Thread: How to add extra spaces after paragraph and change font size

I'm kind of new to LaTeX and am having a few problems. Firstly, how do I add extra spaces after paragraph. Generally, I use 2 slashes \\, but it's not working.

Also how do I change the font size throughout the entire article.

Hello,
to make extra space, you can use \vskip 1 cm for instance (change 1 to whatever value suits you), or just skip a lot of lines (like 3) and throw a \newline somewhere.

For the font size, I think there are predefined commands such as \large, \big, \huge, \normal ... (but some of these only work in math mode, and some others only in text mode).

Also, I don't know what the difference is between \vskip and \vspace, but I always use the latter. And note that you can use several different units, like \vspace{1 in} for 1 inch. That probably works on \vskip too.

Originally Posted by ragnar

Also, I don't know what the difference is between \vskip and \vspace, but I always use the latter. And note that you can use several different units, like \vspace{1 in} for 1 inch. That probably works on \vskip too.

Indeed, \vskip accepts other units (I chose cm because I never learnt what an inch is ).

Originally Posted by acevipa

Firstly, how do I add extra spaces after paragraph. Generally, I use 2 slashes \\, but it's not working.

The command \setlength{\parskip}{1cm} will ensure that there is a space of 1cm (or whatever other amount you want to use) after each paragaph. In particular, the command \setlength{\parskip}{\baselineskip} will make an amount of space equal to having one blank line.

Originally Posted by acevipa

Also how do I change the font size throughout the entire article.

As far as I know, LaTeX does not provide a way to do this. In plain TeX there is a command \magnification=1200, which will increase the size of the whole document by 20%, but LaTeX does not support that command.

Hi acevipa,

Originally Posted by acevipa

Generally, I use 2 slashes \\, but it's not working.

\\ breaks a line, but it's not a spacing command. If required, you could use an optional parameter to increase the spacing like \\[2mm]. But I'm using \\ rarely, especially not for paragraph breaks, those are done by an empty line as you know or by \par. The spacing between pararaphs should be modified in another way.

Originally Posted by acevipa

how do I add extra spaces after paragraph

It would be consistent to modify it for the whole document. Use \setlength and \parskip like mentioned by Opalg. If you choose paragraph spacing, I would set the paragraph indentation to 0:

Code:

\setlength{\parindent}{0pt}

Otherwise paragraphs would be twice emphasized.

It would be good to use the parskip package, perhaps together with adjusting \parskip:

Code:

\usepackage{parskip}
\setlength{\parskip}{\baselineskip}

The package sets the indentation to 0 automatically.

Originally Posted by acevipa

Also how do I change the font size throughout the entire article.

Use the corresponding option for the documentclass:

Code:

\documentclass[12pt]{article}

Possible values are 10pt, 11pt and 12pt. The extsizes classes offer base font sizes from 8pt to 20pt. The very recommendable KOMA-Script classes even allow arbitrary base font sizes given in arbitrary units:

Code:

\documentclass[fontsize=5mm]{scrartcl}

Stefan


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