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  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
  26 macros are a subset of the
  27 <a href="docprocessing.html#DOCPROCESSING">document processing macros</a>,
  28 designed to ease the creation of correspondence.
  29 <p>
  30 Because the letter macros are a subset of the document
  31 processing macros, you can use
  32 <a href="definitions.html#TERMS_CONTROLMACRO">control macros</a>
  33 to design correspondence to your own specifications.  However,
  34 <strong>mom</strong> makes no pretence of providing complete design
  35 flexibility in the matter of letters, which are, after all, simple
  36 communicative documents whose only real style requirements are that
  37 they 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>),
  46 a
  47 <a href="docprocessing.html#DOCTYPE">DOCTYPE</a>
  48 (<strong>LETTER</strong>, obviously), the essential
  49 <a href="docprocessing.html#PRINTSTYLE">PRINTSTYLE</a>
  50 macro, and
  51 <a href="docprocessing.html#START">START</a>,
  52 like 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
  63 to creating letters that look like they were typed on an Underwood
  64 by a shapely secretary with 1940s gams.
  65 <p>
  66 After the <strong>START</strong> macro, you enter headers pertinent to
  67 your letter: the date, the addressee (in business correspondence,
  68 typically both name and address), the addresser (that's you; in
  69 business correspondence, typically both name and address), and a
  70 greeting (in full, e.g. &quot;Dear Mr. Smith,&quot; or &quot;Dear
  71 Mr. Smith:&quot;).
  72 <p>
  73 The 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
  83 You 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
  86 letter's opening according to what you do include.  See
  87 <a href="#LETTERS_DEFAULTS">Default for letters</a>
  88 to 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
  91 of entry was fixed at the above.  This has been changed, although
  92 if you do follow the above order, <strong>mom</strong> will
  93 continue to behave exactly as she did in pre 1.1.7-a.)
  94 <p>
  95 Once you've filled in what you need to get a letter started, simply
  96 type the letter, introducing each and every paragraph, including
  97 the first, with the
  98 <a href="docelement.html#PP">PP</a>
  99 macro.
 100 <p>
 101 At the end of the letter, should you wish an indented closing
 102 (&quot;Yours truly,&quot; &quot;Sincerely,&quot; &quot;Hugs and
 103 kisses&quot;), invoke the macro <strong>CLOSING</strong> on a
 104 line 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>
 106 supplies it automatically from <strong>AUTHOR</strong> with
 107 enough space to leave room for your signature.
 108
 109 <p>
 110 Assuming our tutorial letter is for business correspondence,
 111 here'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 BARRIÈRES
 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. Barrières,
 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 &quot;warranty free&quot;
 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
 149 This produces a letter with headers that follow the North American
 150 standard for business correspondence.  If you'd prefer another
 151 style of correspondence, for example, British, you'd set up the
 152 same 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 BARRIÈRES
 166         Minidoux Corporation
 167         5000 Pannes Drive
 168         Redmond, Virginia
 169         .DATE
 170         .RIGHT
 171         August 25, 2004
 172         .GREETING
 173         Dear Mr. Barrières,
 174 </pre>
 175
 176 Notice the use of <strong>.RIGHT</strong> after
 177 <strong>.FROM</strong> and <strong>.DATE</strong> in this example,
 178 used 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
 186 In 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,
 199 with a gap of two linespaces underneath
 200         <li>the addressee in a block flush left, page left, with a gap of
 201 one linespace underneath
 202         <li>the addresser in a block flush left, page left, with a gap of
 203 one linespace underneath
 204         <li>the greeting flush left, with a gap of one linespace
 205 underneath
 206 </ol>
 207 <p>
 208 which is the standard for North American business correspondence.
 209 <p>
 210 If 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
 213 one linespace underneath each.  (The default left quad of any header
 214 can be changed by invoking the <strong>.RIGHT</strong> macro, on
 215 a line by itself, immediately before inputting the text of the
 216 header.)
 217 <p>
 218 Following 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>
 230 Other important style defaults are listed below, and may be changed
 231 via the
 232 <a href="typesetting.html#MACROS_TYPESETTING">typesetting macros</a>
 233 or the document processing
 234 <a href="definitions.html#TERMS_CONTROLMACRO">control macros</a>
 235 prior to
 236 <a href="docprocessing.html#START">START</a>.  Assume that any
 237 style parameter not listed below is the same as for
 238 <a href="docprocessing.html#TYPESET_DEFAULTS">PRINTSTYLE TYPESET</a>
 239 or
 240 <a href="docprocessing.html#TYPEWRITE_DEFAULTS">PRINTSTYLE TYPEWRITE</a>.
 241 <p>
 242 <pre>
 243 PARAMETER             PRINTSTYLE TYPESET   PRINTSTYLE TYPEWRITE
 244 ---------             ------------------   --------------------
 245
 246 Paper size            8.5 x 11 inches      8.5 x 11 inches
 247 Left/right margins    1.25 inches          1.25 inches
 248 Header margin         3.5 picas            3.5 picas
 249  (for page numbers)
 250 Header gap            3 picas              3 picas
 251  (for page numbers)
 252 Family                Times Roman          Courier
 253 Font                  roman                roman
 254 Point size            12                   12
 255 Line space            13.5                 12 (i.e. singlespaced)
 256 Paragraph indent      3 ems                3 picas
 257 Spaced paragraphs     yes                  no
 258 Footers*              yes                  yes
 259 Footer margin         3 picas              3 picas
 260 Footer gap            3 picas              3 picas
 261 Page numbers          top, centred        top, centred
 262
 263 *Footers contain a &quot;next page&quot; 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
 271 All letter macros must come after
 272 <a href="docprocessing.html#START">START</a>,
 273 except <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> -- &quot;next page&quot; number off
 282 </ul>
 283 <br>
 284
 285 <!---DATE--->
 286
 287 <hr width="66%" align="left">
 288 <p>
 289 <a name="DATE"></a>
 290 Macro: <strong>DATE</strong>
 291
 292 <p>
 293 Invoke <strong>DATE</strong> on a line by itself, with the date
 294 underneath, like this:
 295 <p>
 296 <pre>
 297         .DATE
 298         October 31, 2002
 299 </pre>
 300
 301 If you wish to change the default quad direction for the date,
 302 enter <kbd>.LEFT</kbd> or <kbd>.RIGHT</kbd>, on a line by itself,
 303 immediately after <kbd>.DATE</kbd>.
 304 <p>
 305 If you wish to insert additional space between the date and any
 306 letter header that comes after it, do so after inputting the date,
 307 not 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
 315 If you wish to remove the default space,
 316 <p>
 317 <pre>
 318         .SPACE -1v \" Or, more simply, .SP -1v
 319 </pre>
 320
 321 will do the trick.
 322 <p>
 323
 324 <!---TO--->
 325
 326 <hr width="66%" align="left">
 327 <p>
 328 <a name="TO"></a>
 329 Macro: <strong>TO</strong>
 330
 331 <p>
 332 Invoke <strong>TO</strong> on a line by itself, with the name
 333 and 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
 342 If you wish to change the default quad direction for the address,
 343 enter <kbd>.LEFT</kbd> or <kbd>.RIGHT</kbd>, on a line by itself,
 344 immediately after <kbd>.TO</kbd>.
 345 <p>
 346 If you wish to insert additional space between the address and
 347 any letter header that comes after it, do so after inputting the
 348 address, 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
 358 If you wish to remove the default space,
 359 <p>
 360 <pre>
 361         .SPACE -1v \" Or, more simply, .SP -1v
 362 </pre>
 363
 364 will do the trick.
 365 <p>
 366
 367 <!---FROM--->
 368
 369 <hr width="66%" align="left">
 370 <p>
 371 <a name="FROM"></a>
 372 Macro: <strong>FROM</strong>
 373
 374 <p>
 375 Invoke <strong>FROM</strong> on a line by itself, with the name
 376 and 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
 385 If you wish to change the default quad direction for the address,
 386 enter <kbd>.LEFT</kbd> or <kbd>.RIGHT</kbd>, on a line by itself,
 387 immediately after <kbd>.FROM</kbd>.
 388 <p>
 389 If you wish to insert additional space between the address and
 390 any letter header that comes after it, do so after inputting the
 391 address, 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
 401 If you wish to remove the default space,
 402 <p>
 403 <pre>
 404         .SPACE -1v \" Or, more simply, .SP -1v
 405 </pre>
 406
 407 will do the trick.
 408 <p>
 409
 410 <!---GREETING--->
 411
 412 <hr width="66%" align="left">
 413 <p>
 414 <a name="GREETING"></a>
 415 Macro: <strong>GREETING</strong>
 416
 417 <p>
 418 Invoke <strong>GREETING</strong> on a line by itself, with the
 419 full 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>
 431 Macro: <strong>CLOSING</strong>
 432
 433 <p>
 434 Invoke <strong>CLOSING</strong> on a line by itself after the
 435 body of the letter, with the closing you'd like (e.g. &quot;Yours
 436 truly,&quot;), 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>
 448 Macro: <strong>NO_SUITE</strong>
 449
 450 <p>
 451 If you don't want <strong>mom</strong> to print a &quot;next
 452 page&quot; 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>
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