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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 26macros are a subset of the 27<a href="docprocessing.html#DOCPROCESSING">document processing macros</a>, 28designed to ease the creation of correspondence. 29<p> 30Because the letter macros are a subset of the document 31processing macros, you can use 32<a href="definitions.html#TERMS_CONTROLMACRO">control macros</a> 33to design correspondence to your own specifications. However, 34<strong>mom</strong> makes no pretence of providing complete design 35flexibility in the matter of letters, which are, after all, simple 36communicative documents whose only real style requirements are that 37they 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>), 46a 47<a href="docprocessing.html#DOCTYPE">DOCTYPE</a> 48(<strong>LETTER</strong>, obviously), the essential 49<a href="docprocessing.html#PRINTSTYLE">PRINTSTYLE</a> 50macro, and 51<a href="docprocessing.html#START">START</a>, 52like 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 63to creating letters that look like they were typed on an Underwood 64by a shapely secretary with 1940s gams. 65<p> 66After the <strong>START</strong> macro, you enter headers pertinent to 67your letter: the date, the addressee (in business correspondence, 68typically both name and address), the addresser (that's you; in 69business correspondence, typically both name and address), and a 70greeting (in full, e.g. "Dear Mr. Smith," or "Dear 71Mr. Smith:"). 72<p> 73The 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 83You 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 86letter's opening according to what you do include. See 87<a href="#LETTERS_DEFAULTS">Default for letters</a> 88to 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 91of entry was fixed at the above. This has been changed, although 92if you do follow the above order, <strong>mom</strong> will 93continue to behave exactly as she did in pre 1.1.7-a.) 94<p> 95Once you've filled in what you need to get a letter started, simply 96type the letter, introducing each and every paragraph, including 97the first, with the 98<a href="docelement.html#PP">PP</a> 99macro. 100<p> 101At the end of the letter, should you wish an indented closing 102("Yours truly," "Sincerely," "Hugs and 103kisses"), invoke the macro <strong>CLOSING</strong> on a 104line 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> 106supplies it automatically from <strong>AUTHOR</strong> with 107enough space to leave room for your signature. 108 109<p> 110Assuming our tutorial letter is for business correspondence, 111here'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 BARRIČRES 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, Québec 129 .GREETING 130 Dear Mr. Barričres, 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 149This produces a letter with headers that follow the North American 150standard for business correspondence. If you'd prefer another 151style of correspondence, for example, British, you'd set up the 152same 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, Québec 164 .TO 165 GUILLAUME BARRIČRES 166 Minidoux Corporation 167 5000 Pannes Drive 168 Redmond, Virginia 169 .DATE 170 .RIGHT 171 August 25, 2004 172 .GREETING 173 Dear Mr. Barričres, 174</pre> 175 176Notice the use of <strong>.RIGHT</strong> after 177<strong>.FROM</strong> and <strong>.DATE</strong> in this example, 178used 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 186In 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, 199with a gap of two linespaces underneath 200 <li>the addressee in a block flush left, page left, with a gap of 201one linespace underneath 202 <li>the addresser in a block flush left, page left, with a gap of 203one linespace underneath 204 <li>the greeting flush left, with a gap of one linespace 205underneath 206</ol> 207<p> 208which is the standard for North American business correspondence. 209<p> 210If 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 213one linespace underneath each. (The default left quad of any header 214can be changed by invoking the <strong>.RIGHT</strong> macro, on 215a line by itself, immediately before inputting the text of the 216header.) 217<p> 218Following 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> 230Other important style defaults are listed below, and may be changed 231via the 232<a href="typesetting.html#MACROS_TYPESETTING">typesetting macros</a> 233or the document processing 234<a href="definitions.html#TERMS_CONTROLMACRO">control macros</a> 235prior to 236<a href="docprocessing.html#START">START</a>. Assume that any 237style parameter not listed below is the same as for 238<a href="docprocessing.html#TYPESET_DEFAULTS">PRINTSTYLE TYPESET</a> 239or 240<a href="docprocessing.html#TYPEWRITE_DEFAULTS">PRINTSTYLE TYPEWRITE</a>. 241<p> 242<pre> 243PARAMETER PRINTSTYLE TYPESET PRINTSTYLE TYPEWRITE 244--------- ------------------ -------------------- 245 246Paper size 8.5 x 11 inches 8.5 x 11 inches 247Left/right margins 1.25 inches 1.25 inches 248Header margin 3.5 picas 3.5 picas 249 (for page numbers) 250Header gap 3 picas 3 picas 251 (for page numbers) 252Family Times Roman Courier 253Font roman roman 254Point size 12 12 255Line space 13.5 12 (i.e. singlespaced) 256Paragraph indent 3 ems 3 picas 257Spaced paragraphs yes no 258Footers* yes yes 259Footer margin 3 picas 3 picas 260Footer gap 3 picas 3 picas 261Page 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 271All letter macros must come after 272<a href="docprocessing.html#START">START</a>, 273except <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> 290Macro: <strong>DATE</strong> 291 292<p> 293Invoke <strong>DATE</strong> on a line by itself, with the date 294underneath, like this: 295<p> 296<pre> 297 .DATE 298 October 31, 2002 299</pre> 300 301If you wish to change the default quad direction for the date, 302enter <kbd>.LEFT</kbd> or <kbd>.RIGHT</kbd>, on a line by itself, 303immediately after <kbd>.DATE</kbd>. 304<p> 305If you wish to insert additional space between the date and any 306letter header that comes after it, do so after inputting the date, 307not 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 315If you wish to remove the default space, 316<p> 317<pre> 318 .SPACE -1v \" Or, more simply, .SP -1v 319</pre> 320 321will do the trick. 322<p> 323 324<!---TO---> 325 326<hr width="66%" align="left"> 327<p> 328<a name="TO"></a> 329Macro: <strong>TO</strong> 330 331<p> 332Invoke <strong>TO</strong> on a line by itself, with the name 333and 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 342If you wish to change the default quad direction for the address, 343enter <kbd>.LEFT</kbd> or <kbd>.RIGHT</kbd>, on a line by itself, 344immediately after <kbd>.TO</kbd>. 345<p> 346If you wish to insert additional space between the address and 347any letter header that comes after it, do so after inputting the 348address, 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 358If you wish to remove the default space, 359<p> 360<pre> 361 .SPACE -1v \" Or, more simply, .SP -1v 362</pre> 363 364will do the trick. 365<p> 366 367<!---FROM---> 368 369<hr width="66%" align="left"> 370<p> 371<a name="FROM"></a> 372Macro: <strong>FROM</strong> 373 374<p> 375Invoke <strong>FROM</strong> on a line by itself, with the name 376and address of the addresser underneath, like this: 377<p> 378<pre> 379 .FROM 380 JOE BLOW 381 15 Brunette Road 382 Ste-Vieille-Andouille, Québec 383</pre> 384 385If you wish to change the default quad direction for the address, 386enter <kbd>.LEFT</kbd> or <kbd>.RIGHT</kbd>, on a line by itself, 387immediately after <kbd>.FROM</kbd>. 388<p> 389If you wish to insert additional space between the address and 390any letter header that comes after it, do so after inputting the 391address, 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, Québec 398 .SPACE \" Or, more simply, .SP 399</pre> 400 401If you wish to remove the default space, 402<p> 403<pre> 404 .SPACE -1v \" Or, more simply, .SP -1v 405</pre> 406 407will do the trick. 408<p> 409 410<!---GREETING---> 411 412<hr width="66%" align="left"> 413<p> 414<a name="GREETING"></a> 415Macro: <strong>GREETING</strong> 416 417<p> 418Invoke <strong>GREETING</strong> on a line by itself, with the 419full 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> 431Macro: <strong>CLOSING</strong> 432 433<p> 434Invoke <strong>CLOSING</strong> on a line by itself after the 435body of the letter, with the closing you'd like (e.g. "Yours 436truly,"), 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> 448Macro: <strong>NO_SUITE</strong> 449 450<p> 451If you don't want <strong>mom</strong> to print a "next 452page" 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>