Retrotype

Retrotype aims to replicate the look of old typewriter-made documents while keeping as many benefits of LaTeX as possible.

Usage

Consult the retrotype-guide.tex document or the manual for the list of available commands and practical examples of their usage. The compiled PDF version of retrotype-guide is available in Releases.

To build the retrotype-guide PDF using the provided scripts (make.sh for Linux, make.bat for Windows) you must have TeX Live and Ghostscript installed.

Showcase

• The Forbidden Temple of Pflarr GitHub, itch.io, blog

Changelog

v0.3 (2026-05-05)

• Added MANUAL.md
• Added some missing documentation to the retrotype-guide document
• Added batch scripts for Windows builds
• Changes:
  • tables (tblr environment):
    • I default column separator shortcut
    • \rthline, \rtcline horizontal lines for the tblr environment
  • \header, \uheader now discourage pagebreaks immediately after them.

v0.2 (2024-10-17)

• New commands:
  • \cleartorightpage
  • different heading styles:
    • \largetitles
    • \smalltitles
  • tabulation:
    • \setTabPositions
    • \setCustomTabPositions
    • \defaultTabPositions
  • text mirroring:
    • \mirrorh
    • \mirrorv
    • \mirrorboth
  • additional stackengine commands:
    • \overprintw, \opw
    • \underlinefill, \ulf
    • \overlinefill, \olf
    • \strikeoutfill, \sof
• New variables:
  • title skip variables (__b__efore and __a__fter title skips):
    • \bchapskip, \achapskip
    • \bsecskip, \asecskip
    • \bsubsecskip, \asubsecskip
    • \bsubsubsecskip, \asubsubsecskip
    • \bparskip, \aparskip
    • \bsubparskip, \asubparskip
  • \tabcharsDefault
• New texture: paper
• Replaced listings with the fancyvrb package for handling verbatim text
• Fixed stackengine bugs in overprint commands
• \linegoal fix for the second column in twocolumn documents
• Fixed \tabn bug
• Fixed \linecharw insufficient length calculation bug
• License changed to LPPL

v0.1 (2024-06-14)

Initial public testing release.