> > Is there any reason why changing the font should not
> > change the baseline also ?
>
> Yes. Simple example: assume you want to set just a few words in
> a smaller size, but this short sequence of words happens to wrap
> at the end of the line. With which baseline spacing should
> the line be set? That of the larger font used in the rest of
> the paragraph, or that of the smaller font which happens to be
> "active" at the linebreak?
>
> Since this decision obviously depends on the context, it is
> better to keep the baseline spacing as an independent parameter,
> and leave the choice of both point size and baseline spacing
> up to the typographer. Like Clarke says, headers may require
> different leading than footnotes to look "good".
>
> Nevertheless, you can still write your own convenience macro
> to handle font size changes:
>
> .de size
> .ps \\$1
> .vs \\$1+2
> ..
>
> which works quite well in most circumstances (one exception
> is obviously the scenario described above). But still,
> the choice of what's appropriate depends on you.
Or better:
.de size
.ps \\$1
.vs (u;\\n[.ps]*12/10)
..
on the basis that leading is proportional to pointsize.
This 1.2 factor is font-dependent, for example I use
1.425 with Palatino.
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