Some formatting questions in moderncv

Question

I have a few questions for my resume that I'm making with moderncv. Firstly here's my code :

\documentclass[11pt,a4paper]{moderncv}

% moderncv themes
\moderncvtheme[orange]{casual}                

% character encoding
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}                   

\usepackage{lipsum} % Just for dummy text

% adjust the page margins
\usepackage[scale=0.8]{geometry}

% personal data
\firstname{John}
\familyname{Doe}
\title{Software Developer} 
\address{Earth}{Universe}
\mobile{+123456789}
\email{[email protected]}

\definecolor{dark-gray}{gray}{0.20}

\quote{{\raggedright\color{dark-gray}\lipsum[2]}}

% to show numerical labels in the bibliography; only useful if you make citations in your resume
\makeatletter
\renewcommand*{\bibliographyitemlabel}{\@biblabel{\arabic{enumiv}}}
\makeatother

%----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
%            content
%----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\begin{document}
\maketitle

\section{Skills}
\cvline{\fontsize{9}{12}\selectfont{Skill1}}{Skills, Skills, Skills}
\cvline{\fontsize{9}{12}\selectfont{Skill1}}{Skills, Skills, Skills}
\cvline{\fontsize{9}{12}\selectfont{Skill1}}{Skills, Skills, Skills}
\cvline{\fontsize{9}{12}\selectfont{Skill1}}{Skills, Skills, Skills}
\cvline{\fontsize{9}{12}\selectfont{Skill1}}{Skills, Skills, Skills}
\cvline{\fontsize{9}{12}\selectfont{Skill1}}{Skills, Skills, Skills}

\section{Experience}
\cventry{Nov 2009 Nov 2011}{Software Developer}{Microsoft}{Earth, Universe}{}{\lipsum[6]
\begin{itemize}
\item Designed and developed features
\item Designed and developed features
\item Designed and developed features
\item Designed and developed features
\item Designed and developed features
\item Designed and developed features
\item Designed and developed features
\item Designed and developed features
\item Designed and developed features
\item Designed and developed features
\item Designed and developed features
\item Designed and developed features
\item Designed and developed features
\item Designed and developed features
\end{itemize}}

\end{document}

So:

1. How do increase the coverage area (width wise) of the quote section so that it starts at the absolute left and span to maximum right of page (in the allowed maximum A4 margin)?

2. How do I reduce the gap between the Quote section and Skills?

3. In the first position in Experience, I wanted a line after the designation etc. However, when I add \newline (after Universe), it results in two problems :

   a. There is a fullstop in an empty line

   b. The whole block shifts to the second page (leaving most of page 1 blank) and I need it to continue to the next.

Would really appreciate some help since I've tried some syntax on my own, but just can't get it right.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Here's a series of patches that should do what you're looking for:

\documentclass[11pt,a4paper]{moderncv}

% moderncv themes
\moderncvtheme[orange]{casual}                

% character encoding
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}                   

\usepackage{lipsum} % Just for dummy text

% adjust the page margins
\usepackage[scale=0.8]{geometry}

\usepackage{xpatch}

% fix the spacing above the quote
\xpatchcmd\makecvtitle
  {2.5em}
  {12pt}% or whatever: space above the quote
  {}{}
% fix the spacing below the quote (you have to do both!)
\xpatchcmd\makecvtitle
  {2.5em}
  {0pt}% or whatever: space below the quote
  {}{}

% Patch the width of the quote
\xpatchcmd\makecvtitle{\quotewidth}{0.9\textwidth}{}{} % default is .65

% Add a vertical space before the description
\xpatchcmd\cventry
  {\small}
  {\small\vspace*{1ex}} % choose what you want
  {}{}

% personal data
\firstname{John}
\familyname{Doe}
\title{Software Developer} 
\address{Earth}{Universe}
\mobile{+123456789}
\email{[email protected]}

\definecolor{dark-gray}{gray}{0.20}

\quote{\raggedright\color{dark-gray}\lipsum[2]}

% to show numerical labels in the bibliography; 
% only useful if you make citations in your resume
\makeatletter
\renewcommand*{\bibliographyitemlabel}{\@biblabel{\arabic{enumiv}}}
\makeatother

%----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
%            content
%----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\begin{document}
\maketitle

\section{Skills}
\cvline{\footnotesize Skill1}{Skills, Skills, Skills}
\cvline{\footnotesize Skill1}{Skills, Skills, Skills}
\cvline{\footnotesize Skill1}{Skills, Skills, Skills}
\cvline{\footnotesize Skill1}{Skills, Skills, Skills}
\cvline{\footnotesize Skill1}{Skills, Skills, Skills}
\cvline{\footnotesize Skill1}{Skills, Skills, Skills}

\section{Experience}
\cventry{Nov 2009 Nov 2011}
 {Software Developer}
 {Microsoft}
 {Earth, Universe}
 {}
 {%
  \lipsum[6]
  \begin{itemize}
  \item Designed and developed features
  \item Designed and developed features
  \item Designed and developed features
  \item Designed and developed features
  \item Designed and developed features
  \item Designed and developed features
  \item Designed and developed features
  \item Designed and developed features
  \item Designed and developed features
  \item Designed and developed features
  \item Designed and developed features
  \item Designed and developed features
  \item Designed and developed features
  \item Designed and developed features
  \end{itemize}
 }

\end{document}