Brief — DIN 5008 compliant letters with Quarto

This quarto extension provides a letter template that adheres to the German DIN 5008 requirements, based on the scrlttr2 LaTeX document class.

Usage

Install the extension and example qmd file as follows:

quarto use template mavam/quarto-brief

Then adapt the example as you see fit.

Format Options

The sample template.qmd demonstrates all available tuning knobs. Many options are directly lifted from the scrlttr2 class.

Setting the Font Size

The default font size is 12pt. To specify a different size for the document, use the YAML option 'fontsize'

---
fontsize: 11pt
---

Any TeX-compatible unit should work, like e.g. ex, in or mm. However, to avoid layout breaks, it is recommended to use one of the most common sizes 10pt, 11pt or 12pt.

Customize Fonts

You can adjust fonts by adjusting Quarto's PDF font options.

To use a different font, say Roboto, downloading the font archive and unpack to get the TTF files. We use these below:

• Roboto-Bold.ttf
• Roboto-BoldItalic.ttf
• Roboto-Italic.ttf
• Roboto-Regular.ttf

Then adjust the frontmatter as follows:

---
# Used for most parts of the letter.
mainfont: Roboto
mainfontoptions:
- Extension=.ttf
- UprightFont=*-Regular
- BoldFont=*-Bold
- ItalicFont=*-Italic
- BoldItalicFont=*-BoldItalic
# Used for back-address and address field.
sansfont: Roboto
sansfontoptions:
- Extension=.ttf
- UprightFont=*-Regular
- BoldFont=*-Bold
- ItalicFont=*-Italic
- BoldItalicFont=*-BoldItalic
---

For more involved letters, you may want to consider setting monofont and mathfont and their respective options.

Credits

I got inspired by Mickaël Canouil's quarto-letter extension, but needed something that adheres to DIN 5008.