3.4.3 @title, @subtitle, and @author

You can use the @title, @subtitle, and @author commands to create a title page in which the vertical and horizontal spacing is done for you automatically. This contrasts with the method described in the previous section, in which the @sp command is needed to adjust vertical spacing.

Write the @title, @subtitle, or @author commands at the beginning of a line followed by the title, subtitle, or author. The @author command may be used for a quotation in an @quotation block (see @quotation); except for that, it is an error to use any of these commands outside of @titlepage.

The @title command produces a line in which the title is set flush to the left-hand side of the page in a larger than normal font. The title is underlined with a black rule. The title must be given on a single line in the source file; it will be broken into multiple lines of output is needed.

For long titles, the @* command may be used to specify the line breaks in long titles if the automatic breaks do not suit. Such explicit line breaks are generally reflected in all output formats; if you only want to specify them for the printed output, use a conditional (see Conditionals). For example:

@title This Long Title@inlinefmt{tex,@*} Is Broken in @TeX{}

The @subtitle command sets subtitles in a normal-sized font flush to the right-hand side of the page.

The @author command sets the names of the author or authors in a middle-sized font flush to the left-hand side of the page on a line near the bottom of the title page. The names are followed by a black rule that is thinner than the rule that underlines the title.

There are two ways to use the @author command: you can write the name or names on the remaining part of the line that starts with an @author command:

@author by Jane Smith and John Doe

or you can write the names one above each other by using multiple @author commands:

@author Jane Smith
@author John Doe

A template for this method looks like this:

@titlepage
@title name-of-manual-when-printed
@subtitle subtitle-if-any
@subtitle second-subtitle
@author author
@page
…
@end titlepage