHT? AND YOU'RE JUST NOW STARTING TO READ THE INSTRUCTIONS, RIGHT??? WE MIGHT AS WELL JUST BREAK THESE DEVICES RIGHT AT THE FACTORY BEFORE WE SHIP THEM OUT, YOU KNOW THAT?"

-- Dave Barry, "Read This First!"

How to produce A0 posters

Here some utilities to produce LaTeX A0 posters. I am still working on a Short Guide .. for the moment, refer to this page and to the example files.
THIS PAGE IS UPDATE VERY OFTEN .. SO CHECK IT FREQUENTLY!
A0poster.cls allows to create posters in the following sizes both in portrait and landscape orientation (see the examples files). However, you need some "system Requirements" in order to deal with paper sizes bigger than A4 (especially A0).
1. You need to have dvips configured to accept paper sizes bigger than A4. If your dvips is not configured to do so, UNIX/LINUX users can create a file .dvipsrc in their home directory with the following lines

@ A0 841mm 1189mm
@+ %%PaperSize: A0

@ A0HP 915.1mm 1200mm
@+ %%PaperSize: A0

@ A1 594mm 839.6mm
@+ %%PaperSize: A1

@ A2 419.8mm 594mm
@+ %%PaperSize: A2

If .dvipsrc already exists, just append the lines that are not in it.
If you are on a windows machine, just change operating system.

2. You need to have a gv that is configured for viewing A0,A1,A2,A3 sizes and C0 size (the latter is needed for viewing "imperial" A0).
3. If you want to convert your A0 poster to A4 size (i.e. for printing it in a local A4 printer) you need to have psutils installed in your system (in particular you need psresize).
If you don't know how to configure all the above, ask your system manager or www.google.com.

So here's the files you need to have In general, check your poster before printing it!!!

Creating Research Day Posters Using the LCAV style

In addition to A0poster.cls are related utilities, you need

Creating LCAV Hallway Posters

In addition to A0poster.cls are related utilities, you need

Creating Poster Using the MICS style

In addition to A0poster.cls are related utilities, you need
If you have any suggestions they are welcome.

Making PDF from LaTeX

If you use ps2pdf to convert dvips-created postscript files, you must run dvips as follows: Linux: dvips -Pcmz -Z9 test.dvi -o test.ps

Usign Pstricks and Color packages

You better include the packages in the following order:

\usepackage{color}
\usepackage{pstcol}
\usepackage{pstricks}

Making bibliography with natbib

For the bibliography I use the natbib package. Since I wanted cite labels to appear before bibliography items, I have modified the abbrvnat.bst file. 
Here is the abbrvnat_label_fr.bst file (N.B. it is based on a french version of abbrvnat.bst file).
  • Figure caption has been modified .. try this ..
    • \newlength{\captionwidth} \newlength{\captionwidthmax}
    \setlength{\captionwidthmax}{\linewidth}
    \addtolength{\captionwidthmax}{-1cm}
    \newlength{\figlabelwidth} \newlength{\minipagewidth}
    \makeatletter
    \newcommand{\@makefigcaption}[2]{%
            \vspace{2pt}
    \settowidth{\captionwidth}{#1: #2}
    \begin{center}
    \ifthenelse{\lengthtest{\captionwidth > \captionwidthmax}}
    {
    \setlength{\minipagewidth}{\captionwidthmax}
    \settowidth{\figlabelwidth}{#1: }
    \addtolength{\minipagewidth}{-\figlabelwidth}
    #1: \begin{minipage}[t]{\minipagewidth}\emph{#2}\end{minipage}
    }
    {#1: \emph{#2}}
    \end{center}
    }
    \renewcommand{\figure}{\let\@makecaption\@makefigcaption\@float{figure}}
    \makeatother
    .. and let me know what you think


    If you have troubles working with LaTeX, here is an on line guide http://www.loria.fr/services/tex/english/index.html

    Andrea Ridolfi
    Last modified: Thu Mar 10 15:47:32 CET 2005