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16 <h1 align="center"><u>WRITING LETTERS WITH MOM</u></h1>
19 <a name="LETTERS_INTRO">
20 <h2><u>Introduction</u></h2>
23 <strong>Mom</strong>'s simple but effective letter-writing
24 macros are a subset of the
25 <a href="docprocessing.html#DOCPROCESSING">document processing macros</a>,
26 designed to ease the creation of correspondence.
28 Because the letter macros are a subset of the document
29 processing macros, you can use
30 <a href="definitions.html#TERMS_CONTROLMACRO">control macros</a>
31 to design correspondence to your own specifications. However,
32 <strong>mom</strong> makes no pretence of providing complete design
33 flexibility in the matter of letters, which are, after all, simple
34 communicative documents whose only real style requirements are that
35 they be neat and professional-looking.
37 <a name="TUTORIAL"><h2><u>Tutorial on writing letters</u></h2></a>
39 <strong>Mom</strong> letters begin, like all <strong>mom</strong>
40 processed documents, with a
41 <a href="docprocessing.html#REFERENCE_MACROS">reference macro</a>
43 <a href="docprocessing.html#AUTHOR">AUTHOR</a>),
45 <a href="docprocessing.html#DOCTYPE">DOCTYPE</a>
46 (<strong>LETTER</strong>, obviously), the essential
47 <a href="docprocessing.html#PRINTSTYLE">PRINTSTYLE</a>
49 <a href="docprocessing.html#START">START</a>.
52 .AUTHOR "Yannick P. Guique"
58 <strong>PRINTSTYLE</strong>, above, could also be
59 <strong>TYPEWRITE</strong>. <strong>Mom</strong> has no objection
60 to creating letters that look like they were typed on an Underwood
61 by a shapely secretary with great gams back in the 1940s.
63 After the <strong>START</strong> macro, you enter data pertinent to
64 your letter: the date, the addressee (in business correspondence,
65 typically both name and address), the addressor (that's you; in
66 business correspondence, typically both name and address), and a
67 greeting (in full, e.g. "Dear Mr. Smith,").
69 The macros for entering the data are simple (they're not even
70 <a href="definitions.html#TERMS_TOGGLE">toggles</a>)
71 and entered in an intuitive order.
74 <li><code>.DATE</code>
76 <li><code>.FROM</code>
77 <li><code>.GREETING</code>
80 <strong>Mom</strong> ignores any you omit and spaces the letter's
81 opening according to what you do include.
83 Once you've filled in what you need to get a letter started, simply
84 type the letter, introducing each and every paragraph with the
85 <a href="docelement.html#PP">PP</a>
88 At the end of the letter, should you wish an indented closing
89 ("Yours truly," "Sincerely," "Hugs and
90 kisses"), invoke the macro <strong>CLOSING</strong> on a
91 line by itself and follow it with the text of the closing.
92 <strong>N.B.</strong> Don't put your name here; <strong>mom</strong>
93 supplies it automatically from <strong>AUTHOR</strong> with
94 enough space to leave room for your signature.
97 Assuming our tutorial letter is for business correspondence,
98 here's what the complete letter looks like.
101 .AUTHOR "Yannick P. Guique"
115 St-Sauveur-en-dehors-de-la-mappe, Québec
119 It has come to my attention that you have been lobbying the
120 US government to prohibit the use of open source software by
121 endeavouring to outlaw so-called "warranty free"
124 I feel it is my duty to inform you that the success of your
125 operating system with its embedded web browser relies heavily
126 on open source programs and protocols, most notably TCP/IP.
128 Therefore, in the interests of your corporation's fiscal health,
129 I strongly advise that you withdraw support for any US
130 legislation that would cripple or render illegal open source
137 <a name="LETTERS_DEFAULTS">
138 <h2><u>Defaults for letters</u></h2>
141 In letters, <strong>mom</strong> sets:
144 <li>the date flush right, page right, at the top of page one
145 <li>the addressee in a block flush left, page left
146 <li>the addressor in a block flush left, page left
147 <li>the greeting flush left
148 <li>the body of the letter justified
149 <li>in multi-page letters:
151 <li>a footer indicating there's a next page (of the form <code>.../#</code>)
152 <li>the page number at the top of every page after page one
154 <li>the closing/signature line flush left, indented halfway across the page
157 Other important style defaults are listed below, and may be changed
159 <a href="typesetting.html#MACROS_TYPESETTING">typesetting macros</a>
160 or the document processing
161 <a href="definitions.html#TERMS_CONTROLMACRO">control macros</a>
163 <a href="docprocessing.html#START">START</a>. Assume that any
164 style parameter not listed below is the same as for
165 <a href="docprocessing.html#TYPESET_DEFAULTS">PRINTSTYLE TYPESET</a>
167 <a href="docprocessing.html#TYPEWRITE_DEFAULTS">PRINTSTYLE TYPEWRITE</a>.
170 PARAMETER PRINTSTYLE TYPESET PRINTSTYLE TYPEWRITE
171 --------- ------------------ --------------------
173 Paper size 8.5 x 11 inches 8.5 x 11 inches
174 Left/right margins 1.25 inches 1.25 inches
175 Header margin 3.5 picas 3.5 picas
177 Header gap 3 picas 3 picas
179 Family Times Roman Courier
182 Line space 13.5 12 (i.e. singlespaced)
183 Paragraph indent 3 ems 3 picas
184 Spaced paragraphs yes no
186 Footer margin 3 picas 3 picas
187 Footer gap 3 picas 3 picas
188 Page numbers top, centered top, centered
190 *Footers contain a "next page" number of the form .../#
194 <a name="LETTERS_MACROS">
195 <h2><u>The letter macros</u></h2>
198 All letter macros must come after
199 <a href="docprocessing.html#START">START</a>,
200 except <strong>NO_SUITE</strong>.
203 <li><a href="#DATE">DATE</a>
204 <li><a href="#TO">TO</a>
205 <li><a href="#FROM">FROM</a>
206 <li><a href="#GREETING">GREETING</a>
207 <li><a href="#CLOSING">CLOSING</a>
208 <li><a href="#NO_SUITE">NO_SUITE</a> -- "next page" number off
213 <hr width="66%" align="left">
216 Macro: <strong>DATE</strong>
219 Invoke <strong>DATE</strong> on a line by itself, with the date
220 underneath, like this:
229 <hr width="66%" align="left">
232 Macro: <strong>TO</strong>
235 Invoke <strong>TO</strong> on a line by itself, with the name
236 and address of the addressee underneath, like this:
247 <hr width="66%" align="left">
250 Macro: <strong>FROM</strong>
253 Invoke <strong>FROM</strong> on a line by itself, with the name
254 and address of the addressor underneath, like this:
260 Ste-Vieille-Andouille, Québec
265 <hr width="66%" align="left">
267 <a name="GREETING"></a>
268 Macro: <strong>GREETING</strong>
271 Invoke <strong>GREETING</strong> on a line by itself, with the
272 full salutation you want for the letter, like this:
281 <hr width="66%" align="left">
283 <a name="CLOSING"></a>
284 Macro: <strong>CLOSING</strong>
287 Invoke <strong>CLOSING</strong> on a line by itself after the
288 body of the letter, with the closing you'd like (e.g. "Yours
289 truly,"), like this:
298 <hr width="66%" align="left">
300 <a name="NO_SUITE"></a>
301 Macro: <strong>NO_SUITE</strong>
304 If you don't want <strong>mom</strong> to print a "next
305 page" number at the bottom of multi-page letters, invoke
306 <code>.NO_SUITE</code>, on a line by itself, prior to
307 <a href="docprocessing.html#START">START</a>.
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