Automatically adjusting textheight dependant on header / footer size

Question

I want to have a variety of page styles used throughout my document, with different header and footer formats / content.

I'm having trouble with getting the footer to not flow off the page.

The work-around I have used is to set the positioning absolutely, as per example below:

\documentclass[12pt, a4paper]{article}

\usepackage{blindtext}
\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\usepackage[margin=2cm, includefoot]{geometry}

\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{lastpage}
\usepackage{mdwlist}
\usepackage{titlesec}

\fancypagestyle{firstpagestyle}
{
  \fancyhf{} % clear all header and footer fields
  \chead{
      \LARGE \textbf{Common Header} \\
      \small diff header line 1 \\ 
      \small diff header line 2 \\
      }
  \cfoot{\thepage \ of \pageref{LastPage}}
  \renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{2pt}

  \setlength\headheight{60pt}
  \setlength{\footskip}{15pt}

}

\fancypagestyle{otherpagesstyle} {
  \fancyhf{} % clear all header and footer fields
  \chead{
      \LARGE \textbf{Common Header} \\ \small
      }
  \cfoot{\thepage \ of \pageref{LastPage}}
  \renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{2pt}

  \setlength{\headheight}{33pt}
  \setlength{\footskip}{42pt}
}



\pagestyle{otherpagesstyle}

%==============================================
\begin{document}

  \thispagestyle{firstpagestyle}
%==============================================

\subsection*{Section0}
\vspace{-0.4em}
  \blindtext

%==============================================

\subsection*{Section1}
\vspace{-0.4em}
\hrule
\vspace{1em}

  \blinditemize
  \blindtext
  \blinditemize
  \blindtext
%==============================================
\subsection*{Section2}
\vspace{-0.4em}
\hrule
\vspace{1em}

  \blindtext
  \blinditemize
  \blindtext
  \blinditemize
  \blindtext
  \blinditemize
  \blindtext
\end{document}

However I'm not satisfied with this solution as it doesn't seem like it will scale well for more complicated documents, not to mention coupling between the header / footer / text area, so that a change to one will possibly require a (manually calculated) change to all.

I have tried to alter the textheight attribute per pagestyle but 'firstpagestyle' doesn't seem to overload the default settings (eg \pagestyle{otherpagesstyle})....

Is there a neater way to do this?

Answer 1

Since your problem is only in the first page, just use the same head height throughout and do as if the first header block fits in it.

\documentclass[12pt, a4paper]{article}

\usepackage{blindtext}
\usepackage[margin=2cm,headheight=25pt,includefoot]{geometry}
% headheight=25pt has been suggested by fancyhdr
\usepackage{fancyhdr}

\usepackage{lastpage}

\fancypagestyle{firstpagestyle}{
  \fancyhf{} % clear all header and footer fields
  \fancyhead[C]{\LARGE
    \parbox[t][\ht\strutbox]{\textwidth}{
      \centering
      \LARGE \textbf{Common Header} \\
      \small diff header line 1 \\ 
      \small diff header line 2\endgraf % not \par because \fancypagestyle is not \long
      \kern4pt
      \hrule height2pt
    }%
  }
  \fancyfoot[C]{\thepage \ of \pageref{LastPage}}
  \renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0pt}
}

\fancypagestyle{otherpagesstyle}{
  \fancyhf{} % clear all header and footer fields
  \fancyhead[C]{\LARGE \textbf{Common Header}}
  \fancyfoot[C]{\thepage \ of \pageref{LastPage}}
  \renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{2pt}
}

\pagestyle{otherpagesstyle}

%==============================================
\begin{document}
\thispagestyle{firstpagestyle}
\vspace*{1sp} % adjust here in case you need more room
%==============================================

\section{Section0}
\blindtext

%==============================================

\section{Section1}

\blinditemize
\blindtext
\blinditemize
\blindtext

%==============================================
\section{Section2}

\blindtext
\blinditemize
\blindtext
\blinditemize
\blindtext
\blinditemize
\blindtext

\end{document}