From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
From: Nick Dokos <nicholas.dokos@hp.com>
Subject: Re: latex checkboxes
Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2011 18:52:45 -0400
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To: Skip Collins <skip.collins@gmail.com>
Cc: nicholas.dokos@hp.com, emacs-orgmode@gnu.org

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

> 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.
> 

I like it! Well, almost all of it: I'd vote for \large, rather than \LARGE,
but otherwise it looks good to me.

Also, the nice-to-have feature is very easy to implement. All it needs is
a pair of square brackets around the box:

,----
| \item [{\parbox[][][c]{\wd0}{\LARGE$\square$}}] a
`----

The \setbox can go into the preamble btw.

Nick