nxtlatex – LaTeX classes and themes for faculty NXT

Version: 1.3 Date: 2026-09-24 License: LPPL 1.3c (code), OFL 1.1 (font) Author: Volker Reichenberger <volker.reichenberger@reutlingen-university.de> CTAN: https://ctan.org/pkg/nxtlatex

Description

The nxtlatex package provides LaTeX tools for the faculty NXT Nachhaltigkeit und Technologie (Sustainability and Technology) at Reutlingen University, Germany. It comprises three components:

• nxtthesis – A thesis class based on the standard class report, so that it can produce tagged, accessible PDFs. Provides a title page with institution metadata (German or English), twelve font options, lists of abbreviations and symbols, an index, the faculty's declaration of academic integrity including the required statement on AI tools, and an option that switches to the faculty's mandatory layout rules.

• nxtbrief – A letter-class option (LCO) for KOMA-Script scrlttr2. Uses the Segoe UI font family.

• beamerthemeNXT – A Beamer presentation theme in the NXT corporate design. Uses the Segoe UI font family.

All components require LuaLaTeX. Two helper packages are shared by all three: nxtlatexcolors (the colour palette) and nxtlatexlogos (logo macros). The OpenType font NXT_Logo.otf contains all logos of the faculty as glyphs – nothing to download.

Files

File	Description
nxtlatex.dtx	Documented source (all components)
nxtlatex.ins	Docstrip install script
nxtlatex.pdf	Package documentation (German)
ThesisanleitungNXT.pdf	Introduction to LaTeX using this class (German)
Beispielthesis/	Complete example thesis with sources (see below)
BeispielbriefNXT.tex/.pdf	Example letter
BeispielfolienNXT.tex/.pdf	Example presentation
NXT_Logo.otf	NXT Logo Font with all faculty logos (OFL 1.1)
OFL.txt	SIL Open Font License 1.1
getnxtlogos	Installer for university logo and skyline (macOS/Linux)
getnxtlogos.ps1	Installer for university logo and skyline (Windows)
README.md	This file

latex nxtlatex.ins generates nxtlatexcolors.sty, nxtlatexlogos.sty, nxtthesis.cls, nxtbrief.lco and beamerthemeNXT.sty.

The example thesis

Beispielthesis/ is a complete bachelor's thesis on assigning production tasks to workers. It is meant to be copied and adapted, and it exercises what the class offers: lists of abbreviations, symbols, tables and figures, an index, tables spanning several pages and one in landscape, figures drawn with TikZ, METAPOST and matplotlib, and typeset source code.

Its numbers are computed, not typed. The programs in Beispielthesis/Code/ solve the problem for real – exactly with GLPK and heuristically with simulated annealing – and generate the figures, the tables and the numbers quoted in the running text. Colours come from nxtlatexcolors.sty by the same route, so LaTeX, TikZ, matplotlib and METAPOST all use one palette.

The generated files are included, so

make -C Beispielthesis pdf

builds the thesis with LuaLaTeX alone. Python 3 and GLPK are needed only to recompute the results:

make -C Beispielthesis daten

Installation

nxtlatex is part of TeX Live and MiKTeX; a full installation already contains it.

From the source repository,

make install

generates the files and copies them into the user's texmf tree. (Not l3build install: it empties tex/latex/nxtlatex first, where getnxtlogos puts the logos.) By hand, run latex nxtlatex.ins and copy the five generated files together with NXT_Logo.otf into a directory where TeX can find them, e.g. ~/texmf/tex/latex/nxtlatex/ (Linux) or ~/Library/texmf/tex/latex/nxtlatex/ (macOS), then run texhash.

Note that the .cls, .sty and .lco files are generated from nxtlatex.dtx. Edit the .dtx, never the generated files.

Documents are built with LuaLaTeX. A single pass is never enough – cross-references, the bibliography, the index and the lists of abbreviations and symbols each need their own run:

lualatex  Document
biber     Document
makeindex Document
lualatex  Document
lualatex  Document

Usage

nxtthesis

\documentclass[german,gyre]{nxtthesis}
\title{Title}
\author{Author Name}
\adresse{Street, ZIP City}
\matrikelnummer{1234567}
\akademischergrad{Bachelor of Science}
\studiengang{Sustainable Technology}
\abgabedatum{31 March 2027}
\erstpruef{Prof. Dr. First Examiner}
\zweitpruef{Prof. Dr. Second Examiner}
\begin{document}
\maketitle
\tableofcontents
\hauptteil          % switches from roman to arabic page numbers
...
\eigenständigkeitserklärung[ki=keine]
\end{document}

Declaration of academic integrity

\eigenständigkeitserklärung sets the declaration in the wording of the faculty's guideline (version of 17 December 2025). The guideline requires a statement on AI tools, chosen with ki:

Value	Meaning
keine	no content-generating AI tools were used
kennzeichnung	use was permitted; the tools are listed in the thesis
ohnekennzeichnung	use was permitted without the duty to list them

If ki is missing, the class issues a warning. For a thesis also submitted to a partner university, add partnerhochschule={Name} and optionally partnerordnung={...}. The declaration is always in German, as the guideline provides no other wording.

Class options

german (default) or english for the main language. With english the title page is in English as well.

Font options – each combines a text font, a sans companion and a matching math font:

Option	Text font	Math font
gyre	TeX Gyre Pagella	Pagella Math
libertinus	Libertinus Serif	Libertinus Math
segoeui	Segoe UI	Euler Math
stix	STIX Two Text	STIX Two Math
fira	Fira Sans	Fira Math
newtx	TeX Gyre TermesX	Termes Math
times	Times New Roman	Termes Math
bookman	TeX Gyre Bonum	Bonum Math
charter	XCharter	XCharter Math
garamond	EB Garamond	Garamond Math
utopia	Erewhon (Utopia)	Erewhon Math
concrete	CMU Concrete	Euler Math

Where a font provides a semibold weight, it is used instead of bold. times has no real small capitals; abbreviations are then set in the regular shape rather than in faked small capitals, and with kapitaelchen the headings are set sans-serif instead (title and abbreviations stay serif).

Layout options:

Option	Effect
richtlinie	The faculty's mandatory layout: 11 pt, one-and-a-half line spacing, ragged right, 3 cm binding margin, captions 10 pt, continuous numbering of tables, figures and equations, and a prescribed title page.
kapitaelchen	Title and headings in small capitals instead of bold.
logo	The logo "NXT Nachhaltigkeit und Technologie, Reutlingen University" centred above the title. With richtlinie it is there anyway, as the faculty prescribes it.

ThesisanleitungNXT.pdf shows every option on the same three pages.

Accessibility and PDF/A

The class writes title, author and language into the PDF metadata, gives the logos alternative texts and provides copyable text for abbreviations and symbols. For a tagged, accessible PDF (PDF/UA), put

\DocumentMetadata{lang=de, pdfversion=2.0, pdfstandard=ua-2, tagging=on}

before \documentclass. This is why nxtthesis is based on report since version 1.3: the KOMA-Script classes are not yet compatible with tagging. listings is not compatible by itself; if a thesis uses it, the class loads the adaptation the LaTeX team provides. The example thesis is set this way, and veraPDF confirms PDF/UA-2 for it and for all twelve font options. Use lang=de rather than de-DE, which makes biblatex warn about an unknown language. For PDF/A only, use pdfstandard=a-2b.

Coming from version 1.2

Up to 1.2 the class was based on KOMA-Script scrreprt. Layout and appearance are unchanged; \subtitle, \addchap and \addsec still work. Other KOMA commands such as \KOMAoptions or \setkomafont are gone.

nxtbrief

\documentclass{scrlttr2}
\LoadLetterOption{nxtbrief}
\usepackage[ngerman]{babel}
\begin{document}
\setkomavar{fromname}{Prof. Dr. Name}
\begin{letter}{Recipient\\Address}
\opening{Dear Sir or Madam,}
...
\closing{Kind regards}
\end{letter}
\end{document}

beamerthemeNXT

\documentclass{beamer}
\usetheme{NXT}
\begin{document}
\frame{\titlepage}
\begin{frame}{Title}
  \begin{itemize}
    \item Item
  \end{itemize}
\end{frame}
\end{document}

Logos

The NXT logos are glyphs in the NXT Logo Font that comes with the package, taken unchanged from the faculty's corporate design. The macros from nxtlatexlogos are available in all three components:

Macro	Logo
\nxtzeichen	the NXT mark alone
\nxtlogo	mark and NXT
\nxtlogonut	with "Nachhaltigkeit und Technologie"
\nxthsrtlogo	with "Reutlingen University" in addition
\nxtlogostandard	standard layout: lines above, NXT below

Options: width, height (default: mark 1 cm high), schema = farbig (default), schwarz, weiss, weisseTextmarke, weisseZeile, or individual colours via zeichenfarbe, nxtfarbe, zeilenfarbe (e.g. CMYK for print), farbe for all three, and alt for the alternative text.

\nxthsrtlogo[width=7cm]
\nxtlogo[height=1cm, schema=weisseZeile]

The university logo (which contains the state coat of arms) and the skyline used in the letter footer are not part of the font. They are used only by nxtbrief and the Beamer theme; \hsrtlogograu and \hsrtskyline skip them silently if missing. The installer scripts download them from the university website and place them in the local texmf tree. In TeX Live the scripts are installed with the documentation, in doc/latex/nxtlatex/ below the tree that kpsewhich -var-value TEXMFDIST names.

sh getnxtlogos                                            # macOS, Linux
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File getnxtlogos.ps1  # Windows

The NXT Logo Font

NXT_Logo.otf has its own repository, https://gitlab.reutlingen-university.de/reichenb/nxt-logo-font, included here as the git submodule font/. make font builds it from there; make ctan always rebuilds it and refuses to run if the submodule is not at the latest commit of the font repository, so CTAN always gets the current font.

Customisation

The components are designed for Reutlingen University's NXT faculty but can be adapted for other institutions:

• In nxtthesis, redefine \fakultaet and \hochschule.
• In nxtbrief, the return address starts with fromname; set \setkomavar{backaddress}{...} for a different one. The right-hand column holds the faculty's address; use nxtbrief.lco as a template.
• For other logos, redefine the logo macros after loading the class or theme, e.g.

\renewcommand{\nxthsrtlogo}[1][]{\includegraphics[#1]{my-logo.pdf}}

Building from source

The package is built with l3build:

l3build unpack    # generate .cls/.sty/.lco
l3build doc       # typeset nxtlatex.pdf
l3build check     # run the regression tests
l3build ctan      # build the CTAN archive

make ctan additionally rebuilds the font from the submodule, typesets the examples and the introduction, and then calls l3build ctan. After cloning, fetch the submodule with git submodule update --init.

License

Copyright (C) 2025–2026 Volker Reichenberger.

This work may be distributed and/or modified under the conditions of the LaTeX Project Public License, either version 1.3c of this license or (at your option) any later version.

The font NXT_Logo.otf is licensed under the SIL Open Font License, Version 1.1 (OFL-1.1).