From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
From: tsd@tsdye.com (Thomas S. Dye)
Subject: Re: latex checkboxes
Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2011 13:23:18 -1000
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In-Reply-To: <BANLkTinfX-mTofcj2MdD=u93-1AnR3gonA@mail.gmail.com> (Skip
	Collins's message of "Thu, 16 Jun 2011 18:09:54 -0400")
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To: Skip Collins <skip.collins@gmail.com>
Cc: emacs-orgmode@gnu.org

Skip Collins <skip.collins@gmail.com> writes:

> There is a couple of problems with the way checkboxes are typeset in LaTeX.
>
> - [ ] a
> - [X] b
> - [-] c
>
> is translated to the LaTeX
>
> \begin{itemize}
> \item $\Box$ a
> \item $\boxtimes$ b
> \item $\boxminus$ c
> \end{itemize}
>
> The first problem is that \Box is not the same size as \boxtimes or \boxminus .
> The correct symbol to use from the amssymb package is \square which
> matches the other two symbols.
>
> Another problem is that these symbols were intended to be mathematical
> binary operators, and are therefore rather small for the purposes of a
> checkbox. I suggest that LaTeX output could be modified to something
> like:
>
> \setbox0=\hbox{\LARGE$\square$}
> \begin{itemize}
> \item {\parbox[][][c]{\wd0}{\LARGE$\square$}} a
> \item {\parbox[][][c]{\wd0}{\LARGE$\boxtimes$}} b
> \item {\parbox[][][c]{\wd0}{\LARGE$\boxminus$}} c
> \end{itemize}
>
> The parbox ensures that the checkbox is nicely centered with the first
> line of text.
>
> Another nice-to-have feature would be to use the checkbox as a label
> for list items in non-enumerated lists. Currently, the list bullet
> appears as visual clutter next to the checkbox.
>
>
Aloha Skip,

I think you might be able to get the behavior you want by modifying the
variable org-export-latex-list-parameters, perhaps something like
'(:ustart "\\setbox0=\\hbox{\\LARGE$\\square$}\n\\begin{itemize}\n" :cboff
"\\parbox[][][c]{\\wd0}{\\LARGE$\\square$}" :cbon
"\\parbox[][][c]{\\wd0}{\\LARGE$\\boxtimes$}")

The variable is set by default to  '(:cbon "$\\boxtimes$" :cboff
"$\\Box$") in org-latex.el and is used to override the default settings
of org-list-to-latex in org-list.el.
 
Not tested.

hth,
Tom
 
-- 
Thomas S. Dye
http://www.tsdye.com