Margins

L^ATEX has very large default margins--almost two inches wide on each side. Most people don't like them.¹⁷ Fortunately, L^ATEX margins are easy to change. An easy way to use more of the page is to use the fullpage option to documentclass (see Section 3.2).

While most text formatting systems use left and right margins, L^ATEX keeps track of the left margin and the text width. In fact, since L^ATEX lets you specify different margins for even and odd numbered pages, it keeps track of two left-hand margins.¹⁸ So, to reduce the left hand margin by half an inch you would use the commands:

\addtolength{\oddsidemargin}{-.5in}
\addtolength{\evensidemargin}{-.5in}

Then to reduce the ``right-hand margin'' by the same amount, you would increase text width:

\addtolength{\textwidth}{1in}

If you've included the simplemargins package, you can use a set of commands to simplify setting margins. These commands are perhaps more intuitive:

 
\setleftmargin{1in} 
\setrightmargin{1in} 
\settopmargin{1in}
\setbottommargin{1in}

If you merely want to set all margins to a uniform size, use:

\setallmargins{1in}

Again, however, you must have included the simplemargins packages and you must thus also set the TEXINPUTS variable mentioned in Section 4.