How to place the chapter number behind the chapter title in KOMA script

Question

I have the following layout for my chapter title and number:

I reached this using the following code:

\renewcommand*{\chapterformat}{%
  \fontsize{60}{68}\selectfont\color{Gray}\thechapter\autodot\enskip}

\addtokomafont{chapter}{%
  \renewcommand*{\raggedsection}{\raggedleft}}

What is the best way to move the chapter number (2 in this case) to the right end of the same line, so that it overlaps with the chapter title? (I want the title to be on top). If possible, I want the method to integrate well with KOMA script, for example by redefining \chapterformat like I did above.

Answer 1

You mean like this?

That doesn't look good, does it?

At the very least, I would do something like this:

\renewcommand*{\chapterformat}{%
  \rlap{\makebox[\linewidth][r]{\colorbox{ltGray}{\fontsize{60}{68}\selectfont\color{Gray}\thechapter\autodot}}}}

\addtokomafont{chapter}{%
  \renewcommand*{\raggedsection}{\raggedleft\rightskip1.2em\hfill}}

Disclaimer: I'm not a designer!

Answer 2

Here is one way of obtaining the requested output via a patch of \@@makechapterhead (using etoolbox). \@@makechapterhead prints the actual chapter heading (chapter number + title) in scrbook.

\documentclass{scrbook}
\usepackage{xcolor}% http://ctan.org/pkg/xcolor
\usepackage{fix-cm}% http://ctan.org/pkg/fix-cm
\usepackage{etoolbox}% http://ctan.org/pkg/etoolbox

\renewcommand*{\chapterformat}{%
  \fontsize{60}{68}\selectfont\color{black!50}\thechapter}% \autodot\enskip

\makeatletter
% Remove \chapterformat from \@@makechapterformat
\patchcmd{\@@makechapterhead}% <cmd>
  {\chapterformat}% <search>
  {}% <replace>
  {}{}% <success><failure>
% Reinsert \chapterformat  modify heading layout
\patchcmd{\@@makechapterhead}% <cmd>
  {\size@chapter{#1}}% <search>
  {\ooalign{\hss\chapterformat\cr\size@chapter{#1}}}% <replace>
  {}{}% <success><failure>
\makeatother

\addtokomafont{chapter}{%
  \renewcommand*{\raggedsection}{\raggedleft}}
\begin{document}
\setcounter{chapter}{1}% Just for this example
\chapter{Text elements}
In this chapter, some textual elements are shown, like figures,
tables, lists, equations, etc. Also, bananas.
\end{document}

The first patch removes the typesetting of the chapter number (done via \chapterformat). The second patch re-inserts \chapterformat and overlays the title using \ooalign. For a quick course on \ooalign, see \subseteq + \circ as a single symbol ("open subset").