# Often referenced questions

I keep seeing the same bad coding styles being used in MWE or even recommended in answers or comments. There are also some FAQs (like the famous and repeatable asked how-to-place-my-figure-here question) which need to be linked to the appropriate existing question. Sometimes I have issues finding the related question quickly even if I already linked to it a couple of times before.

So I thought it would be good to have a collection of such often references questions sorted after topic in a meta post similar to our create Text building blocks.

Questions should be listed after topic. Every topic as CW answer to this post. Please use the following format:

## Topic Headline at Start of Answer Post

* [question title](http://tex.stackexchange.com/q/<question id>) [2 spaces] [linebreak]
[question title](http://tex.stackexchange.com/q/<question id>)


This way the question is provided as link (for quick access from this page) as well as markdown code suitable for comments (and as in-line link in a chat message). The URL can be received by using the link link below a question. There is also an stackapps app (modified by me) which produces this format. The include /<user id> should be removed to have the links in a neutral form. The two spaces and line break after the first line makes sure that the code starts at a new line.

Topic headers at the start of every answer post should be done using second order headlines, i.e. ## Topic. The first order headlines are a little to large IMHO.

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Great list: thanks Martin! –  Joseph Wright Apr 14 '12 at 16:43
@doncherry: Good idea with the quick links, thank you! –  Jake May 8 '12 at 19:58
@Jake: I was thinking to add a bullet-point list at the bottom myself, but it didn't looked good. I like the top list in this form much better. –  Martin Scharrer May 8 '12 at 20:03
@MartinScharrer I'm not sure if the format with several categories in separate answers is working out. We have 26 questions in 12 answers, that's about two per category, and whenever I want to add a question, I'm having trouble finding the right category. One answer with broader categories might be a better solution and more flexible? –  doncherry Nov 16 '12 at 21:34
@doncherry: Sorry, I forgot to return to this. I understand your issue. Changing it all now again might not be the best thing either. We still could broaden the existing topics while leaving them separate answers. –  Martin Scharrer Nov 22 '12 at 7:38
I tried editing to include meta.tex.stackexchange.com/a/3972/586, but I got an error saying that the mod-only tag featured should be included. –  Torbjørn T. Nov 27 '13 at 20:26

## Symbols

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Couldn't really find a good category for How do I find out what fonts are used in a document/picture? ... feel free to place it elsewhere. –  doncherry Jun 15 '12 at 11:48

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## Math environments

Preferred LaTeX coding

Sizing delimiters, \left / \right problems

Aligning things properly in multi-line displays

Spacing around and between display equations

Equation numbering

Text within a display block (\intertext et al.)

Under- and overbraces vs. delimiters (size and relative placement)

Spacing around math atoms (table)

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## Frequent source code related issues

Use of percent signs (%)

LaTeX internal commands with at signs (@)

LaTeX3 syntax

Not ending paragraphs with a double backslash

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I have issues finding a right title here. Feel free to change it. Not sure if there are more questions which fall under this topic. –  Martin Scharrer Apr 17 '12 at 16:48
I'd suggest tex.stackexchange.com/questions/7453/… as the canonical question about %, as it doesn't contain a second question about braces. –  Caramdir Jun 27 '12 at 16:05

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## Old font macros

I need the following text quite often, so I post it here:

Please note that the \it, \bf, etc. font macros are deprecated because
they do not use the new font selection scheme introduced with LaTeX2e.
Please use {\itshape ..}, {\bfseries ..} or \textit{..}, \textbf{..} instead.
See [Does it matter if I use \textit or \it, \bfseries or \bf, etc.](http://tex.stackexchange.com/q/516)
and [Will two-letter font style commands (\bf, \it, …) ever be resurrected in LaTeX?](http://tex.stackexchange.com/q/15361)

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## Spacing and pagination

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there are many, many questions that ask why there isn't a space following some command; many could be combined, but most haven't. i've just added the [spacing] tag to several that didn't have it (apologies for kicking them to the active list; most did have the tag already). i think this concept is a good candidate for addition here, but can't decide among the pertinent questions. some candidates (only the numbers, or i'll run out of space here): 14526, 17730, 17872 (closed ==> 17730), 25820, 29211, 44878, 79760 (closed ==> 14526), probably more –  barbara beeton Oct 30 '12 at 21:16
since you're the one who added this category, there are quite a few questions about removing vertical space, especially before chapter headings. among them (numbers only): 17299, 39988, 43087, 44751, 70156, 79232, 109722, possibly more. i didn't check for xrefs, but suspect that there are some. –  barbara beeton May 9 '13 at 20:24

## Documentation & Definition of commands

### texdoc

LaTeX, package documentation look-up
[LaTeX, package documentation look-up](http://tex.stackexchange.com/q/62653)

### texdef & friends

Where do I find out how a command/environment is defined?
[Where do I find out how a command/environment is defined?](http://tex.stackexchange.com/q/4327)

Display source for a command
[Display source for a command](http://tex.stackexchange.com/q/36955)

### source2e, macros2e

Documentation reference for LaTeX internal commands?
[Documentation reference for LaTeX internal commands?](http://tex.stackexchange.com/q/4790)

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## Fonts & Font encoding

when using T1 font encoding, one should also

[load vector fonts](http://tex.stackexchange.com/q/1291)

hyphenation problems with accented characters

using Times (the times package is obsolete)

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