use geometry package

[bethard]

Many of the templates, e.g., titlepage.tex have the following in their preamble:

\setlength\topmargin{0.2cm} \setlength\oddsidemargin{-0cm}
\setlength\textheight{24.7cm} \setlength\textwidth{16cm}
\setlength\columnsep{0.6cm}  \newlength\titlebox \setlength\titlebox{2.00in}
\setlength\headheight{5pt}   \setlength\headsep{0pt}
\setlength\footskip{1.0cm}
\setlength\leftmargin{0.0in}

Could we replace this with the geometry package? I think it would be simpler to understand that way:

\usepackage[a4paper,margin=2.5cm,columnsep=0.6cm,headheight=5pt,headsep=0pt,footskip=1cm]{geometry}
\newlength\titlebox \setlength\titlebox{5cm}

[mjpost]

That seems more concise to me—I think it would just take testing, as well as a bit of research into whether the geometry package has any conflicts with other packages, like hyperref (in which case documenting those conflicts would also be a service).

[bethard]

I looked around a little for conflicts. The only thing I could find was a problem with the memoir document class (which has its own custom way of setting page geometry):
https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/384945/geometry-parameters-not-working-on-windows-but-working-on-mac

[rrgerber]

We (softconf) have been updating the templates based on what the previous ACL conference used. If you try this header on your site, and it works, then I will just fold it into the production templates to be used from now on.

[rrgerber]

Also, Steve, did you try using this header on the softconf.com system? Because it is an enterprise system, we use the stable versions CentOS, which are usually several versions behind other linux distros. Also, we are currently using TexLive 2017 but will be upgrading to 2020 shortly. In other words, if it works on our system it will probably work on any linux system. Don't worry about Windows!

[bethard]

I haven't tested this out yet. I didn't dare to try it in the middle of preparing ACL 2020 proceedings. But I will try it out later this summer if someone else doesn't beat me there.

[rrgerber]

2019.delfol2019-1.0.pdf

As you can see, the margins and footskip are not quite right. Perhaps you should try with one of your workshops. You can experiment on this site https://www.softconf.com/acl2019/delfol/ . I gave you pub access. When you find the correct settings, let me know.

[davidweichiang]

Definitely agree with using the geometry package, which is very, very standard. It should also replace all uses of fullpage.

I suspect not many people are using memoir together with these files.

[bethard]

Okay, so it doesn't look like I'm going to get time to try this out any time soon. So don't wait on me if anyone else has the time for this.