Implement a solid external cover

[Daniel de Schiffart]

An extra possible feature is the implementation of an external cover as defined at the end of page 3 of this document.

Essentially, the original document cover needs to be complemented with a spine that must contain specific data as mentioned in the linked document. This can be implemented additionally using the class file and the macros used to make the original cover.

[João Gonçalves]

I don't see what is missing, apart from making the image optional.

[Daniel de Schiffart]

Absolutely a fair question. When thesis get print out, they're suggested to come with a back cover, besides the main cover already included. Page 6 of the main IST guide has an example for the spine typesetting style.

The idea for implementing this in the template came from TUDelft's report template (check the cover.pdf file in the linked zip), which implements it as a part of the makecover command like this:

\title{Title}
\subtitle{Optional subtitle}
\author{J.\ Random Author}
\affiliation{Technische Universiteit Delft}
\coverimage{cover.jpg}
\covertext{
    \textbf{Cover Text} \\
    possibly \\
    spanning \\
    multiple \\
    lines
    \vfill
    ISBN 000-00-0000-000-0
}

%% The 'back' option enables the generation of the back cover.
\makecover[back,whitelogo]

Bottom line is this: the idea is that it's a cover additional to the one already implemented.

[Daniel de Schiffart]

I just added the \makespine command to commit e8abe16, which is a preliminary version of the idea. For now, it prints out an extra page with a cut-out of the document spine, just like the main guide.

The final idea is to put it on the \makecover command as the full option, which would output a page bigger than an A3 including the front and back covers and the spine in between. The pieces are all there, they just need to be put together.