Latex commands for a specific page format [closed]

Question

I am writing a report for which my University has given the following guidelines (Clearly, it was intended for use with Microsoft Windows).

• Project reports should be typed only on one side of the paper with 1.5 or double line spacing on a A4 size bond paper (210 x 297 mm). The margins should be: Left - 1.25", Right - 1", Top and Bottom - 0.75".
• The chapter must be left or right justified (font size 16). Followed by the title of chapter centered (font size 18), section/subsection numbers along with their headings must be left justified with section number and its heading in font size 16 and subsection and its heading in font size 14. The body or the text of the report should have font size 12.

I used the following commands in my latex file, but somehow, it didn't look like the document my friend printed using Word.

Specifically, I have the following questions:

1. Does 12pt in latex mean size 12 in Word?
2. Does \onehalfspacing mean the same as "1.5 line spacing" in word?
3. Will the following commands produce the same margins as setting the margins in Word?
4. What changes will I need to make to get the required format?

(If you are interested, the complete specification is here: http://vtu.ac.in/index.php/examination-guidlines.html?start=12)

\documentclass[a4paper, 12pt]{report}
\usepackage[top=0.75in, bottom=0.75in, left=1.25in, right=1in]{geometry}

\chapternumberfont{\fontsize{16}{17}\selectfont}
\chaptertitlefont{\fontsize{18}{19}\selectfont \centering}
\sectionfont{\fontsize{16}{18}\selectfont}
\subsectionfont{\fontsize{14}{16}\selectfont}

\onehalfspacing

\pagestyle{fancy}
\fancyhf{}

\renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0.4pt}
\renewcommand{\footrulewidth}{0.4pt}

\setlength{\headheight}{25pt}

\addtolength{\footskip}{-5pt}

\lhead{\fontsize{08}{10}\selectfont Control of A solenoid valve through current governing\\ implemented on a Renesas R8C23 microcontroller}

\rhead{\fontsize{12}{14}\selectfont 2010-2011}

\rfoot{\fontsize{10}{12}\selectfont \nouppercase{\thepage}}

\lfoot{\fontsize{08}{10}\selectfont Department of Electronics and Communications Engineering,\\ K.S.I.T}

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Thanks in advance :)

Answer 1

The 12 point of Word will be PostScript point, which in TeX would be called 12bp. A TeX pt is slightly smaller: it's 1/72.27 inch, while a bp/PostScript point is 1/72 inch. See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_%28typography%29

You can use 12bp instead of 12 in your \fontsize commands.

Answer 2

[I'm posting this as an answer because a) it partially is and b) it is too long to be a comment.]

Welcome to tex.sx! We usually have a one-question-per-post guideline (so other users who have the same question can find it), so I recommend you refine this post to several posts, one question each. If you haven't already, use the search function to see if your question has been asked before. A few ideas:

1. Looks like a great question, haven't read that before. It might be around though.
2. Look into What does 'double spacing' mean? , this might help. Basically, there doesn't seem to be a universally valid definition of what "line spacing" is.
3. Afaik, geometry is precise (and so should Word), but you could simply measure it yourself? Loading the package with the showframe option (\usepackage[showframe]{geometry}) will display lines indicating the margins.
4. Could you narrow this question down a bit as to what you find to be looking differently and what you can't figure out how to change? Adding pictures of your Word document and your TeX'ed file to compare might be helpful.

I hope this helps, I'm sure we'll be able to solve your issues.

P.S.: A general remark: If you indent lines by 4 spaces, then they are marked as a code sample. You can also highlight the code and click the "code" button (with "{}" on it). Shorter passages within a normal text line can be marked with backticks (`).

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Edit: In particular for the fourth question, please provide a minimal working example (MWE). Some packages seem to be missing in your current preamle, e.g. fancyhdr and setspace. This will, just like the splitting, make your question much easier to answer thus you'll eventually get better answers.

To get a sample document, you can use the blindtext package, add \usepackage{blindtext} in your preamble and as a document body

\begin{document}
  \Blinddocument
\end{document}

This will give you a ~14 page document with all kinds of elements in it.