Chapter 5 – Beautiful Designs

Here are the Code examples of of this chapter. You can compile them online right on this web page by pressing the Typeset / Compile button. You can also edit them for testing, and compile again.

For a better view with the online compiler, I sometimes use \documentclass[border=10pt]{standalone} instead of \documentclass{article}. Instead of having a big letter/A4 page, the standalone class crops the paper to see just the visible text without an empty rest of a page.

Any question about a code example? Post it on LaTeX.org, I will answer. As forum admin I read every single question there. (profile link).

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{background}
\usepackage{blindtext}
\backgroundsetup{scale = 1, angle = 0, opacity = 0.2,
  contents = {\includegraphics[width = \paperwidth,
  height = \paperheight, keepaspectratio]
  {/usr/local/texlive/2021/texmf-dist/doc/latex/l2picfaq/ctanlion.pdf}}}
  % Adjust filename and path to match your own image 
\begin{document}
\Blinddocument
\end{document}

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{blindtext}
\usepackage{background}
\usetikzlibrary{calc}
\backgroundsetup{angle = 0, scale = 1, vshift = -2ex,
  contents = {\tikz[overlay, remember picture]
    \draw [rounded corners = 20pt, line width = 1pt,
           color = blue, fill = yellow!20, double = blue!10]
           ($(current page.north west)+(1cm,-1cm)$)
           rectangle ($(current page.south east)+(-1,1)$);}}
\pagestyle{empty}
\begin{document}
\Blinddocument
\end{document}

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{blindtext}
\usepackage{background}
\backgroundsetup{placement = top, angle = 0,
  scale = 4, color = blue!80,vshift = -0ex,
  contents = {--\thepage--}}
\pagestyle{empty}
\begin{document}
\Blinddocument
\end{document}

\documentclass[paper=a6,landscape,fontsize=30pt]{scrartcl}
\areaset{0.9\paperwidth}{0.68\paperheight}
\pagestyle{empty}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{calligra}
\usepackage{pgfornament}
\usetikzlibrary{calc}
\begin{document}
\centering
\begin{tikzpicture}[
    every node/.style       = {inner sep = 0pt},
    pgfornamentstyle/.style = {color     = green!50!black,
                               fill      = green!80!black}]
  \node [text width = 8cm, outer sep = 1.2cm, text centered,
    color = red!90!black, font = \calligra] (Greeting)
    { Happy Birthday,\\Dear Mom!\\[-1ex]
      \pgfornament[color = red!90!black, width = 2.5cm]{72}};
  \foreach \corner/\sym in {north west/none, north east/v,
      south west/h, south east/c} {
      \node [anchor = \corner] (\corner) at (Greeting.\corner)
        {\pgfornament[width = 2cm, symmetry = \sym]{63}};}
  \path (north west) -- (south west)
          node [midway, anchor = east]
               {\pgfornament[height = 2cm]{9}}
        (north east) -- (south east)
          node [midway, anchor = west]
               {\pgfornament[height = 2cm, symmetry = v]{9}};
  \pgfornamenthline{north west}{north east}{north}{87}
  \pgfornamenthline{south west}{south east}{south}{87}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

\documentclass[a7paper,fontsize=19pt]{scrartcl}
\usepackage[landscape,margin=1.2cm]{geometry}
\usepackage{pgfornament}
\usepackage{background}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{microtype}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{lmodern}
\backgroundsetup{angle=0, scale=1, opacity=1, color=black!60,
  contents={\begin{tikzpicture}[remember picture, overlay]
    \foreach \pos/\sym in {north west/none, north east/v,
      south west/h, south east/c} {
        \node[anchor=\pos] at (current page.\pos)
          {\pgfornament[width=2cm,symmetry=\sym]{63}};}
  \end{tikzpicture}}}
\begin{document}
\noindent\lipsum
\end{document}

\documentclass{scrartcl}
\usepackage[automark]{scrlayer-scrpage}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage{blindtext}
\PassOptionsToPackage{svgnames}{xcolor}
\usepackage{tikz}
\newcommand{\tikzhead}[1]{%
  \begin{tikzpicture}[remember picture,overlay]
    \node[yshift=-2cm] at (current page.north west)
      {\begin{tikzpicture}[remember picture, overlay]
        \path[draw=none, fill=LightSkyBlue] (0,0) rectangle
          (\paperwidth,2cm);
        \node[anchor=east,xshift=.9\paperwidth,rectangle,
              rounded corners=15pt,inner sep=11pt,
              fill=MidnightBlue,font=\sffamily\bfseries]
              {\color{white}#1};
       \end{tikzpicture}
      };
   \end{tikzpicture}}
\clearscrheadings
\ihead{\tikzhead{\headmark}}
\pagestyle{scrheadings}
\begin{document}
\tableofcontents
\clearpage
\blinddocument
\end{document}

\documentclass[DIV14]{scrartcl}
%\usepackage[margin = 2.5cm, a4paper]{geometry}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{calendar,positioning}
\newcommand{\calyear}{2016}
\newcommand{\mon}[1]{\calendar[dates = \calyear-#1-01
  to \calyear-#1-last] if (Sunday) [red];}
\pagestyle{empty}
\begin{document}
  \begin{tikzpicture}[every calendar/.style = {
      month label above centered,
      month text = {\Large\textsc{\%mt}},
      week list,
    }]
    \matrix (Calendar) [column sep = 4em, row sep = 3em] {
      \mon{01} & \mon{02} & \mon{03} \\
      \mon{04} & \mon{05} & \mon{06} \\
      \mon{07} & \mon{08} & \mon{09} \\
      \mon{10} & \mon{11} & \mon{12} \\ };
    \node [above = 1cm of Calendar, font = \Huge] {\calyear};
  \end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

\documentclass[a4paper]{scrartcl}
\usepackage{tikz}
\pagestyle{empty}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[remember picture,overlay]
  \draw[step=0.5cm, color=gray]
    (current page.south west) grid (current page.north east);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

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