tomevault-io Retro LaTeX-Style PDF Generation
Convert markdown documents to professional, retro LaTeX-style PDFs with academic formatting.
Features
- LaTeX/Academic styling - Libre Baskerville font (similar to Computer Modern), tight paragraph spacing
- Clickable Table of Contents - Auto-generated TOC with anchor links to all sections
- Geek Corner / Example Corner boxes - Open-ended table style with horizontal rules (title separated from content by thin line)
- Academic tables - Horizontal rules only, italic headers, no vertical borders
- Full references section - Proper citations with clickable URLs
- No headers/footers - Clean pages without date/time stamps
Usage
When the user asks to convert a markdown document to a retro/LaTeX-style PDF, follow this process:
Step 1: Create the HTML Template
Create an HTML file with this exact structure and styling:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>{{DOCUMENT_TITLE}}</title>
<style>
@import url('https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Libre+Baskerville:ital,wght@0,400;0,700;1,400&display=swap');
body {
font-family: 'Libre Baskerville', 'Computer Modern', Georgia, serif;
font-size: 10.5pt;
line-height: 1.35;
max-width: 680px;
margin: 40px auto;
padding: 0 20px;
color: #000;
background: #fff;
}
h1 {
font-size: 16pt;
font-weight: bold;
text-align: center;
margin-bottom: 6px;
line-height: 1.2;
}
.subtitle {
text-align: center;
font-style: italic;
font-size: 9.5pt;
margin-bottom: 20px;
color: #000;
}
h2 {
font-size: 12pt;
font-weight: bold;
margin-top: 18px;
margin-bottom: 8px;
}
h3 {
font-size: 10.5pt;
font-weight: bold;
margin-top: 14px;
margin-bottom: 6px;
}
h4 {
font-size: 10.5pt;
font-weight: bold;
font-style: italic;
margin-top: 12px;
margin-bottom: 5px;
}
p {
margin-bottom: 6px;
text-align: justify;
text-justify: inter-word;
}
ul, ol {
margin: 4px 0 6px 20px;
padding: 0;
}
li {
margin-bottom: 2px;
}
/* Table of Contents */
.toc {
margin: 20px 0 30px 0;
}
.toc-title {
font-weight: bold;
font-size: 11pt;
margin-bottom: 10px;
}
.toc ul {
list-style: none;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}
.toc li {
margin-bottom: 3px;
}
.toc a {
color: #000;
text-decoration: none;
}
.toc a:hover {
text-decoration: underline;
}
.toc .toc-h2 {
margin-left: 0;
}
.toc .toc-h3 {
margin-left: 15px;
font-size: 9.5pt;
}
/* Geek Corner / Example Corner - open table style like LaTeX */
.geek-corner {
margin: 14px 0;
padding: 0;
}
.geek-corner-top {
border-top: 1.5px solid #000;
padding-top: 8px;
padding-bottom: 6px;
border-bottom: 1px solid #000;
}
.geek-corner-bottom {
border-bottom: 1.5px solid #000;
padding-top: 6px;
padding-bottom: 8px;
}
.geek-corner-title {
font-weight: bold;
}
.geek-corner-content {
font-style: italic;
}
blockquote {
margin: 10px 0 10px 0;
padding: 0 0 0 20px;
font-style: italic;
}
code {
font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;
font-size: 9.5pt;
}
/* Tables - open style with horizontal rules only */
table {
width: 100%;
border-collapse: collapse;
margin: 12px 0;
font-size: 10pt;
}
th {
border-top: 1.5px solid #000;
border-bottom: 1px solid #000;
padding: 6px 8px;
text-align: left;
font-weight: normal;
font-style: italic;
}
td {
padding: 5px 8px;
border-bottom: 1px solid #000;
vertical-align: top;
}
tr:last-child td {
border-bottom: 1.5px solid #000;
}
hr {
border: none;
border-top: 1px solid #000;
margin: 20px 0;
}
strong {
font-weight: bold;
}
em {
font-style: italic;
}
.footnote {
font-size: 8.5pt;
margin-top: 30px;
padding-top: 10px;
border-top: 1px solid #000;
}
.footnote a {
color: #000;
word-break: break-all;
}
sup {
font-size: 7pt;
}
sup a {
color: #000;
text-decoration: none;
}
.key-takeaway {
margin: 10px 0;
}
.key-takeaway strong {
font-weight: bold;
}
@media print {
body {
margin: 0;
padding: 15px;
font-size: 10pt;
}
@page {
margin: 1.8cm;
size: A4;
}
a {
color: #000;
}
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<!-- CONTENT GOES HERE -->
</body>
</html>
Step 2: Structure the Content
Title and Subtitle
<h1>Document Title</h1>
<p class="subtitle">Subtitle or tagline in italics</p>
<hr>
Table of Contents
<div class="toc">
<div class="toc-title">Contents</div>
<ul>
<li class="toc-h2"><a href="#sec1">1. Section Title</a></li>
<li class="toc-h3"><a href="#sec1-1">1.1 Subsection Title</a></li>
<!-- ... more entries ... -->
<li class="toc-h2"><a href="#references">References</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<hr>
Section Headings (with anchor IDs)
<h2 id="sec1">1. Section Title</h2>
<h3 id="sec1-1">1.1 Subsection Title</h3>
<h4>Step 1: Sub-subsection (italic)</h4>
Geek Corner / Example Corner Box
<div class="geek-corner">
<div class="geek-corner-top">
<span class="geek-corner-title">Geek Corner: Title Here</span>
</div>
<div class="geek-corner-bottom">
<span class="geek-corner-content">"The witty or insightful quote goes here in italics."</span>
</div>
</div>
Tables (Academic Style)
<table>
<tr>
<th>Column 1</th>
<th>Column 2</th>
<th>Column 3</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Data</td>
<td>Data</td>
<td>Data</td>
</tr>
</table>
Footnote References (in text)
<sup><a href="#ref1">[1]</a></sup>
References Section
<hr>
<h2 id="references">References</h2>
<div class="footnote" style="border-top: none; margin-top: 10px; padding-top: 0;">
<p id="ref1"><strong>[1]</strong> Author, Name. "Article Title." Publication (Year). <a href="https://url.com" target="_blank">https://url.com</a> - Brief description.</p>
<p id="ref2"><strong>[2]</strong> ...</p>
</div>
Key Takeaway
<p class="key-takeaway"><strong>Key Takeaway:</strong> Important summary text here.</p>
Step 3: Generate the PDF
Use Chrome headless to generate the PDF without headers/footers:
"/Applications/Google Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google Chrome" \
--headless \
--disable-gpu \
--print-to-pdf="/path/to/output.pdf" \
--print-to-pdf-no-header \
--no-pdf-header-footer \
"file:///path/to/input.html"
On Linux:
google-chrome --headless --disable-gpu --print-to-pdf="/path/to/output.pdf" --print-to-pdf-no-header --no-pdf-header-footer "file:///path/to/input.html"
Style Guidelines
Paragraphs: Keep text dense and justified. Collapse bullet points into flowing prose where appropriate.
Geek Corner: Use for witty asides, technical insights, or memorable quotes. Always include:
- A catchy title (e.g., "Geek Corner: Amdahl's Law, App Edition")
- Italic content in quotes
Tables: Use sparingly for data comparisons. Always use the open style (horizontal rules only).
References: Always include full citations with:
- Author name
- Article/document title in quotes
- Publication/source and year
- Full clickable URL
- Brief description of what the reference covers
Spacing: Keep tight - 6px paragraph margins, 1.35 line height.
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