163

I would like to increase the size of pretty much every headlines, so that it is more prominent than the normal text.

I read about the titlesec package, but can't seem to find good example how to use the package.

Using Gonzalo Medina does in fact change the font size, however, it changes the default font as well.

Before:

enter image description here

After:

enter image description here

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5 Answers 5

Reset to default
197

Standard classes

Here's an example using titlesec:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{titlesec}

\titleformat*{\section}{\LARGE\bfseries}
\titleformat*{\subsection}{\Large\bfseries}
\titleformat*{\subsubsection}{\large\bfseries}
\titleformat*{\paragraph}{\large\bfseries}
\titleformat*{\subparagraph}{\large\bfseries}

\begin{document}

\section{Test section}
\subsection{Test section}
\subsubsection{Test section}
\paragraph{Test section}
\subparagraph{Test section}

\end{document}

I used the simplified version of \titleformat (i.e., \titleformat*) since the only desired change was in size, but you can use the extended version if "bigger" changes are required. These are the default definitions for the standard classes (taken from the documentation):

\titleformat{\section}
{\normalfont\Large\bfseries}{\thesection}{1em}{}
\titleformat{\subsection}
{\normalfont\large\bfseries}{\thesubsection}{1em}{}
\titleformat{\subsubsection}
{\normalfont\normalsize\bfseries}{\thesubsubsection}{1em}{}
\titleformat{\paragraph}[runin]
{\normalfont\normalsize\bfseries}{\theparagraph}{1em}{}
\titleformat{\subparagraph}[runin]
{\normalfont\normalsize\bfseries}{\thesubparagraph}{1em}{}

so you can make bigger changes. The following image shows both the standard sizes and the ones obtained with the above modifications:

enter image description here

And here's an exampe using the sectsty:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{sectsty}

\sectionfont{\LARGE}
\subsectionfont{\Large}
\subsubsectionfont{\large}
\paragraphfont{\large}

\begin{document}

\section{Test section}
\subsection{Test section}
\subsubsection{Test section}
\paragraph{Test section}
\subparagraph{Test section}

\end{document}

According to an edit to the original question, the OP wanted also a sans serif font:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{titlesec}

\titleformat*{\section}{\LARGE\bfseries\sffamily}
\titleformat*{\subsection}{\Large\bfseries\sffamily}
\titleformat*{\subsubsection}{\large\bfseries\sffamily}
\titleformat*{\paragraph}{\large\bfseries\sffamily}
\titleformat*{\subparagraph}{\large\bfseries\sffamily}

\begin{document}

\section{Test section}
\subsection{Test section}
\subsubsection{Test section}
\paragraph{Test section}
\subparagraph{Test section}

\end{document}

KOMA classes

The above approaches are to be used mostly with the default document classes (book, report, article); if the document class used is one of the classes of the KOMA-Script bundle, then it's not advisable to use titlesec (See Incompatibilities between KOMA-Script and titlesec) but to use the features provided by the KOMA classes:

\documentclass{scrartcl}

\setkomafont{section}{\LARGE}
\setkomafont{subsection}{\Large}
\setkomafont{subsubsection}{\large}
\setkomafont{paragraph}{\large}
\setkomafont{subparagraph}{\large}

\begin{document}

\section{Test section}
\subsection{Test section}
\subsubsection{Test section}
\paragraph{Test section}
\subparagraph{Test section}

\end{document}

memoir

For the memoir document class, the situation is analogous: is also not advisable to use titlesec (See About memoir and titlesec incompatibility) but to use the features provided by the class; in the case of the lower sectional units, the class provides the family of commands \setXheadstyle:

\documentclass[article]{memoir}

\setsecheadstyle{\LARGE\bfseries}
\setsubsecheadstyle{\Large\bfseries}
\setsubsubsecheadstyle{\large\bfseries}
\setparaheadstyle{\large\bfseries}
\setsubparaheadstyle{\large\bfseries}

\begin{document}

\section{Test section}
\subsection{Test section}
\subsubsection{Test section}
\paragraph{Test section}
\subparagraph{Test section}

\end{document}
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9
  • Thanks. Works pretty good, except for the first modification. Because changing the size without further options, it changes to a different font.
    – cherrung
    Jun 13, 2012 at 21:49
  • 2
    @cherrung: How about just adding \sffamily to the list of corrections?
    – Werner ♦
    Jun 13, 2012 at 22:22
  • 1
    @cherrung as Werner said, simply add \sffamily, as I did in the last code of my updated answer.
    – Gonzalo Medina
    Jun 13, 2012 at 22:43
  • @cherrung which document class are you using? The standard classes don't use a sans-serif font by default, so your last requirement makes me wonder if you are using some non-standard document class.
    – Gonzalo Medina
    Jun 13, 2012 at 22:54
  • 2
    @cherrung that is crucial information that you should have mentioned in your original question. KOMA-Script and titlesec are incompatible, so titlesec is not advisable here; I've provided an example on how to proceed with the KOMA classes in my updated answer.
    – Gonzalo Medina
    Jun 13, 2012 at 23:35
37

titlesec package options

For simple cases, you can use \usepackage[<size>]{titlesec}, where <size> is big, medium, small, or tiny.

big

big

medium

medium

small

small

tiny

tiny

Example code

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage[medium]{titlesec}

\begin{document}
\section{A section}
\subsection{A subsection}
\subsubsection{A subsubsection}
\end{document}
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21

You can just modify the sectional commands with the appropriate font size. Here's a small example in the article document class:

enter image description here

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
\section{A section}
\subsection{A subsection}
\subsubsection{A subsubsection}

\makeatletter
\renewcommand\section{\@startsection {section}{1}{\z@}%
                                   {-3.5ex \@plus -1ex \@minus -.2ex}%
                                   {2.3ex \@plus.2ex}%
                                   {\normalfont\LARGE\bfseries}}% from \Large
\renewcommand\subsection{\@startsection{subsection}{2}{\z@}%
                                     {-3.25ex\@plus -1ex \@minus -.2ex}%
                                     {1.5ex \@plus .2ex}%
                                     {\normalfont\Large\bfseries}}% from \large
\renewcommand\subsubsection{\@startsection{subsubsection}{3}{\z@}%
                                     {-3.25ex\@plus -1ex \@minus -.2ex}%
                                     {1.5ex \@plus .2ex}%
                                     {\normalfont\large\bfseries}}% from \normalsize
\makeatother

\section{A section}
\subsection{A subsection}
\subsubsection{A subsubsection}

\end{document}

For a different font, replace \normalfont with the appropriate definition. For example, using \sffamily will yield:

enter image description here

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4

For completeness I'll give a ConTeXt solution also.

You can change the heading style using:

\setuphead[chapter,title]        [style=\tfd]
\setuphead[section,subject]      [style=\tfc]
\setuphead[subsection,subsubject][style=\tfb]

The font switch \tf equals the body fontsize, \tfa is 1.2 times \tf; \tfb is 1.2 times \tfa and so on. If you want sans serif headings, then use

\setuphead[chapter,title]        [style=\ssd]
\setuphead[section,subject]      [style=\ssc]
\setuphead[subsection,subsubject][style=\ssb]

Here also the same logic applies. \ss is sans serif at body fontsize; \ssa is 1.2 times \ss, \ssb is 1.2 times \ssa, and so on.

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-1 
\section{\huge{Human}}% this works fine
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5
  • 5
    This works fine, but it isn't how you are supposed to use LaTeX. Every \huge or \textbf after the titlepage in our document is most likely false user input.
    – Johannes_B
    Oct 28, 2016 at 14:07
  • 5
    This will totally mess up the Table of Contents.
    – samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz
    Oct 29, 2016 at 10:15
  • 1
    This is actually useful for my special use case, which was not a normal document anyways. I just wanted to change one place.
    – xji
    Mar 23, 2017 at 15:59
  • 1
    Useful for me as well, I wanted to change it for one section only, thanks.
    – OldMcDonald
    Aug 1, 2018 at 1:29
  • 3
    A better simple solution is \section[Human]{{\huge Human}}...
    – Paul Gaborit
    Nov 4, 2019 at 0:28

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