Package 'liteformats' reference manual

Title:	Lightweight Output Formats for 'litedown'
Description:	A collection of lightweight, minimalist output formats and templates for 'litedown' by Xie (2026) <doi:10.32614/CRAN.package.litedown>, including resumes, cover letters, and other common document types. Documents are rendered with HTML and CSS and can be printed to PDF with a 'Chromium'-based browser, without requiring 'Pandoc' or a 'LaTeX' installation.
Authors:	Nan Xiao [aut, cre, cph] (ORCID: <https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0250-5673>), Yihui Xie [ctb, cph] (pages.js and pages.css libraries), Ayuhito [ctb, cph] (google-font-metadata catalog)
Maintainer:	Nan Xiao <[email protected]>
License:	MIT + file LICENSE
Version:	0.2.0
Built:	2026-10-14 06:35:08 UTC
Source:	https://github.com/nanxstats/liteformats

Render a cover letter

Description

Render a two-column cover letter to self-contained HTML or PDF. The narrow left column holds the sender's details, while the letter remains the visual foreground in the wider right column.

Usage

cover_letter(
  input,
  output = NULL,
  options = cover_letter_options(),
  envir = parent.frame()
)
cover_letter(
  input,
  output = NULL,
  options = cover_letter_options(),
  envir = parent.frame()
)

Arguments

input

Path to a .Rmd or .md source document.

output

Output path ending in .html or .pdf. If NULL, an HTML file is created beside input.

options

A cover letter configuration created by cover_letter_options().

envir

Environment in which R code in input is evaluated.

Value

The normalized output path, invisibly.

Examples

source <- use_cover_letter(tempfile(fileext = ".Rmd"))
cover_letter(source, tempfile(fileext = ".html"))

## Not run: 
# PDF output requires a local Chromium-based browser
cover_letter(source, "cover-letter.pdf")

## End(Not run)
source <- use_cover_letter(tempfile(fileext = ".Rmd"))
cover_letter(source, tempfile(fileext = ".html"))

## Not run: 
# PDF output requires a local Chromium-based browser
cover_letter(source, "cover-letter.pdf")

## End(Not run)

Configure a cover letter

Description

Create a classed options object for cover_letter(). Settings work in the same way as resume_options(), with letter-specific metadata replacing the resume-specific fields.

Usage

cover_letter_options(
  author = NULL,
  address = NULL,
  phone = NULL,
  email = NULL,
  website = NULL,
  date = NULL,
  greeting = NULL,
  font_family = NULL,
  google_font = NULL,
  font_files = NULL,
  font_size = NULL,
  font_scale = NULL,
  ligatures = NULL,
  line_height = NULL,
  paragraph_spacing = NULL,
  section_spacing = NULL,
  margins = NULL,
  paper = NULL,
  link_color = NULL,
  paged = NULL,
  keep_html = FALSE,
  browser = NULL
)
cover_letter_options(
  author = NULL,
  address = NULL,
  phone = NULL,
  email = NULL,
  website = NULL,
  date = NULL,
  greeting = NULL,
  font_family = NULL,
  google_font = NULL,
  font_files = NULL,
  font_size = NULL,
  font_scale = NULL,
  ligatures = NULL,
  line_height = NULL,
  paragraph_spacing = NULL,
  section_spacing = NULL,
  margins = NULL,
  paper = NULL,
  link_color = NULL,
  paged = NULL,
  keep_html = FALSE,
  browser = NULL
)

Arguments

author, address, phone, email, website

Contact metadata.

date, greeting

Letter date and salutation.

font_family

A CSS font-family value. For example, "Charter, Georgia, serif".

google_font

A Google Fonts family name or a full Google Fonts CSS v2 URL. This is an explicit online resource and is never used by default. A family name loads the available weights and styles needed for regular, bold, italic, and bold italic text, preferring a variable weight range. Supply a full URL to select other weights, axes, or options.

font_files

A named character vector or list of local font files. Names may be regular, italic, bold, and bold_italic. Relative paths are resolved from the source document. Fonts are embedded in the HTML.

font_size

A CSS length such as "11pt".

font_scale

A positive number used to scale font_size. This is useful when replacing a font with different metrics.

ligatures

Whether to enable common and discretionary ligatures. The template default is FALSE for more predictable text extraction from PDFs.

line_height

A positive unitless CSS line height or CSS length.

paragraph_spacing, section_spacing

CSS lengths controlling vertical rhythm.

margins

Page margins. Supply one to four CSS lengths using standard CSS shorthand order, or numeric values interpreted as inches.

paper

A paper name ("letter", "a4", or "legal") or a two-element vector containing width and height as CSS lengths.

link_color

Any valid CSS color.

paged

Whether the HTML preview should open in a paginated layout. Printing always invokes the packaged pages.js pagination.

keep_html

For PDF output, whether to retain the intermediate HTML beside the PDF. Defaults to FALSE.

browser

Path to Chromium, Google Chrome, or Microsoft Edge. NULL lets xfun::browser_print() discover it.

Value

A liteformats_cover_letter_options object for the options argument of cover_letter().

YAML configuration

Use the same flat, kebab-case liteformats mapping documented in resume_options(). Place cover-letter metadata such as author, address, date, and greeting at the top level of the YAML header. Unknown liteformats YAML names are rejected.

Examples

cover_letter_options(
  greeting = "Dear Search Committee:",
  paragraph_spacing = "0.9em"
)
cover_letter_options(
  greeting = "Dear Search Committee:",
  paragraph_spacing = "0.9em"
)

Include local graphics in a liteformat

Description

Embed one or more local graphic files as base64 data URIs and return raw HTML that litedown::fuse() can include directly in a document. This keeps the rendered document self-contained without copying image files beside the source or output.

Usage

include_graphics(path, alt = "", class = NULL)
include_graphics(path, alt = "", class = NULL)

Arguments

path

A character vector of paths to local graphic files.

alt

Alternative text. Supply one string for all graphics or one string per path.

class

An optional CSS class string added to every image.

Value

Raw HTML output for use in a litedown code chunk.

Examples

signature <- system.file(
  "liteformats/skeletons/signature.png",
  package = "liteformats"
)
include_graphics(
  signature,
  alt = "Handwritten signature",
  class = "signature"
)
signature <- system.file(
  "liteformats/skeletons/signature.png",
  package = "liteformats"
)
include_graphics(
  signature,
  alt = "Handwritten signature",
  class = "signature"
)

Render a resume

Description

Render a Markdown or R Markdown resume to a self-contained HTML document or to PDF through a headless Chromium-based browser. The output format is inferred from the extension of output.

Usage

resume(
  input,
  output = NULL,
  options = resume_options(),
  envir = parent.frame()
)
resume(
  input,
  output = NULL,
  options = resume_options(),
  envir = parent.frame()
)

Arguments

input

Path to a .Rmd or .md source document.

output

Output path ending in .html or .pdf. If NULL, an HTML file is created beside input.

options

A resume configuration created by resume_options().

envir

Environment in which R code in input is evaluated.

Details

Document metadata and typographic settings may be supplied in the YAML header. Values in options take precedence over YAML. See resume_options() for function-call configuration and use_resume() for a complete starter.

Value

The normalized output path, invisibly.

Examples

source <- use_resume(tempfile(fileext = ".Rmd"))
resume(source, tempfile(fileext = ".html"))

## Not run: 
# PDF output requires a local Chromium-based browser
resume(source, "resume.pdf")

# Embed local font files
resume(
  source,
  options = resume_options(
    font_files = c(
      regular = "fonts/MySerif-Regular.woff2",
      italic = "fonts/MySerif-Italic.woff2",
      bold = "fonts/MySerif-Bold.woff2"
    ),
    font_scale = 0.96,
    ligatures = FALSE
  )
)

## End(Not run)
source <- use_resume(tempfile(fileext = ".Rmd"))
resume(source, tempfile(fileext = ".html"))

## Not run: 
# PDF output requires a local Chromium-based browser
resume(source, "resume.pdf")

# Embed local font files
resume(
  source,
  options = resume_options(
    font_files = c(
      regular = "fonts/MySerif-Regular.woff2",
      italic = "fonts/MySerif-Italic.woff2",
      bold = "fonts/MySerif-Bold.woff2"
    ),
    font_scale = 0.96,
    ligatures = FALSE
  )
)

## End(Not run)

Configure a resume

Description

Create a classed options object for resume(). The helper keeps secondary metadata, typography, page, and PDF controls out of the main rendering function while retaining argument-name checking and autocomplete.

Usage

resume_options(
  author = NULL,
  job_title = NULL,
  address = NULL,
  phone = NULL,
  email = NULL,
  website = NULL,
  linkedin = NULL,
  font_family = NULL,
  google_font = NULL,
  font_files = NULL,
  font_size = NULL,
  font_scale = NULL,
  ligatures = NULL,
  line_height = NULL,
  paragraph_spacing = NULL,
  section_spacing = NULL,
  margins = NULL,
  paper = NULL,
  link_color = NULL,
  paged = NULL,
  keep_html = FALSE,
  browser = NULL
)
resume_options(
  author = NULL,
  job_title = NULL,
  address = NULL,
  phone = NULL,
  email = NULL,
  website = NULL,
  linkedin = NULL,
  font_family = NULL,
  google_font = NULL,
  font_files = NULL,
  font_size = NULL,
  font_scale = NULL,
  ligatures = NULL,
  line_height = NULL,
  paragraph_spacing = NULL,
  section_spacing = NULL,
  margins = NULL,
  paper = NULL,
  link_color = NULL,
  paged = NULL,
  keep_html = FALSE,
  browser = NULL
)

Arguments

author, address, phone, email, website

Contact metadata.

job_title, linkedin

Resume-specific professional and contact metadata.

font_family

A CSS font-family value. For example, "Charter, Georgia, serif".

google_font

font_files

font_size

A CSS length such as "11pt".

font_scale

A positive number used to scale font_size. This is useful when replacing a font with different metrics.

ligatures

Whether to enable common and discretionary ligatures. The template default is FALSE for more predictable text extraction from PDFs.

line_height

A positive unitless CSS line height or CSS length.

paragraph_spacing, section_spacing

CSS lengths controlling vertical rhythm.

margins

Page margins. Supply one to four CSS lengths using standard CSS shorthand order, or numeric values interpreted as inches.

paper

A paper name ("letter", "a4", or "legal") or a two-element vector containing width and height as CSS lengths.

link_color

Any valid CSS color.

paged

Whether the HTML preview should open in a paginated layout. Printing always invokes the packaged pages.js pagination.

keep_html

For PDF output, whether to retain the intermediate HTML beside the PDF. Defaults to FALSE.

browser

Path to Chromium, Google Chrome, or Microsoft Edge. NULL lets xfun::browser_print() discover it.

Details

Every argument defaults to NULL unless stated otherwise. A NULL metadata or appearance value falls back to the source document's YAML header and then to the template default. Values supplied here take precedence over YAML.

Value

A liteformats_resume_options object for the options argument of resume().

YAML configuration

In a source document, place metadata at the top level of the YAML header and appearance controls in one flat liteformats mapping. YAML setting names are the kebab-case equivalents of the helper arguments:

author: "Jane Doe"
job-title: "Research Scientist"
liteformats:
  paper: letter
  margins: ["0.65in", "0.8in"]
  font-family: "Charter, Georgia, serif"
  font-size: 11pt
  font-scale: 0.94
  ligatures: false
  line-height: 1.15
  paragraph-spacing: 0.05em
  section-spacing: 1em
  link-color: "#385898"
  paged: true

Unknown liteformats YAML names are rejected to catch misspellings.

Examples

resume_options(
  font_size = "10.5pt",
  margins = c("0.6in", "0.75in"),
  paged = FALSE
)
resume_options(
  font_size = "10.5pt",
  margins = c("0.6in", "0.75in"),
  paged = FALSE
)

Create a resume or cover letter from a starter

Description

Copy an editable R Markdown starter document to path. Static assets used by the rendered formats remain inside the installed package and are referenced from the copied source instead of being copied beside it.

Usage

use_resume(path = "resume.Rmd", overwrite = FALSE)

use_cover_letter(path = "cover-letter.Rmd", overwrite = FALSE)
use_resume(path = "resume.Rmd", overwrite = FALSE)

use_cover_letter(path = "cover-letter.Rmd", overwrite = FALSE)

Arguments

path

Destination path.

overwrite

Whether to replace an existing file.

Value

The normalized destination path, invisibly.

Examples

use_resume(tempfile(fileext = ".Rmd"))
use_cover_letter(tempfile(fileext = ".Rmd"))
use_resume(tempfile(fileext = ".Rmd"))
use_cover_letter(tempfile(fileext = ".Rmd"))

Package 'liteformats'

Help Index

Render a cover letter

Description

Usage

Arguments

Value

Examples

Configure a cover letter

Description

Usage

Arguments

Value

YAML configuration

Examples

Include local graphics in a liteformat

Description

Usage

Arguments

Value

Examples

Render a resume

Description

Usage

Arguments

Details

Value

Examples

Configure a resume

Description

Usage

Arguments

Details

Value

YAML configuration

Examples

Create a resume or cover letter from a starter

Description

Usage

Arguments

Value

Examples