1 <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN"> 2 <html> 3 <head> 4 <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1"> 5 <title>Mom -- Document Processing, Writing Letters</title> 6 </head> 7 <body bgcolor="#dfdfdf"> 8 9 <!====================================================================> 10 11 <a href="macrolist.html#TOP">Next</a> 12 <a href="refer.html#TOP">Prev</a> 13 <a href="toc.html">Back to Table of Contents</a> 14 <p> 15 16 <a name="TOP"></a> 17 <a name="LETTERS"> 18 <h1 align="center"><u>WRITING LETTERS WITH MOM</u></h1> 19 </a> 20 21 <a name="LETTERS_INTRO"> 22 <h2><u>Introduction</u></h2> 23 </a> 24 25 <strong>Mom</strong>'s simple but effective letter-writing 26 macros are a subset of the 27 <a href="docprocessing.html#DOCPROCESSING">document processing macros</a>, 28 designed to ease the creation of correspondence. 29 <p> 30 Because the letter macros are a subset of the document 31 processing macros, you can use 32 <a href="definitions.html#TERMS_CONTROLMACRO">control macros</a> 33 to design correspondence to your own specifications. However, 34 <strong>mom</strong> makes no pretence of providing complete design 35 flexibility in the matter of letters, which are, after all, simple 36 communicative documents whose only real style requirements are that 37 they be neat and professional-looking. 38 <p> 39 <a name="TUTORIAL"><h2><u>Tutorial on writing letters</u></h2></a> 40 <p> 41 <strong>Mom</strong> letters begin, like all 42 <strong>mom</strong>-processed documents, with a 43 <a href="docprocessing.html#REFERENCE_MACROS">reference macro</a> 44 (in this case, 45 <a href="docprocessing.html#AUTHOR">AUTHOR</a>), 46 a 47 <a href="docprocessing.html#DOCTYPE">DOCTYPE</a> 48 (<strong>LETTER</strong>, obviously), the essential 49 <a href="docprocessing.html#PRINTSTYLE">PRINTSTYLE</a> 50 macro, and 51 <a href="docprocessing.html#START">START</a>, 52 like this: 53 <p> 54 <pre> 55 .AUTHOR "Yannick P. Guique" 56 .DOCTYPE LETTER 57 .PRINTSTYLE TYPESET 58 .START 59 </pre> 60 61 <strong>PRINTSTYLE</strong>, above, could also be 62 <strong>TYPEWRITE</strong>. <strong>Mom</strong> has no objection 63 to creating letters that look like they were typed on an Underwood 64 by a shapely secretary with 1940s gams. 65 <p> 66 After the <strong>START</strong> macro, you enter headers pertinent to 67 your letter: the date, the addressee (in business correspondence, 68 typically both name and address), the addresser (that's you; in 69 business correspondence, typically both name and address), and a 70 greeting (in full, e.g. "Dear Mr. Smith," or "Dear 71 Mr. Smith:"). 72 <p> 73 The macros for entering the headers are simple (they're not even 74 <a href="definitions.html#TERMS_TOGGLE">toggles</a>): 75 <p> 76 <pre> 77 .DATE 78 .TO 79 .FROM 80 .GREETING 81 </pre> 82 83 You may enter them in any order you like, except for 84 <strong>GREETING</strong>, which must come last. 85 <strong>Mom</strong> ignores any headers you omit and spaces the 86 letter's opening according to what you do include. See 87 <a href="#LETTERS_DEFAULTS">Default for letters</a> 88 to find out how <strong>mom</strong> formats the headers. 89 <p> 90 (In pre 1.1.7-a releases of <strong>mom</strong>, the order 91 of entry was fixed at the above. This has been changed, although 92 if you do follow the above order, <strong>mom</strong> will 93 continue to behave exactly as she did in pre 1.1.7-a.) 94 <p> 95 Once you've filled in what you need to get a letter started, simply 96 type the letter, introducing each and every paragraph, including 97 the first, with the 98 <a href="docelement.html#PP">PP</a> 99 macro. 100 <p> 101 At the end of the letter, should you wish an indented closing 102 ("Yours truly," "Sincerely," "Hugs and 103 kisses"), invoke the macro <strong>CLOSING</strong> on a 104 line by itself and follow it with the text of the closing. 105 <strong>N.B.</strong> Don't put your name here; <strong>mom</strong> 106 supplies it automatically from <strong>AUTHOR</strong> with 107 enough space to leave room for your signature. 108 109 <p> 110 Assuming our tutorial letter is for business correspondence, 111 here's what the complete letter looks like. 112 <p> 113 <pre> 114 .AUTHOR "Yannick P. Guique" 115 .DOCTYPE LETTER 116 .PRINTSTYLE TYPESET 117 .START 118 .DATE 119 August 25, 2004 120 .TO 121 GUILLAUME BARRIRES 122 Minidoux Corporation 123 5000 Pannes Drive 124 Redmond, Virginia 125 .FROM 126 Y.P. GUIQUE 127 022 Umask Road 128 St-Sauveur-en-dehors-de-la-mappe, Qubec 129 .GREETING 130 Dear Mr. Barrires, 131 .PP 132 It has come to my attention that you have been lobbying the 133 US government to prohibit the use of open source software by 134 endeavouring to outlaw so-called "warranty free" 135 applications. 136 .PP 137 I feel it is my duty to inform you that the success of your 138 operating system with its embedded web browser relies heavily 139 on open source programs and protocols, most notably TCP/IP. 140 .PP 141 Therefore, in the interests of your corporation's fiscal health, 142 I strongly advise that you withdraw support for any US 143 legislation that would cripple or render illegal open source 144 development. 145 .CLOSING 146 Sincerely, 147 </pre> 148 149 This produces a letter with headers that follow the North American 150 standard for business correspondence. If you'd prefer another 151 style of correspondence, for example, British, you'd set up the 152 same letter like this: 153 <p> 154 <pre> 155 .AUTHOR "Yannick P. Guique" 156 .DOCTYPE LETTER 157 .PRINTSTYLE TYPESET 158 .START 159 .FROM 160 .RIGHT 161 Y.P. GUIQUE 162 022 Umask Road 163 St-Sauveur-en-dehors-de-la-mappe, Qubec 164 .TO 165 GUILLAUME BARRIRES 166 Minidoux Corporation 167 5000 Pannes Drive 168 Redmond, Virginia 169 .DATE 170 .RIGHT 171 August 25, 2004 172 .GREETING 173 Dear Mr. Barrires, 174 </pre> 175 176 Notice the use of <strong>.RIGHT</strong> after 177 <strong>.FROM</strong> and <strong>.DATE</strong> in this example, 178 used to change the default quad for these macros. 179 <p> 180 <hr> 181 182 <a name="LETTERS_DEFAULTS"> 183 <h2><u>Defaults for letters</u></h2> 184 </a> 185 186 In letters, if the order of header macros is 187 <p> 188 <pre> 189 .DATE 190 .TO 191 .FROM 192 .GREETING 193 </pre> 194 195 <strong>mom</strong> sets 196 <br> 197 <ol> 198 <li>the date flush right, page right, at the top of page one, 199 with a gap of two linespaces underneath 200 <li>the addressee in a block flush left, page left, with a gap of 201 one linespace underneath 202 <li>the addresser in a block flush left, page left, with a gap of 203 one linespace underneath 204 <li>the greeting flush left, with a gap of one linespace 205 underneath 206 </ol> 207 <p> 208 which is the standard for North American business correspondence. 209 <p> 210 If you switch the order of <strong>.DATE</strong>, 211 <strong>.TO</strong> and/or <strong>.FROM</strong>, 212 <strong>mom</strong> sets all the headers flush left, with a gap of 213 one linespace underneath each. (The default left quad of any header 214 can be changed by invoking the <strong>.RIGHT</strong> macro, on 215 a line by itself, immediately before inputting the text of the 216 header.) 217 <p> 218 Following the headers, <strong>mom</strong> sets 219 <p> 220 <ul> 221 <li>the body of the letter justified 222 <li>in multi-page letters: 223 <ul> 224 <li>a footer indicating there's a next page (of the form <code>.../#</code>) 225 <li>the page number at the top of every page after page one 226 </ul> 227 <li>the closing/signature line flush left, indented halfway across the page 228 </ul> 229 <p> 230 Other important style defaults are listed below, and may be changed 231 via the 232 <a href="typesetting.html#MACROS_TYPESETTING">typesetting macros</a> 233 or the document processing 234 <a href="definitions.html#TERMS_CONTROLMACRO">control macros</a> 235 prior to 236 <a href="docprocessing.html#START">START</a>. Assume that any 237 style parameter not listed below is the same as for 238 <a href="docprocessing.html#TYPESET_DEFAULTS">PRINTSTYLE TYPESET</a> 239 or 240 <a href="docprocessing.html#TYPEWRITE_DEFAULTS">PRINTSTYLE TYPEWRITE</a>. 241 <p> 242 <pre> 243 PARAMETER PRINTSTYLE TYPESET PRINTSTYLE TYPEWRITE 244 --------- ------------------ -------------------- 245 246 Paper size 8.5 x 11 inches 8.5 x 11 inches 247 Left/right margins 1.25 inches 1.25 inches 248 Header margin 3.5 picas 3.5 picas 249 (for page numbers) 250 Header gap 3 picas 3 picas 251 (for page numbers) 252 Family Times Roman Courier 253 Font roman roman 254 Point size 12 12 255 Line space 13.5 12 (i.e. singlespaced) 256 Paragraph indent 3 ems 3 picas 257 Spaced paragraphs yes no 258 Footers* yes yes 259 Footer margin 3 picas 3 picas 260 Footer gap 3 picas 3 picas 261 Page numbers top, centred top, centred 262 263 *Footers contain a "next page" number of the form .../# 264 </pre> 265 <hr> 266 267 <a name="LETTERS_MACROS"> 268 <h2><u>The letter macros</u></h2> 269 </a> 270 271 All letter macros must come after 272 <a href="docprocessing.html#START">START</a>, 273 except <strong>NO_SUITE</strong>. 274 <p> 275 <ul> 276 <li><a href="#DATE">DATE</a> 277 <li><a href="#TO">TO</a> 278 <li><a href="#FROM">FROM</a> 279 <li><a href="#GREETING">GREETING</a> 280 <li><a href="#CLOSING">CLOSING</a> 281 <li><a href="#NO_SUITE">NO_SUITE</a> -- "next page" number off 282 </ul> 283 <br> 284 285 <!---DATE---> 286 287 <hr width="66%" align="left"> 288 <p> 289 <a name="DATE"></a> 290 Macro: <strong>DATE</strong> 291 292 <p> 293 Invoke <strong>DATE</strong> on a line by itself, with the date 294 underneath, like this: 295 <p> 296 <pre> 297 .DATE 298 October 31, 2002 299 </pre> 300 301 If you wish to change the default quad direction for the date, 302 enter <kbd>.LEFT</kbd> or <kbd>.RIGHT</kbd>, on a line by itself, 303 immediately after <kbd>.DATE</kbd>. 304 <p> 305 If you wish to insert additional space between the date and any 306 letter header that comes after it, do so after inputting the date, 307 not at the top of the next header macro, like this: 308 <p> 309 <pre> 310 .DATE 311 October 31, 2002 312 .SPACE \" Or, more simply, .SP 313 </pre> 314 315 If you wish to remove the default space, 316 <p> 317 <pre> 318 .SPACE -1v \" Or, more simply, .SP -1v 319 </pre> 320 321 will do the trick. 322 <p> 323 324 <!---TO---> 325 326 <hr width="66%" align="left"> 327 <p> 328 <a name="TO"></a> 329 Macro: <strong>TO</strong> 330 331 <p> 332 Invoke <strong>TO</strong> on a line by itself, with the name 333 and address of the addressee underneath, like this: 334 <p> 335 <pre> 336 .TO 337 JOHN SMITH 338 10 Roberts Crescent 339 Bramladesh, Ont. 340 </pre> 341 342 If you wish to change the default quad direction for the address, 343 enter <kbd>.LEFT</kbd> or <kbd>.RIGHT</kbd>, on a line by itself, 344 immediately after <kbd>.TO</kbd>. 345 <p> 346 If you wish to insert additional space between the address and 347 any letter header that comes after it, do so after inputting the 348 address, not at the top of the next header macro, like this: 349 <p> 350 <pre> 351 .TO 352 JOHN SMITH 353 10 Roberts Crescent 354 Bramladesh, Ont. 355 .SPACE \" Or, more simply, .SP 356 </pre> 357 358 If you wish to remove the default space, 359 <p> 360 <pre> 361 .SPACE -1v \" Or, more simply, .SP -1v 362 </pre> 363 364 will do the trick. 365 <p> 366 367 <!---FROM---> 368 369 <hr width="66%" align="left"> 370 <p> 371 <a name="FROM"></a> 372 Macro: <strong>FROM</strong> 373 374 <p> 375 Invoke <strong>FROM</strong> on a line by itself, with the name 376 and address of the addresser underneath, like this: 377 <p> 378 <pre> 379 .FROM 380 JOE BLOW 381 15 Brunette Road 382 Ste-Vieille-Andouille, Qubec 383 </pre> 384 385 If you wish to change the default quad direction for the address, 386 enter <kbd>.LEFT</kbd> or <kbd>.RIGHT</kbd>, on a line by itself, 387 immediately after <kbd>.FROM</kbd>. 388 <p> 389 If you wish to insert additional space between the address and 390 any letter header that comes after it, do so after inputting the 391 address, not at the top of the next header macro, like this: 392 <p> 393 <pre> 394 .FROM 395 JOE BLOW 396 15 Brunette Road 397 Ste-Vieille-Andouille, Qubec 398 .SPACE \" Or, more simply, .SP 399 </pre> 400 401 If you wish to remove the default space, 402 <p> 403 <pre> 404 .SPACE -1v \" Or, more simply, .SP -1v 405 </pre> 406 407 will do the trick. 408 <p> 409 410 <!---GREETING---> 411 412 <hr width="66%" align="left"> 413 <p> 414 <a name="GREETING"></a> 415 Macro: <strong>GREETING</strong> 416 417 <p> 418 Invoke <strong>GREETING</strong> on a line by itself, with the 419 full salutation you want for the letter, like this: 420 <p> 421 <pre> 422 .GREETING 423 Dear Mr. Smith, 424 </pre> 425 426 <!---CLOSING---> 427 428 <hr width="66%" align="left"> 429 <p> 430 <a name="CLOSING"></a> 431 Macro: <strong>CLOSING</strong> 432 433 <p> 434 Invoke <strong>CLOSING</strong> on a line by itself after the 435 body of the letter, with the closing you'd like (e.g. "Yours 436 truly,"), like this: 437 <p> 438 <pre> 439 .CLOSING 440 Yours truly, 441 </pre> 442 443 <!---NO_SUITE---> 444 445 <hr width="66%" align="left"> 446 <p> 447 <a name="NO_SUITE"></a> 448 Macro: <strong>NO_SUITE</strong> 449 450 <p> 451 If you don't want <strong>mom</strong> to print a "next 452 page" number at the bottom of multi-page letters, invoke 453 <code>.NO_SUITE</code>, on a line by itself, prior to 454 <a href="docprocessing.html#START">START</a>. 455 456 <p> 457 <hr> 458 <a href="macrolist.html#TOP">Next</a> 459 <a href="refer.html#TOP">Prev</a> 460 <a href="#TOP">Top</a> 461 <a href="toc.html">Back to Table of Contents</a> 462 </body> 463 </html> 464
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