Customize ModernCV

Question

For my resume I'm using the great moderncv, but I'd like to customize it a little.

For example I'd like to reduce the heigth of the blank space after the title.

In moderncvstyleclassic.sty, I could change line 143 from

\usebox{\makecvtitlepicturebox}\\[2.5em]%

to

\usebox{\makecvtitlepicturebox}\\[0.5em]%

which does the job. How can I achive the same result without editing the .sty located on /usr/local/texlive...?

Answer 1

Line 143, the \usebox{\makecvtitlepicturebox}\\[2.5em]% command, is part of the \renewcommand*{}{} command that begins on line 93. The scope of this \renewcommand*{}{} extends all of the way until line 148.

So, you can copy and paste the entirety of this \renewcommand*{}{} into your preamble, only editing the part that is relevant for you. That is to say, place the following code in the preamble of your .tex file:

\makeatletter
\renewcommand*{\makecvtitle}{%
  % recompute lengths (in case we are switching from letter to resume, or vice versa)
  \recomputecvlengths%
  % optional detailed information (pre-rendering)
  \def\phonesdetails{}%
  \collectionloop{phones}{% the key holds the phone type (=symbol command prefix), the item holds the number
    \protected@edef\phonesdetails{\phonesdetails\protect\makenewline\csname\collectionloopkey phonesymbol\endcsname\collectionloopitem}}%
  \def\socialsdetails{}%
  \collectionloop{socials}{% the key holds the social type (=symbol command prefix), the item holds the link
    \protected@edef\socialsdetails{\socialsdetails\protect\makenewline\csname\collectionloopkey socialsymbol\endcsname\collectionloopitem}}%
  \newbox{\makecvtitledetailsbox}%
  \savebox{\makecvtitledetailsbox}{%
    \addressfont\color{color2}%
    \begin{tabular}[b]{@{}r@{}}%
      \ifthenelse{\isundefined{\@addressstreet}}{}{\makenewline\addresssymbol\@addressstreet%
        \ifthenelse{\equal{\@addresscity}{}}{}{\makenewline\@addresscity}% if \addresstreet is defined, \addresscity and addresscountry will always be defined but could be empty
        \ifthenelse{\equal{\@addresscountry}{}}{}{\makenewline\@addresscountry}}%
      \phonesdetails% needs to be pre-rendered as loops and tabulars seem to conflict
      \ifthenelse{\isundefined{\@email}}{}{\makenewline\emailsymbol\emaillink{\@email}}%
      \ifthenelse{\isundefined{\@homepage}}{}{\makenewline\homepagesymbol\httplink{\@homepage}}%
      \socialsdetails% needs to be pre-rendered as loops and tabulars seem to conflict
      \ifthenelse{\isundefined{\@extrainfo}}{}{\makenewline\@extrainfo}%
    \end{tabular}
  }%
  % optional photo (pre-rendering)
  \newbox{\makecvtitlepicturebox}%
  \savebox{\makecvtitlepicturebox}{%
    \ifthenelse{\isundefined{\@photo}}%
    {}%
    {%
      \hspace*{\separatorcolumnwidth}%
      \color{color1}%
      \setlength{\fboxrule}{\@photoframewidth}%
      \ifdim\@photoframewidth=0pt%
        \setlength{\fboxsep}{0pt}\fi%
      \framebox{\includegraphics[width=\@photowidth]{\@photo}}}}%
  % name and title
  \newlength{\makecvtitledetailswidth}\settowidth{\makecvtitledetailswidth}{\usebox{\makecvtitledetailsbox}}%
  \newlength{\makecvtitlepicturewidth}\settowidth{\makecvtitlepicturewidth}{\usebox{\makecvtitlepicturebox}}%
  \ifthenelse{\lengthtest{\makecvtitlenamewidth=0pt}}% check for dummy value (equivalent to \ifdim\makecvtitlenamewidth=0pt)
    {\setlength{\makecvtitlenamewidth}{\textwidth-\makecvtitledetailswidth-\makecvtitlepicturewidth}}%
    {}%
  \begin{minipage}[b]{\makecvtitlenamewidth}%
    \namestyle{\@firstname\ \@lastname}%
    \ifthenelse{\equal{\@title}{}}{}{\\[1.25em]\titlestyle{\@title}}%
  \end{minipage}%
  \hfill%
  % optional detailed information (rendering)
  \llap{\usebox{\makecvtitledetailsbox}}% \llap is used to suppress the width of the box, allowing overlap if the value of makecvtitlenamewidth is forced
  % optional photo (rendering)
  % -------------------------------------------------------------------
  % this part immediately below has been modified for your purposes
  % -------------------------------------------------------------------
  \usebox{\makecvtitlepicturebox}\\[0.5em]%
  % optional quote
  \ifthenelse{\isundefined{\@quote}}%
    {}%
    {{\centering\begin{minipage}{\quotewidth}\centering\quotestyle{\@quote}\end{minipage}\\[2.5em]}}%
  \par}% to avoid weird spacing bug at the first section if no blank line is left after \makecvtitle
\makeatother

Note that you need to wrap the contents of the \renewcommand*{}{} in \makeatletter . . . \makeatother.

Finally, you may want to see this answer for some discussion about modifying the content of .sty files, particularly in light of the LaTeX Project Public License (LPPL).

Answer 2

You can add two lines to your preamble to patch the \makecvtitle command.

\usepackage{xpatch}
\xpatchcmd{\makecvtitle}{\usebox{\makecvtitlepicturebox}\\[2.5em]}{\usebox{\makecvtitlepicturebox}\\[0.5em]}{}{}

(This is also possible using the etoolbox package but I prefer xpatch.)

You can use the last two parameters to set code snippets for Success and Failure of the patching (a warning for example).