LaTeX advice for web forms
Since the pdf versions of these forms is created by running LaTeX, the
process won't succeed if there's a LaTeX error in the text you enter
in the form. In this case you'll get a message saying
LaTeX file could not be processed. This is probably due to a LaTeX
error in your input.
This page describes the most likely cause of such errors, and some of
the features of LaTeX you can use within the form. If you have any
questions, please email Toby
Hall.
Quoting characters
Characters such as &, %, $ and (more unlikely) #, _, {, }, ~, \
are special in LaTeX. If you type them as they are, you will get a
LaTeX error.
Instead, you should precede them with backslashes: \&, \%, \$, \#,
\_, \{, \}, \~.
(To get \ itself, you need to type $\backslash$.)
Lists
To produce a bulleted list, you should type
\begin{itemize}
\item First point.
\item Second point.
\item Further points.
\end{itemize}
This will produce
- First point.
- Second point.
- Further points.
To produce an enumerated list you should type
\begin{enumerate}[1.]
\item Point 1.
\item Point 2.
\end{enumerate}
This will produce
- Point 1.
- Point 2.
You can get a list enumerated a), b), c) etc. by typing
\begin{enumerate}[a)] instead.
Fonts
To get some bold text you should type \textbf{bold
text}, and to get italic text you should type
\textit{italic text}
Should you want to change the text size, you can do {\small small
text} and {\large large text}.
Since these forms are primarily to be used electronically, you might
also want to include some colours: {\color{blue} this is
blue} will produce this is blue.
Maths
If you're not familiar with LaTeX, now probably isn't the right time
to learn how to typeset mathematics. Just to mention that, if you want
some mathematics in your form, you can include it in the normal way:
\[x^2+y^2=z^2.\] will produce