Page width problem in CV (Koma-script)

Question

I am trying to compile my CV using the scrartcl document class. I am struggling a lot to reduce the margin on the right side of the page. If e.g. the university name is too long, it will follow on the next line (I'd rather avoid it if possible). This also leaves a lot of white space on the right side. How can I produce a better output?

I attach the compiled .pdf. Here follows the code:

%----Preamble

\documentclass[paper=a4, fontsize=11pt DIV=18]{scrartcl}
\reversemarginpar % Move the margin to the left of the page 
\newcommand{\MarginText}[1]{\marginpar{\raggedleft\itshape\small#1}} 
\usepackage[nochapters]{classicthesis} 
\usepackage[LabelsAligned]{currvita} 
\renewcommand{\cvheadingfont}{\LARGE\color{Maroon}}
\usepackage{hyperref} 
\hypersetup{colorlinks, breaklinks, urlcolor=Maroon, linkcolor=Maroon}
\newlength{\datebox}
\settowidth{\datebox}{Nov 2012 - Feb 2013}

\newcommand{\NewEntry}[3]{
\noindent\hangindent=2em\hangafter=0 
\parbox{\datebox}{
\small \textit{#1}}
{\hspace{0.2em} #2} 
{ #3  \vspace{0.5em} }
} 

\newcommand{\Description}[1]{\hangindent=2em\hangafter=0\noindent\raggedright\footnotesize{#1}\par\normalsize\vspace{1em}}

%----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\begin{document}

\thispagestyle{empty} 

% ----- NAME AND CONTACT INFORMATION SECTION

\begin{cv}{\spacedallcaps{My Name}}\vspace{1.5em}
\noindent\spacedlowsmallcaps{Personal Information}\vspace{0.5em}
\NewEntry{current position} {\textit{Researcher, Blabla university}} 
\NewEntry{address} {\textit{longer address goes on a new line that is not indented, this is another problem }}

\NewEntry{email}{\href{mailto:[email protected]}{[email protected]}}
\NewEntry{Twitter}{@blabla}
\vspace{1em}

\noindent\spacedlowsmallcaps{Main interests}\vspace{1em}
\Description{Political behaviour, political economy, research methods, EU politics}\vspace{2em}

%------ WORK EXPERIENCE
\noindent\spacedlowsmallcaps{Work Experience}\vspace{1em}

\NewEntry{Mar 2013} {Research Assistant, \textsc{blabla university}}

\Description{\MarginText{Blabla Univ.} Assistanship for the blabla ebook on the African history.\\ Reference: Prof. Name \textsc{Surname}\ \ $\cdotp$\ \ BlaBla University\ \ $\cdotp$\ \ \href{mailto:[email protected]}{[email protected]}}

%------------------------------------------------
\NewEntry{Nov 2012--Feb 2013}{Research Assistant, \textsc{Longer University Name that goes on New Line}}

\Description{\MarginText{Longer University} Longer names of the university create problems because they will end up in a new line while leaving plenty of space on the right part of the page.\\ Reference: Prof. Name \textsc{Surname}\ \ $\cdotp$\ \ Longer Name University \ \ $\cdotp$\ \ \href{mailto:[email protected]}{[email protected]}}

\vspace{1em} % Extra space between major sections

%------ OTHER INFORMATION
\spacedlowsmallcaps{General interests}\vspace{1em}
\Description{\MarginText{}Electric guitar\ \ $\cdotp$\ \ bicycle travelling\ \ $\cdotp$\ \ }

\end{cv}

\end{document}

Answer 1

Compiling your MWE I get 4 error messages, starting with

Argument of \NewEntry has an extra }.

This error is the result of a missing {} for macro \NewEntry (add this in line 34,35,37,39). You gave it two arguments, but you definded it with three arguments (line 15).

After I added these four {} your MWE runs without error message on my MiKTeX 2.9 system.

I'm not sure what you want to get so please explain more what you want to archive with your macro \NewEntry.

Edit:

Your arrow in the screenshot point to an small indent of the word "Longer names". That results in an wrong blank written in your code:

\Description{\MarginText{Longer University} Longer names of the university 

Correct is (be careful with blanks in macros):

\Description{\MarginText{Longer University}Longer names of the university 

At last I added package geometry to get a smaller right margin. You can also controll the left margin with it. See the MWE.

There are several other errors I solved with adding a blank line in your code.

So please check the following code, a little bit pretty printed (see my important changes marked with % <=========):

\documentclass{scrartcl}%[paper=a4, fontsize=11pt, DIV=18]{scrartcl}% <=========

\reversemarginpar % Move the margin to the left of the page 
\newcommand{\MarginText}[1]{\marginpar{\raggedleft\itshape\small#1}} 

\usepackage[nochapters]{classicthesis} 
\usepackage[LabelsAligned]{currvita} 
\renewcommand{\cvheadingfont}{\LARGE\color{Maroon}}

\usepackage[left=3.5cm,right=2.5cm]{geometry}% <=================================
\usepackage{hyperref} 
\hypersetup{colorlinks, breaklinks, urlcolor=Maroon, linkcolor=Maroon}

\newlength{\datebox}
\settowidth{\datebox}{Nov 2012 -- Feb 2013}

\newcommand{\NewEntry}[3]{
\noindent\hangindent=2em\hangafter=0 
\parbox{\datebox}{
\small \textit{#1}}
{\hspace{0.2em} #2} 
{ #3  \vspace{0.5em} }
} 

\newcommand{\Description}[1]{%
  \hangindent=2em\hangafter=0\noindent\raggedright%
  \footnotesize{#1}\par\normalsize\vspace{1em}%
}


%----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\begin{document}

\thispagestyle{empty} 

% ----- NAME AND CONTACT INFORMATION SECTION

\begin{cv}{\spacedallcaps{My Name}}\vspace{1.5em}

\noindent\spacedlowsmallcaps{Personal Information}\vspace{0.5em}

\NewEntry{current position}{\textit{Researcher, Blabla university}}{}% <=========

\NewEntry{address}{first line, second line, third line third line third line}{}% <=========

\NewEntry{email}{\href{mailto:[email protected]}{[email protected]}}{}% <=========

\NewEntry{Twitter}{@blabla}{}% <=================================
\vspace{1em}

\noindent\spacedlowsmallcaps{Main interests}\vspace{1em}
\Description{Political behaviour, political economy, research methods, 
  EU politics}\vspace{2em}

%------ WORK EXPERIENCE
\noindent\spacedlowsmallcaps{Work Experience}\vspace{1em}

\NewEntry{Mar 2013}{Research Assistant, \textsc{blabla university}}{}% <=========

\Description{\MarginText{Blabla Univ.}Assistanship for the blabla ebook 
  on the African history.\\ 
  Reference: Prof. Name \textsc{Surname}\ \ $\cdotp$\ \ 
  BlaBla University\ \ $\cdotp$\ \ \href{mailto:[email protected]}{[email protected]}}

%------------------------------------------------
\NewEntry{Nov 2012--Feb 2013}{Research Assistant, 
  \textsc{Longer University Name that goes on New Line}}{}% <=========

\Description{\MarginText{Longer University}Longer names of the university 
  create problems because they will end up in a new line while leaving 
  plenty of space on the right part of the page.\\ 
  Reference: Prof. Name \textsc{Surname}\ \ $\cdotp$\ \ Longer Name University 
  \ \ $\cdotp$\ \ \href{mailto:[email protected]}{[email protected]}}

\vspace{1em} % Extra space between major sections

%------ OTHER INFORMATION
\spacedlowsmallcaps{General interests}\vspace{1em}

\Description{\MarginText{}Electric guitar\ \ $\cdotp$\ \ bicycle 
  travelling\ \ $\cdotp$\ \ }

\end{cv}

\end{document}

With the result:

Answer 2

First note that specifying DIV=18 in your documentclass options will have no effect. This is because the page set-up is redefined by the classicthesis package that you load later. You can discover this by looking in the log file.

The scrartcl class sets up the page via the typearea package and this writes information to the log each time the page layout is changed. After classicthesis is loaded you see:

(typearea)             DIV  = areaset
(typearea)             BCOR = 0.0pt
(typearea)             \paperwidth      = 597.50793pt
(typearea)              \textwidth      = 336.0pt
(typearea)              \evensidemargin = 58.48398pt
(typearea)              \oddsidemargin  = 58.48398pt
(typearea)             \paperheight     = 845.04694pt
(typearea)              \textheight     = 750.0pt

and more. One way to change the layout is then to issue a command such as

\areaset[current]{420pt}{750pt}

just before \begin{document}. This uses the original text height, but increases the text to 420pt from 336pt. The option current ensures that the current binding correction i s preserved; not so relevant here as it is 0pt.

On the other hand to quote the manual scrguien for the scrartcl class, which sets page dimensions via the typearea package:

The typearea package was not made to set up predefined margin values. If you have to do so you may use package geometry

Thus something like \usepackage[right=2.5cm]{geometry}, as you suggest, is another way to change the width of the right-hand margin. However, it will also use different defaults for the other parts of the page layout, so you may need add further geometry options. In any case, make sure you use this after loading packages such as classicthesis that change the page layout.