Layout for certificate

Question

This is my environment for the certificate:

\newenvironment{alwayssingle}{%
       \@restonecolfalse
       \if@twocolumn\@restonecoltrue\onecolumn
       \else\if@openright\cleardoublepage\else\clearpage\fi
       \fi}%
       {\if@restonecol\twocolumn
       \else\newpage\thispagestyle{empty}\fi}

This is my certificate layout:

\renewenvironment{cert}{\begin{alwayssingle} \thispagestyle{empty}
  \begin{center}
  \vspace*{1cm}
  {\Large \bfseries  Certificate}
  \end{center}
  \vspace{0.5cm}
  \begin{quote}}
{\end{quote}
\end{alwayssingle}}

And these rules for certificate ending:

 \newcommand\guideending[5]{%
        \par
        \noindent
        \hskip.5\linewidth
        \hbox{#1}\\
        \hbox to.5\linewidth{Place: #2\hfil}%
        \hbox{#3}\\
        \hbox to.5\linewidth{Date: #4\hfil}%
        \hbox{#5}%
        \par
}

And this is the cerificate:

\begin{cert}
Certified that the dissertation entitled \dots
\vspace{0.1 in}

\guideending{Mr. John Doe}{Some Place}{Lecturer in Something}{15 April 2011}
{Some College}
\vspace{1cm}
\centerline{\textbf{Approved and forwarded to Some University}}
\guideending{Some Dean}{Some Place}{Dean}{20 April 2011}
{Some College}
%\vspace{0.05 in}
\textbf{Examiner's Signature \\}
1. \\
2. \\
\end{cert}

My issue is: there is huge space at top of the certificate. But the ending goes to the next page. So how can I reduce blank space at the top and make the ending remain on the same page?

Answer 1

You are explicitly introducing vertical space at the top by using \vspace*{1cm} and the center environment in the definition of the cert environment; you can use something like this instead:

\newenvironment{cert}{\begin{alwayssingle}\thispagestyle{empty}
  {\centering\Large\bfseries  Certificate\par}
  \vspace{0.5cm}
  \begin{quote}
}
{\end{quote}
\end{alwayssingle}}