Knowledge indicators

Question

I'm writing my CV with LaTeX and I would like to add knowledge indicators next to my skills. I'm looking for a package that can display a "vertical stack". Something like:

• German ≡
• English =
• Chinese -

The symbols should be aligned to the bottom and it would be great if there were two colors. So it would always be three bars but depending on the skill level one, two or three bars would be of the second color.

Answer 1

Just for fun, with picture mode:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xcolor}

\newcommand{\skill}[1][3]{%
  \setlength{\unitlength}{1ex}%
  \begin{picture}(1,1.8)
    \linethickness{0.3ex}%
    \textcolor{gray!15}{\multiput(0, 0.15)(0, 0.6){3}{\line(1,0){1}}}
    \multiput(0, 0.15)(0, 0.6){#1}{\line(1,0){1}}
  \end{picture}%
}

\begin{document}
\begin{itemize}
  \item German \skill[3]
  \item English \skill[2]
  \item Chinese \skill[1]
  \item Default \skill
\end{itemize}
Testing \skill[1], winning \skill[2], and excellence \skill[3].
\end{document}

Answer 2

Building on A.Ellet's answer to produce something as required (three rectangles always in each group; green ones will show the skill level):

The code:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}

\definecolor{colori}{RGB}{249,193,158}
\definecolor{colorii}{RGB}{158,214,149}

\newcommand\skilllevel[1]{%%
\begin{tikzpicture}
\foreach \Val in {1,2,3}
{
  \node[fill=colori,inner ysep=0pt] 
  at ([yshift=2*\Val]0,\Val pt) {};
}
\foreach \Val in {1,...,#1}
{
  \node[fill=colorii,inner ysep=0pt] 
  at ([yshift=2*\Val]0,\Val pt) {};
}
\end{tikzpicture}%
}

\makeatother


\begin{document}

\noindent\begin{tabular}{lc}
German  &  \skilllevel{2}    \\
Latin  &  \skilllevel{1}     \\
Japanese  &  \skilllevel{3}  \\
\end{tabular}

\end{document}

Perhaps the following modification is less confusing (see Andrew Cashner's comment):

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}

\definecolor{colori}{RGB}{249,193,158}
\definecolor{colorii}{RGB}{158,214,149}

\newcommand\skilllevel[1]{%%
\begin{tikzpicture}
\foreach \Val in {1,2,3}
{
  \node[draw,fill=white,inner ysep=1pt] 
  at ([yshift=2*\Val]0,\Val pt) {};
}
\foreach \Val in {1,...,#1}
{
  \node[draw,fill=colorii,inner ysep=1pt] 
  at ([yshift=2*\Val]0,\Val pt) {};
}
\end{tikzpicture}%
}

\begin{document}

\noindent\begin{tabular}{lc}
German  &  \skilllevel{2}    \\
Latin  &  \skilllevel{1}     \\
Japanese  &  \skilllevel{3}  \\
\end{tabular}

\end{document}

Answer 3

With stacks. I have chosen to keep the answer within the confines of normal line spacing, but that can be changed by invoking \setstackgap{L}{desired-baselineskip}. The bar thicknesses (1pt) and widths (1ex) are set within the \rl and \rlf definitions (as well as the colors). The vertical space between bars is set with \setstackgap{S}{1.5pt} and the gap between the words and the bars is set via \setstacktabbedgap{1ex}.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tabstackengine,xcolor}
\def\rl{\textcolor{red}{\protect\rule{1ex}{1pt}}}
\def\rlf{\textcolor{red!15}{\protect\rule{1ex}{1pt}}}
\newcommand\level[1]{%
  \if 1#1\stackon{\stackon{\rl}{\rlf}}{\rlf}\else
    \if 2#1\stackon{\stackon{\rl}{\rl}}{\rlf}\else
      \if 3#1\stackon{\stackon{\rl}{\rl}}{\rl}\else
  \fi\fi\fi
}
\begin{document}
\renewcommand\stackalignment{l}
\setstackgap{S}{1.5pt}
\setstacktabbedgap{1ex}
\tabbedLongstack{German&\level{3}\\Latin&\level{2}\\Japanese&\level{1}}
\end{document} 

If one doesn't feel confortable with TABstacks, ordinary stacks can be used to achieve the same result by

\Longstack{German\\Latin\\Japanese}%
\hspace{1ex}%
\Longstack{\level{3}\\\level{2}\\\level{1}}

Answer 4

With the caveat that this might be hard to understand, here's a solution without graphical packages.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{xcolor}

\colorlet{know}{green!60}
\colorlet{dontknow}{red!60}

\newcommand{\knowledge}[1]{%
  \ifcase#1\relax\or
  \knowone\or
  \knowtwo\or
  \knowthree\fi
}

\newcommand{\knowone}{\know{know}{dontknow}{dontknow}}
\newcommand{\knowtwo}{\know{know}{know}{dontknow}}
\newcommand{\knowthree}{\know{know}{know}{know}}
\newcommand{\knowrule}[1]{%
  \makebox[0pt][l]{%
    \textcolor{#1}{\rule{\knowwd}{1pt}}%
  }%
}
\newcommand{\knowwd}{0.5em} % adjust

\newcommand{\know}[3]{%
  \makebox[\knowwd][l]{%
    \knowrule{#1}%
    \raisebox{0.5ex}{\knowrule{#2}}%
    \raisebox{1ex}{\knowrule{#3}}%
  }%
}

\begin{document}

\noindent
\begin{tabular}{ll}
German   & \knowledge{2} \\
Latin    & \knowledge{1} \\
Japanese & \knowledge{3}
\end{tabular}

\end{document}

Several macros, but each one does a different task.

Answer 5

You could use tikz for something like:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}

\makeatletter

\newcommand\skilllevel[1]{%%
  \def\ae@color{\ifcase#1\or
                  red\or
                  orange\else
                  blue\fi}%%
  \tikz \node[draw,fill,rectangle,minimum height=#1em,\ae@color] (A) {};}

\makeatother


\begin{document}

\begin{tabular}{lc}
German  &  \skilllevel{2}    \\
Latin  &  \skilllevel{1}     \\
Japanese  &  \skilllevel{3}  \\
\end{tabular}

\end{document}

Here's a similar approach, but with bars:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}

\makeatletter

\newcommand\skilllevel[1]{%%
  \def\ae@color{\ifcase#1\or
                  red\or
                  orange\else
                  blue\fi}%%
  \rule{0pt}{3ex}%%
  \begin{tikzpicture}
    \foreach \myn in {1,...,#1}
      {
        \typeout{==>\myn}%%
        \node[fill,rectangle,inner sep=0pt,
              minimum height=0.75ex,
              minimum width=1em,\ae@color] (A\myn) at (0,\myn ex) {};
      }
  \end{tikzpicture}}

\makeatother

\begin{document}

\begin{tabular}{lc}
German  &  \skilllevel{2}    \\
Latin  &  \skilllevel{1}     \\
Japanese  &  \skilllevel{3}  \\
\end{tabular}

\end{document}

Answer 6

This doesn't answer the question with its graphical approach, but might be useful for people who want to keep their CV as simple as possible.

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{rl}
    German   & native speaker \\
    Latin    & intermediate \\
    Japanese & working knowledge \\
\end{tabular}
\end{document}

Answer 7

This uses a text like approach, the alignment is the job of the resume/cv document. As long nothing else is specified, I used a rather rudimentary interface.

\documentclass{article}


\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage{stackengine}

\begin{document}

\setstackgap{S}{0.1pt}
\begin{itemize}
\item  German  {\color{red}\Shortstack{- - - -}}
\item  English {\color{red}\Shortstack{- - - }}
\item  Chinese {\color{red}\Shortstack{- - }}
\item  Klingon {\color{red}\Shortstack{- }}
\end{itemize} 

\end{document}

Answer 8

Draw \rules and color them with xcolor. The only issue is getting them to stack, which you can do with \kern.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xcolor}

\newcommand{\skillbar}{%
    \rule{1em}{1pt}%
}
\newcommand{\basic}{%
    \textcolor{violet}{\skillbar}%
}
\newcommand{\intermediate}{%
    \basic%
    \kern -1em%
    \raisebox{3pt}{%
        \textcolor{blue}{\skillbar}%
    }%
}
\newcommand{\advanced}{%
    \intermediate%
    \kern -1em%
    \raisebox{6pt}{%
        \textcolor{cyan}{\skillbar}%
    }%
}

\begin{document}

\section{Language Skills}

\begin{tabular}{ll}
German & \advanced\\
English & \intermediate\\
Chinese & \basic\\
\end{tabular}
\end{document}