# UW LaTeX Letterhead

Copyright (c) 2018-2026 Benjamin Mako Hill <mako@atdot.cc> / <makohill@uw.edu>
Copyright (c) 2017 Sayamindu Dasgupta <sdg1@uw.edu>

This is a LaTeX version of the University of Washington "matrix"
stationery or letterhead.

It uses the fonts provided by the UW website (Matrix II and OpenSans)
and attempts to be pica-for-pica identical to the stationery template
distributed as a Microsoft Word "DOCX" file by UW Brand and Creative
Services.


## Requirements

Because this document uses OpenType and TrueType fonts and produces
tagged, accessible PDF/UA-2 output, it requires
[LuaLaTeX](https://www.luatex.org/) (not XeLaTeX or PDFLaTeX). LuaLaTeX
is supported by [Overleaf](https://overleaf.com/) although it is not the
default.

On Debian or Ubuntu, install the following packages:

* latexmk
* texlive-luatex
* texlive-latex-recommended
* texlive-latex-extra

```
apt install latexmk texlive-luatex texlive-latex-recommended \
  texlive-latex-extra
```

On other systems, installing a full TeX Live distribution should provide
everything needed. The tagging code requires TeX Live 2025 or later.  On
Overleaf, set the version under Menu > Settings > TeX Live version.  TeX
Live 2025 is not in Debian Trixie, but it can be installed from sid
(unstable) without pulling in too many other packages.

The two required fonts, Matrix-II and OpenSans, are both included in
this repository, so no additional font packages are needed.


## Accessibility

The letter is a tagged PDF declaring PDF/UA-2 (ISO 14289-2). Two keys
in the `\DocumentMetadata` block at the top of the .tex file do this,
and both are needed: `tagging=on` loads the kernel code that puts the
text into the PDF's structure tree, and `pdfstandard=ua-2` writes the
conformance claim.

You can check a built letter with [veraPDF](https://verapdf.org/):

```
verapdf -f ua2 washington_letterhead_letter-matrix-deptartment.pdf
```

Note that a PASS is necessary but not sufficient. A letter whose body
text is all marked as artifact passes too, because the standard only
requires that content which is not real be an artifact.

You can confirm there is something in the structure tree as well:

```
python3 -c "import pikepdf,sys; d=pikepdf.open(sys.argv[1]); \
  print(d.Root.get('/StructTreeRoot') and 'tagged' or 'UNTAGGED')" file.pdf
```

The signature image carries an `alt=` description, which is what a
screen reader announces in place of it. Keep that in place if you
swap in your own signature.

The letterhead graphic in the page header is treated as an artifact,
like other running header content, so it is skipped rather than
described.


## Encrypted signature files

If you'd like, you can encrypt the signature file. There are several
lines in the Makefile you can uncomment to do this. We've included an
optional encrypted copy of the fake signature file. To use it, the
passphrase is "weakpassword" (without quotes). You will want to
customize this. To use this, you will also need GNU Privacy Guard
(GPG) installed on your system.


## Scripts

### new_tex_uwletter

Creates a new letter directory from the template. Takes a destination
directory as its argument:

```
new_tex_uwletter <directory>
```

Example:

```
new_tex_uwletter my-letter
```

This creates my-letter/ populated with the template files, with the
main source file renamed to my-letter.tex. Fonts are symlinked from
the source repository rather than copied, so the repository must
remain in place.

Symlink the script into your PATH with:

```
ln -s ~/tex/uw_tex_letterhead/new_tex_uwletter ~/bin/
```


## Contributing changes

If you notice issues with this template, please fix them and
contribute back a patch so others can benefit!

The latest version can be found at:
<https://gitea.communitydata.science/mako/uw_tex_letterhead>

You can clone the repository with:

```
git clone https://gitea.communitydata.science/mako/uw_tex_letterhead.git
```

Patches can be submitted by email to Benjamin Mako Hill:

* Benjamin Mako Hill <makohill@uw.edu> \[work]
* Benjamin Mako Hill <mako@atdot.cc> \[personal]

```
git format-patch origin/master
git send-email *.patch
```


## Copyright and Usage

This template was modeled after the Microsoft Word "Matrix" stationery
template published by UW Brand and Creative Services here:

<https://www.washington.edu/brand/templates/stationery/>

It is hopefully obvious that there are many ethical and legal
restrictions on when one can and cannot (and should or shouldn't) use
official university letterhead (e.g., it should only be used for
official communication). If you have any questions, contact UW Brand
and Creative Services at the link above.

This TeX template itself was created by Benjamin Mako Hill and
Sayamindu Dasgupta. We dedicated the work to the public domain by
waiving all of our rights to the work worldwide under copyright law,
including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by
law. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for
commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

See details here:
<https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/>

As a result, if you completely remove the UW branding, there are no
restrictions on how you can use the work in this repository.
