Quarto for PDF and HTML

Last updated on 2026-01-05 | Edit this page

Overview

Questions

  • What unique options exists for PDFs in Quarto?
  • What unique iptions exists for HTML in Quarto?

Objectives

  • Implement format, font and documentclass characteristics in a PDF Quarto document.
  • Implement themes in a HTML Quarto document.

Every different Format of Quarto has its own unique commands and output specific code. These are most often part of the YAML header. As there is a large array of possible Ley-Values, makng it possible to customize many different and minute aspects of Quarto, we will only show you some of the more simple and easy to understand Key-value pairs. But as the theory behind all YAML pairs and their resulting changes and modifications are the same, you can freely experiment with all offered possibilities to find the options that fit your preferred visual and editorial srtyle.

PDF

In the case of a PDF, these mainly dictate things such as the font used, the dimensions of the PDF and the class of PDF used.

A comprehensive overview over all possible YAML commands can be found here

Documentclass

The documentclass given in YAML functions as a shorthand used to immediately change a variety of characteristics. The main documentclasses used in Quarto PDFs are: article, book and report.

These classes offer the following benefits:

Article: - used mainly for short texts, not divided into chapters - formatted in single column texts with author and title of the article at the top

Report: - used mainly for longer texts, which are divided into different chapters - automatically generates a frontpage with author and title

Book: - used for publishing and complete books - supports division into frontmatter, main matter and back matter - integrates publishing and print friendly dimensions

Fonts and colours

Quarto allows you to edit every font used by different syntaxes in its YAML header. To do so you can add the relevant font type followed by a typeset into the header.

For example:

YAML 

mainfont:  "Times New Roman"  Sets Times New Roman as font for the main text
sansfont: "Open Sans"         Sets Open Sans as a font for headings
    - Color=39729E            Sets the Color of headings using a HexCode

The color of different parts of the PDF can be changes using a similar code.

for example:

YAML 

linkcolor:    Sets the color for links
toccolor:     Sets the color for the Table of Contents

Layout

Lastly one can use a variety of command in order to change the general layout of the document, such as margins, paper size and geometry.

YAML 

title: "My Document"
format: 
  pdf: 
    documentclass: article
    geometry:
      - top=30mm
      - left=20mm
      - heightrounded

HTML

Many of the options available for PDFS are also or similarly available for HTML based Quarto documents. They allow you to customise familiar options such as the Table of Contents, fonts or visibility of links. A comprehensive overview over all available options can be found here

A more unique possibility for HTML formats is the so called themes, which allow you to give your website a more concise and complete visual overhaul. They change a variety of aesthetic characteristics such as highlight colours, fonts and layout. Quarto uses a 25 themes from the Bootswitch project. A full overview can be found here Multiple themes can be used in order to for example implement a Dark and Light mode to your website. To implement such a theme you simply need to add it to your YAML header like this:

YAML 

  html: 
    theme:
      light: united
      dark: darkly

The following example uses the two styles shown above:

Discussion

Exercise:

Decide if you would like to continue with a PDF or HTML. Then try out the new YAML headers and options in your document. Be creative!