🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <4445@sigi.Colorado.EDU> michael@boulder.Colorado.EDU (Michael
Schmidt) writes:
>   How can I influence the vertical spacing in LaTeX? Say to
>   achieve double spacing?

to which lear@athos.rutgers.edu (eliot lear) replies:
>   \newcommand{\doublespace}{\baselineskip 2\baselineskip}
>   and 
>   \newcommand{\halfspace}{\par \baselineskip .5\baselineskip}
>   to undo it.

The LaTeX book (on p. 155) recommends changing \baselinestretch rather than
\baselineskip to achieve double spacing.  The latter value is set by
any type-size-changing command, so section headers, footnotes, and so forth
will not be doublespaced with lear's macros; moreover, a type-size-setting
command in open text (not inside a group) will destroy the spacing permanently.

To achieve true double spacing, I'd recommend putting something like

	\renewcommand{\baselinestretch}{2}

in the document preamble (before \begin{document}).

If you want to change the setting on the fly, you need to also cause
\baselineskip to be updated, which you can do as in lear's code; or you
could say "\large \normalsize" to force \baselineskip to be recomputed.
(The latter method has the advantage of being independent of the previous
state.)  You probably shouldn't be doing that at all, though; if what you
need is a little more space at particular places --- say around formulas ---
there are other parameters that you can diddle; or you can always throw in a
strut.

The LaTeX book points out that this approach is really only suitable for
producing draft copies for marking up; a wholesale revision of the document
format for wider line spacing would require numerous other adjustments
to produce good-looking results.

-- 
				tom lane
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