Newspapers come is various sizes, broadsheet being the largest, and tabloid being smaller, but what name is given to the smallest size.
TagMe Search
Tabloid_(newspaper_format).txt Paper_size.txt
Tabloid (newspaper format) Paper size
A tabloid is a newspaper with compact page size smaller than broadsheet, although there is no standard for the precise dimensions of the tabloid newspaper format.  The term tabloid journalism, along with the use of large pictures, tends to emphasize topics such as sensational crime stories, astrology, celebrity gossip and television. However, some reputable newspapers, such as The Times, are in tabloid format, and this size is used in the United Kingdom by nearly all local newspapers. There, its page dimensions are roughly 430 ×. In the United States, it is commonly the format employed by alternative newspapers. Some small-format papers which claim a higher standard of journalism refer to themselves as compact newspapers instead.

Larger newspapers, traditionally associated with higher-quality journalism, are often called broadsheets, and this designation often remains in common usage even if the newspaper moves to printing on smaller pages, as many have in recent years.  Thus the terms tabloid and broadsheet are, in non-technical usage, today more descriptive of a newspaper's market position than its physical size.

The Berliner format used by many prominent European newspapers is sized between the tabloid and the broadsheet. In a newspaper context, the term Berliner is generally used only to describe size, not to refer to other qualities of the publication.

History

The word "tabloid" comes from the name given by the London-based pharmaceutical company Burroughs Wellcome & Co. to the compressed tablets they marketed as "Tabloid" pills in the late 1880s.   The connotation of tabloid was soon applied to other small compressed items. A 1902 item in London's Westminister Gazette noted, "The proprietor intends to give in tabloid form all the news printed by other journals."  Thus "tabloid journalism" in 1901 originally meant a paper that condensed stories into a simplified, easily absorbed format. The term preceded the 1918 reference to smaller sheet newspapers that contained the condensed stories. 

Dimensions

A tabloid is defined as "roughly 17 by" and commonly "half the size of a broadsheet".

Types

Tabloid newspapers, especially in the United Kingdom, boast a very high degree of variation as far as target market, political alignment, editorial style, and circulation are concerned.  Thus, various terms have been coined to describe the subtypes of this versatile paper format.  There are, broadly, two main types of tabloid newspaper: red top and compact.  The distinction is largely of editorial style; both red top and compact tabloids span the width of the political spectrum from socialism to capitalist conservatism.  Red top tabloids are so named due to their tendency, in British and Commonwealth usage, to have their mastheads printed in red ink; the term compact was coined to avoid the connotation of the word tabloid, which implies a red top tabloid, and has lent its name to tabloid journalism, which is journalism after the fashion of red top reporters.

Red top tabloids

The red top tabloid is, for many, the prototypical example of the format; the ubiquity of this editorial style among newspapers of the tabloid format has made it persist in the minds of the public.  Red top tabloids, named after their distinguishing red mastheads, employ a form of writing known as tabloid journalism; this style emphasizes features such as sensational crime stories, astrology, gossip columns about the personal lives of celebrities and sports stars, and junk food news.  Celebrity gossip columns which appear in red top tabloids and focus on their sexual practices, misuse of narcotics, and the private aspects of their lives often border on, and sometimes cross the line of, defamation.

Red tops tend to be written with a simplistic, straightforward vocabulary and grammar; their layout, more often than not, gives greater prominence to the picture than to the word.  The writing style of red top tabloids is, ofttimes, accused of sensationalism; in other words, red tops have been accused of deliberately igniting controversy and selectively reporting on attention-grabbing stories, or those with shock value.  In the extreme case, red top tabloids have been accused of lying or misrepresenting the truth to increase circulation.  Irrespective of such criticism, it is undeniably true that red tops have more open political leanings; stories can, and do, include calls for the resignation of a particular politician, or include political comment inside of an article.  Poll results are often predicted by red top papers.

Examples of British red top newspapers include The Sun, the Daily Star, the Daily Mirror and the Daily Sport.

Compact tabloids

In contrast to red top tabloids, compacts use an editorial style more closely associated with broadsheet newspapers. In fact, most compact tabloids formerly used the broadsheet paper size, but changed to accommodate reading in tight spaces, such as on a crowded commuter bus or train. The term compact was coined in the 1970s by the Daily Mail, one of the earlier newspapers to make the change, although it now once again calls itself a tabloid.  The purpose behind this was to avoid the association of the word tabloid with the flamboyant, salacious editorial style of the red top newspaper.

The early converts from broadsheet format made the change in the 1970s; two notable British papers that took this step at the time were the Daily Mail and the Daily Express. In 2003, The Independent also made the change for the same reasons, quickly followed by The Scotsman and The Times. On the other hand, The Morning Star had always used the tabloid size, but stands in contrast to both the red top papers and the former broadsheets; although The Morning Star emphasises hard news, it embraces socialism and is circulated mostly among blue-collar labourers.

Compact tabloids, just like broadsheet- and Berliner-format newspapers, span the political spectrum from progressive to conservative and from capitalist to socialist. The readership also differs greatly; one of Britain's most well-known tabloids, the Daily Mail, boasts a mostly female readership, whereas that of The Morning Star, in keeping with its political leanings, is of trade unionists.

International use

United States

In the United States, daily tabloids date back to the founding of the New York Daily News in 1919, followed by the New York Daily Mirror and the New York Evening Graphic in the 1920s. Competition among those three for crime, sex and celebrity news was considered a scandal to the mainstream press of the day. In comparison, today's American daily tabloids are generally much less overheated and less oriented towards scandal and sensationalism than their predecessors or their British counterparts. The tabloid format is used by a number of respected and indeed prize-winning American papers.

Prominent U.S. tabloids include the New York Post, the Daily News and  Newsday in New York, the San Francisco Examiner, The Bakersfield Californian and La Opinión in California, The Jersey Journal and The Trentonian in New Jersey, the Philadelphia Daily News, the Delaware County Daily Times and The Citizens' Voice, the The Burlington Free Press, the Chicago Sun-Times, and the Boston Herald.

US tabloids that ceased publication include Denver's Rocky Mountain News.

Canada

In Canada many newspapers of Postmedia's Sun brand are in tabloid format including The Province, a newspaper for the British Columbia market.  The Canadian publisher Black Press publishes newspapers in both tabloid ( wide by  deep) and what it calls "tall tab" format, where the latter is  wide by  deep, larger than tabloid but smaller than the broadsheets it also publishes. 

Europe

The biggest tabloid (and newspaper in general) in Europe, by circulation, is Germany's Bild, with around 4 million copies (down from above 5 million in the 1980s). Although its paper size is bigger, its style was copied from the British tabloids.

In Britain, three previously broadsheet daily newspapers—The Independent, The Times, and The Scotsman—have switched to tabloid size in recent years, and two—Daily Express and Daily Mail—in former years, although all of the above call the format "compact" to avoid the down-market connotation of the word tabloid. Similarly, when referring to the down-market tabloid newspapers the alternative term "red-top" (referring to their traditionally red-coloured mastheads) is increasingly used, to distinguish them from the up- and middle-market compact newspapers. The Morning Star also comes in tabloid format; however, it avoids celebrity stories, and instead favours issues relating to labour unions.

In the Netherlands, several newspapers have started publishing tabloid versions of their newspapers, including one of the major 'quality' newspapers, NRC Handelsblad, with nrc•next in 2006. Two free tabloid newspapers were also introduced in the early 2000s, 'Metro and Sp!ts, mostly for distribution in public transportation. In 2007 a third and fourth free tabloid appeared, 'De Pers' and 'DAG'. De Telegraaf, the Dutch newspaper that most closely resembles the style of British tabloid papers, comes in broadsheet but announced it will change to tabloid in April 2014. 

In Norway, close to all newspapers have switched from the broadsheet to the tabloid format, which measures 280 x 400 mm. The three biggest newspapers are VG, Dagbladet, and Aftenposten, the former the most sensationalist one and the latter more serious.

In France the Nice Matin, a popular Southern France newspaper changed from Broadsheet to Tabloid on 8 April 2006. They changed the printing format in one day after test results showed that 74% liked the Tabloid format compared to Broadsheet. But the most famous tabloid dealing with crime stories is Le Nouveau Détective, created in the early 20th century. This weekly tabloid has a national circulation.

In Denmark, tabloids in the British sense are known as 'formiddagsblade' (before-noon newspapers), the two biggest being BT and Ekstra Bladet. The old more serious newspaper Berlingske Tidende shifted from broadsheet to tabloid format in 2006, while keeping the news profile intact.

The biggest newspaper in Finland and biggest daily subscription newspaper in the Nordic countries Helsingin Sanomat changed its size from broadsheet to tabloid on 8 January 2013.

In Poland, the newspaper Fakt, sometimes Super Express is considered as tabloid. 

South Asia

India

Tabloid journalism is still an evolving concept in India's print media. The first tabloid, Blitz  was started by Russi Karanjia on February 1, 1941 with the words "Our Blitz, India's Blitz against Hitler!". Blitz was first published in English and then branched out with Hindi, Marathi and Urdu versions. In 1974, Russi's daughter Rita founded the Cine Blitz magazine. The first issue featured Zeenat Aman on the cover and a streaking Protima Bedi inside. The venerable Times of India too changed its entire content, tone and editorial style in 2002. It now features more sensationalist stories, snappy headlines, and Page3 parties. In 2005, Times of India brought out a dedicated Mumbai tabloid newspaper Mumbai Mirror which gives prominence to Mumbai-related stories and issues. Tehelka started off as a news portal in 2000 and broke the match-fixing story in Indian and International Cricket and later on a sting operation on defence deals in Indian Army. In 2007, it closes shop and reappeared in tabloid form and has been appreciated for its brand of investigative journalism. Other popular tabloid newspapers in English media are Mid-Day, an afternoon newspaper published out of and dedicated to Mumbai and business newspapers like MINT. There are numerous tabloids in most of India's official languages. There is an all youth tabloid by the name of TILT - The ILIKE Times.

Pakistan

In Pakistan, Khabrain is a tabloid newspaper popular within the lower middle class. This news group introduced a new paper, Naya Akhbar which is comparably more sensational. At the local level, many sensational tabloids can be seen but, unlike Khabrain or other big national newspapers, they are distributed only on local levels in districts.

Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, The Daily Manabzamin became the first and is now the largest circulated Bengali language tabloid in the world, in 1998. Published from Bangladesh, by renowned news presenter Mahbuba Chowdhury, the Daily Manab Zamin is ranked in the Top 500 newspaper websites, and in the Top 10 Bengali news site categories in the world, and is the only newspaper in Bangladesh which houses credentials with FIFA, UEFA, The Football Association, Warner Bros., and Sony Pictures Entertainment. The Daily Manabzamin is led by Editor-in-Chief Matiur Rahman Chowdhury, who is also the regional correspondent for Voice of America and political talkshow host in Bengali television stations Banglavision and Channel i. The newspaper receives visitors from 179 countries, and hosts 770,000 unique IP visitors, every month.

China

In the People's Republic of China, Chinese tabloids have exploded in popularity since the mid-1990s and have tested the limits of press censorship by taking editorial positions critical of the government and by engaging in critical investigative reporting.

Other countries

A tabloid is defined as "roughly 17 by" and commonly "half the size of a broadsheet."

In Oman, TheWeek is a free, 48-page, all-colour, independent weekly published from Muscat in the Sultanate of Oman. Oman’s first free newspaper was launched in March 2003 and has now gone on to gather what is believed to be the largest readership for any publication in Oman. Ms Mohana Prabhakar is the managing editor of the publication. TheWeek is audited by BPA Worldwide, which has certified its circulation as being a weekly average of 50,300.

In Georgia, the weekly English-language newspaper The FINANCIAL switched to a compact format in 2005 and doubled the number of pages in each issue. Other Georgian-language newspapers have tested compact formats in the early 1990s.

In Russia and Ukraine, major English language newspapers like the Moscow Times and the Kyiv Post use a compact format.

In Argentina, one of the country's two main newspapers, Clarín, is a tabloid and in the Southern Philippines, a new weekly tabloid, The Mindanao Examiner, now includes media services, such as photography and video production, into its line as a source to finance the high cost of printing and other expenses. It is also into independent film making.

In Australia, The Advertiser, Herald Sun, The Sun-Herald, Daily Telegraph, The Courier Mail (All News Ltd papers), The West Australian, The Mercury, The Hamilton Spectator, The Portland Observer, The Casterton News and The Melbourne Observer.

In South Africa, the Bloemfontein-based daily newspaper Volksblad became the first serious broadsheet newspaper to switch to tabloid, but only on Saturdays. Despite the format proving to be popular with its readers, the newspaper remains broadsheet on weekdays. This is also true of Pietermaritzburg's daily, The Witness in the province of KwaZulu-Natal.
The Daily Sun published by Naspers has since become South Africas biggest selling daily newspaper and is aimed primarily at the black working class. It sells in excess of 500,000 copies per day reaching approximately 3,000,000,000 readers. News is gathered widely and reports on the almost-unbelievable, headline-making stories which Daily Sun journalist/news gatherers write from their encounters with real people, and astounding ‘eye-witness’ accounts of bizarre occurrences which are literally stunning. Besides offering a sometimes satirical view of the seriousness of mainstream news, the Daily Sun confers weightiness upon issues that would likely be treated with laughing dismissal in traditional South African broadsheets. Thus, the Daily Sun features stories about tokoloshes (hob-goblins), ancestral visions and all things supernatural and wildly absurd, together with localised stories and mainstream news. It is also published as the Sunday Sun.

In Brazil, many newspapers are tabloids, including sports daily Lance! (which circulates in cities such as Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo), most publications from Grupo RBS (especially the Porto Alegre daily Zero Hora), and, in March 2009, Rio de Janeiro-based O Dia switched to tabloid from broadsheet. Its sister publication, Meia Hora has always been a tabloid, but in slightly smaller format than O Dia and Lance!.

In Morocco, Maroc Soir, launched in November 2005, is published in tabloid format.

As a weekly alternative newspaper

The more recent usage of the term 'tabloid' refers to weekly or semi-weekly newspapers in tabloid format. Many of these are essentially straightforward newspapers, publishing in tabloid format, because subway and bus commuters prefer to read smaller-size newspapers due to lack of space.
These newspapers are distinguished from the major daily newspapers, in that they purport to offer an "alternative" viewpoint, either in the sense that the paper's editors are more locally oriented, or that the paper is editorially independent from major media conglomerates.

Other factors that distinguish "alternative" weekly tabloids from the major daily newspapers are their less-frequent publication, and that they are usually free to the user, since they rely on ad revenue. As well, alternative weekly tabloids tend to concentrate on local- or even neighbourhood-level issues, and on local entertainment in the bars and local theatres.

Alternative tabloids can be positioned as upmarket (quality) newspapers, to appeal to the better-educated, higher-income sector of the market; as middle-market (popular); or as downmarket (sensational) newspapers, which emphasize sensational crime stories and celebrity gossip. In each case, the newspapers will draw their advertising revenue from different types of businesses or services. An upmarket weekly's advertisers are often organic grocers, boutiques, and theatre companies while a downmarket's may have those of trade schools, supermarkets, and the sex industry. Both usually contain ads from local bars, auto dealers, movie theaters, and a classified ads section. Many paper size standards conventions have existed at different times and in different countries. Today, there is one widespread international ISO standard (including A4, B3, C4, etc.) and another standard used mainly in North America (including letter, legal, ledger, etc.). The paper sizes affect writing paper, stationery, cards, and some printed documents. The standards also have related sizes for envelopes.

Grain

Most industry standards express the direction of the grain last when giving dimensions (that is, 17 × 11 inches is short grain paper and 11 × 17 inches is long grain paper), although alternatively the grain alignment can be explicitly indicated with an underline (11 × 17 is short grain) or the letter "M" for "machine" (11M × 17 is short grain). Grain is important because paper will crack if folded across the grain: for example, if a sheet 17 × 11 inches is to be folded to divide the sheet into two 8.5 × 11 halves, then the grain will be along the 11-inch side. Paper intended to be fed into a machine that will bend the paper around rollers, such as a printing press, photocopier, or typewriter, should be fed grain side first so that the axis of the rollers is along the grain.

International paper sizes

The international paper size standard is ISO 216.  It is based on the German DIN 476 standard for paper sizes. ISO paper sizes are all based on a single aspect ratio of square root of 2, or approximately 1:1.4142. There are different series, as well as several extensions.

A series

The base A0 size of paper is defined as having an area of 1 m. Rounded to the nearest millimetre, the A0 paper size is 841 x.

Successive paper sizes in the series A1, A2, A3, and so forth, are defined by halving the preceding paper size across the larger dimension. This also effectively halves the area of each sheet. The most frequently used paper size is A4 measuring 210 x.

The significant advantage of this system is its scaling: if a sheet with an aspect ratio of  is divided into two equal halves parallel to its shortest sides, then the halves will again have an aspect ratio of . Folded brochures of any size can be made by using sheets of the next larger size, e.g. A4 sheets are folded to make A5 brochures. The system allows scaling without compromising the aspect ratio from one size to another—as provided by office photocopiers, e.g. enlarging A4 to A3 or reducing A3 to A4. Similarly, two sheets of A4 can be scaled down and fit exactly 1 sheet without any cutoff or margins.

The behavior of the aspect ratio is easily proven: on a sheet of paper, let a be the long side and b be the short side; thus,   . When the sheet of paper is folded in half widthwise, let c be the length of the new short side: c 
 . If we take the ratio of the newly folded paper we have:

 \frac{b}{c}\frac{b}{\frac{a}{2}}
\frac{2}{\frac{a}{b}}\frac{2}{\sqrt{2}}
\sqrt{2}

Therefore, the aspect ratio is preserved for the new dimensions of the folded paper.

Weights are easy to calculate as well: a standard A4 sheet made from 80 g/m paper weighs 5 g (as it is  of an A0 page, measuring 1 m), allowing one to easily compute the weight—and associated postage rate—by counting the number of sheets used.

The advantages of basing a paper size upon an aspect ratio of  were first noted in 1786 by the German scientist and philosopher Georg Christoph Lichtenberg.  The formats that became A2, A3, B3, B4 and B5 were developed in France on proposition of the mathematician Lazare Carnot and published for judiciary purpose in 1798 during the French Revolution.  Early in the 20th century, Dr Walter Porstmann turned Lichtenberg's idea into a proper system of different paper sizes. Porstmann's system was introduced as a DIN standard (DIN 476) in Germany in 1922, replacing a vast variety of other paper formats. Even today, the paper sizes are called "DIN A4" in everyday use in Germany and Austria.

The DIN 476 standard spread quickly to other countries. Before the outbreak of World War II, it had been adopted by the following countries:
 
* Belgium (1924)
* Netherlands (1925)
* Norway (1926)

* Finland (1927)
* Switzerland (1929)
* Sweden (1930)

* Soviet Union (1934)
* Hungary (1938)
* Italy (1939)

During World War II, the standard was adopted by Uruguay (1942), Argentina (1943) and Brazil (1943), and afterwards spread to other countries:

 
* Spain (1947)
* Austria (1948)
* Iran (1948)
* Romania (1949)
* Japan (1951)
* Denmark (1953)
* Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic and Slovakia) (1953)
* Israel (1954)
* Portugal (1954)
* Yugoslavia (1956)
* India (1957)

* Poland (1957)
* United Kingdom (1959)
* Ireland (1959)
* Venezuela (1962)
* New Zealand (1963)
* Iceland (1964)
* Mexico (1965)
* South Africa (1966)
* France (1967)
* Peru (1967)
* Turkey (1967)

* Chile (1968)
* Greece (1970)
* Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) (1970)
* Singapore (1970)
* Bangladesh (1972)
* Thailand (1973)
* Barbados (1973)
* Australia (1974)
* Ecuador (1974)
* Colombia (1975)
* Kuwait (1975)

By 1975 so many countries were using the German system that it was established as an ISO standard, as well as the official United Nations document format. By 1977 A4 was the standard letter format in 88 of 148 countries.  Today the standard has been adopted by all countries in the world except the United States and Canada. In Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile and the Philippines the US letter format is still in common use, despite their official adoption of the ISO standard.

B series

In addition to the A series, there is a less common B series. The area of B series sheets is the geometric mean of successive A series sheets. So, B1 is between A0 and A1 in size, with an area of 0.707 m ( m). As a result, B0 is 1 metre wide, and other sizes in the B series are a half, a quarter or further fractions of a metre wide. While less common in office use, it is used for a variety of special situations. Many posters use B-series paper or a close approximation, such as 50 cm × 70 cm; B5 is a relatively common choice for books. The B series is also used for envelopes and passports. The B-series is widely used in the printing industry to describe both paper sizes and printing press sizes, including digital presses. B3 paper is used to print two US letter or A4 pages side by side using imposition; four pages would be printed on B2, eight on B1, etc.

C series

The C series is usually used for envelopes and is defined in ISO 269. The area of C series sheets is the geometric mean of the areas of the A and B series sheets of the same number; for instance, the area of a C4 sheet is the geometric mean of the areas of an A4 sheet and a B4 sheet. This means that C4 is slightly larger than A4, and slightly smaller than B4. The practical usage of this is that a letter written on A4 paper fits inside a C4 envelope, and C4 paper fits inside a B4 envelope.

Overview: ISO paper Sizes

The tolerances specified in the standard are
* ±1.5 mm (0.06 in) for dimensions up to 150 mm (5.9 in),
* ±2 mm (0.08 in) for lengths in the range 150 to 600 mm (5.9 to 23.6 in) and
* ±3 mm (0.12 in) for any dimension above 600 mm (23.6 in).

German extensions

The German standard DIN 476 was published in 1922 and is the original specification of the A and B sizes. It differs in two details from its international successor:

DIN 476 provides for formats larger than A0, denoted by a prefix factor. In particular, it lists the formats 2A0 and 4A0, which are twice and four times the size of A0 respectively:

However, DIN 216:2007 notes 2A0 and 4A0 in the table of Main series of trimmed sizes (ISO-A series) as well. "The rarely used sizes [2A0 and 4A0] which follow also belong to this series"

DIN 476 also specifies slightly tighter tolerances:
* ±1 mm (0.04 in) for dimensions up to 150 mm (5.9 in),
* ±1.5 mm (0.06 in) for lengths in the range 150 mm to 600 mm (5.9 to 23.6 in) and
* ±2 mm (0.08 in) for any dimension above 600 mm (23.6 in).

Swedish extensions

The Swedish standard SS 014711   generalized the ISO system of A, B, and C formats by adding D, E, F, and G formats to it. Its D format sits between a B format and the next larger A format (just like C sits between A and the next larger B). The remaining formats fit in between all these formats, such that the sequence of formats A4, E4, C4, G4, B4, F4, D4, H4, A3 is a geometric progression, in which the dimensions grow by a factor  from one size to the next. However, the SIS 014711 standard does not define any size between a D format and the next larger A format (called H in the previous example). Of these additional formats, G5 (169 × 239 mm) and E5 (155 × 220 mm) are popular in Sweden and the Netherlands for printing dissertations,  but the other formats have not turned out to be particularly useful in practice and they have not been adopted internationally.

Japanese B-series variant

The JIS defines two main series of paper sizes. The JIS A-series is identical to the ISO A-series, but with slightly different tolerances. The area of B-series paper is 1.5 times that of the corresponding A-paper (instead of the factor  = 1.414... for the ISO B-series), so the length ratio is approximately 1.22 times the length of the corresponding A-series paper. The aspect ratio of the paper is the same as for A-series paper. Both A- and B-series paper is widely available in Japan, Taiwan and China, and most photocopiers are loaded with at least A4 and either one of A3, B4 and B5 paper.

There are also a number of traditional paper sizes, which are now used mostly by printers. The most common of these old series are the Shiroku-ban and the Kiku paper sizes.

Colombian common sizes naming

The most common paper sizes used for commercial and industrial printing in Colombia are close to the ISO B1, B2 and B3 and are referred to as pliego,  pliego and  pliego respectively. The "Arch B" size is known as extratabloide.

In commercial and academic typesetting, the most common paper size is carta, equivalent to US Letter (8.5" by 11").  In legal papers oficio is used equivalent to 8.5" by 13" which is shorter than US Legal.

North American paper sizes 

Loose sizes 

The United States, Canada and Mexico use a different system of paper sizes compared to the rest of the world.  The current standard sizes are unique to that continent, although due to the size of the North American market and proliferation of both software and printing hardware from the region, other parts of the world have become increasingly familiar with these sizes (though not necessarily the paper itself).  The traditional North American inch-based sizes differ from those described below.

Common loose sizes 

Letter, Legal and Ledger/Tabloid are by far the most commonly used of these for everyday activities, and the only ones included in Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).

The origins of the exact dimensions of Letter size paper () are lost in tradition and not well documented. The American Forest and Paper Association argues that the dimension originates from the days of manual paper making, and that the 11-inch length of the page is about a quarter of "the average maximum stretch of an experienced vatman's arms."  However, this does not explain the width or aspect ratio.

Outside of North America, Letter size may also be known as "American Quarto".  If one accepts some trimming, the size is indeed one quarter of the old Imperial paper size known as Demy, . 

US paper sizes are currently standard in the United States, the Philippines and Chile. The latter two use US Letter, but their Legal size is . 

Mexico has adopted the ISO standard, but US Letter format is still the system in use throughout the country. It is virtually impossible to encounter ISO standard papers in day-to-day uses, with "Carta 216 mm × 279 mm" (Letter), "Oficio 216 mm × 340 mm" (Government-Legal) and "Doble carta" (Ledger/Tabloid) being nearly universal. US sizes are also widespread and in common use in Colombia and some other American countries. 

In Canada, US paper sizes are a de facto standard. The government, however, also uses ISO paper sizes. The Canadian standard CAN 2-9.60M "Paper Sizes for Correspondence" specifies P1 through P6 paper sizes, which are the ANSI paper sizes rounded to the nearest 5 mm. 

Variant loose sizes 

There is an additional paper size, 8 ×, to which the name Government-Letter was given by the IEEE Printer Working Group (PWG). It was prescribed by Herbert Hoover when he was Secretary of Commerce to be used for US government forms, apparently to enable discounts from the purchase of paper for schools, but more likely due to the standard use of trimming books (after binding) and paper from the standard letter size paper to produce consistency and allow "bleed" printing. In later years, as photocopy machines proliferated, citizens wanted to make photocopies of the forms, but the machines did not generally have this size paper in their bins. Ronald Reagan therefore had the US government switch to regular Letter size, which is both half an inch longer and wider. The former government size is still commonly used in spiral-bound notebooks, for children's writing and the like, a result of trimming from the current Letter dimensions.

By extension of the American standards, the halved Letter size, , meets the needs of many applications. It is variably known as Statement, Stationary, Memo, Half Letter, Half A (from ANSI sizes) or simply Half Size. Like the similar-sized ISO A5, it is used for everything from personal letter writing to official aeronautical maps. Organizers, notepads, and diaries also often use this size of paper; thus 3-ring binders are also available in this size. Booklets of this size are created using word processing tools with landscape printing in two columns on letter paper which are then cut or folded into the final size.

Standardized American paper sizes 

In 1996, the American National Standards Institute adopted ANSI/ASME Y14.1 which defined a regular series of paper sizes based upon the de facto standard  Letter size which it assigned "ANSI A". This series also includes Ledger/Tabloid as "ANSI B". This series is somewhat similar to the ISO standard in that cutting a sheet in half would produce two sheets of the next smaller size. Unlike the ISO standard, however, the arbitrary aspect ratio forces this series to have two alternating aspect ratios. For example, ANSI A is less elongated than A4, while ANSI B is more elongated than A3.

With care, documents can be prepared so that the text and images fit on either ANSI or their equivalent ISO sheets at 1:1 reproduction scale.

Other, larger sizes continuing the alphabetic series illustrated above exist, but it should be noted that they are not part of the series per se, because they do not exhibit the same aspect ratios. For example, Engineering F size is 28 × with ca. 1.4286:1; it is commonly required for NAVFAC drawings, but is generally less commonly used.  G size is  high, but it is a roll format with a variable width up to 90 in in increments of . H through N sizes are also roll formats.

Such huge sheets were at one time used for full-scale layouts of aircraft parts, automotive parts, wiring harnesses and the like, but are slowly being phased out, due to widespread use of computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM). Some visual arts fields also continue to use these paper formats for large-scale printouts, such as for displaying digitally painted character renderings at life-size as references for makeup artists and costume designers, or to provide an immersive landscape reference.

Architectural sizes 

In addition to the ANSI system as listed above, there is a corresponding series of paper sizes used for architectural purposes. This series also shares the property that bisecting each size produces two of the size below, with alternating aspect ratios.  It may be preferred by North American architects because the aspect ratios (4:3 and 3:2) are ratios of small integers, unlike their ANSI (or ISO) counterparts. Furthermore, the aspect ratio 4:3 matches the traditional aspect ratio for computer displays. The architectural series, usually abbreviated "Arch", is shown below:

Other sizes 

Tablet sizes

The sizes listed above are for paper sold loose in reams. There are many sizes of tablets of paper, that is, sheets of paper bound at one edge, usually by a strip of plastic or hardened PVA adhesive. Often there is a pad of cardboard (also known as chipboard or greyboard) at the bottom of the stack. Such a tablet serves as a portable writing surface, and the sheets often have lines printed on them, usually in non-repro blue, to make writing in a line easier. An older means of binding is to have the sheets stapled to the cardboard along the top of the tablet; there is a line of perforated holes across every page just below the top edge from which any page may be torn off. Lastly, a pad of sheets each weakly stuck with adhesive to the sheet below, trademarked as "Post-It" or "Stick-Em" and available in various sizes, serve as a sort of tablet.

"Letter pads" are , while the term "legal pad" is often used by laymen to refer to pads of various sizes including those of . There are "steno pads" (used by stenographers) of 6 by.

In countries where the ISO sizes are standard, most notebooks and tablets are sized to ISO specifications (for example, most newsagents in Australia stock A4 and A3 tablets).

Office sizes 

* The international business card has the same size as the smallest rectangle containing a credit card. However, credit card size, as defined in ISO/IEC 7810, also specifies rounded corners and thickness.

Photography sizes 

Postage sizes 

This implies that all postcards have a width:height aspect ratio
in the range 1.18 to 1.71.
The only ISO 216 size in the post card range is A6.

Traditional inch-based paper sizes

Traditionally, a number of different sizes were defined for large sheets of paper, and paper sizes were defined by the sheet name and the number of times it had been folded.  Thus a full sheet of "royal" paper was 25 × 20 inches, and "royal octavo" was this size folded three times, so as to make eight sheets, and was thus 10 ×  inches.

Imperial sizes were used in the United Kingdom and its territories. Some of the base sizes were as follows:

* The sizes marked with an asterisk are still in use in the United States.

Traditional sizes for paper in the United Kingdom

These sizes are no longer commonly used since the UK switched to ISO sizes: 

The common divisions and their abbreviations include:

Foolscap folio is often referred to simply as "folio" or "foolscap".  Similarly, "quarto" is more correctly "copy draught quarto".

Many of these sizes were only used for making books (see bookbinding), and would never have been offered for ordinary stationery purposes. 

Demitab

The demitab or demi-tab (from the French "demi" or half tabloid) is , equal to one quarter of a sheet of  tabloid size paper. In actual circulation, the size 8 x is common for a demitab.  Tabloid newspapers, which are "generally half the size of a broadsheet", also vary in size. To add to the lack of uniformity, broadsheets also vary in size.

Transitional paper sizes

PA series

A transitional size called PA4 (210 ×) was proposed for inclusion into the ISO 216 standard in 1975. It has the height of Canadian P4 paper (215 mm × 280 mm, about  in × 11 in) and the width of international A4 paper (210 ×), i.e. it uses the smaller value among the two for each side. The table below, shows how this format can be generalized into an entire format series.

The PA formats did not end up in ISO 216, because the committee decided that the set of standardized paper formats should be kept to the minimum necessary. However, PA4 remains of practical use today. In landscape orientation, it has the same 4:3 aspect ratio as the displays of traditional TV sets, some computer displays and data projectors. PA4, with appropriate margins, is therefore a good choice as the format of presentation slides.

PA4, sometimes dubbed L4, is also a useful compromise between A4 and North American Letter sizes. Hence it is used today by many international magazines, because it can be printed easily on equipment designed for either A4 or US Letter. That means it is not as much a paper size than a page format.

Antiquarian

Although the movement is towards the international standard metric paper sizes, on the way there from the traditional ones there has been at least one new size just a little larger than that used internationally. British architects and industrial designers once used a size called "Antiquarian" as listed above, but given in the New Metric Handbook (Tutt & Adler 1981) as 813 × for board size. This is a little larger than the A0 size. So for a short time, a size called A0a (1000 ×) was used in Britain.

Other metric sizes

Newspaper sizes

Newspapers have a separate set of sizes.
* Berliner
* Broadsheet
* Compact
* Rhenish
* Tabloid (newspaper format)

In a recent trend  many newspapers have been undergoing what is known as "web cut down", in which the publication is redesigned to print using a narrower (and less expensive) roll of paper.  In extreme examples, some broadsheet papers are nearly as narrow as traditional tabloids.
Compact Compact (disambiguation) Compact (diplomacy)
compact diplomacy compact compact disambiguation
compact
WikipediaEntity
Compact
 New Species Common Species, Botsh, being the largest, and top being smaller, but what  names is given to the smallest size. 

 I'm happy to help. However, I need more information about the species that the larger key people before names and top doesn being top that fits the size and the smaller smaller can build in assumptions and the smaller species that is used to type the that made I couldn't find even more information about specifying building to be what names is the specific theme that doesn doesn doesn doesn or what you're looking for you.