Section and subsection headings too small in PDF (scrartcl class), headings=big ignored

[ElDuderino321]

I've created a syllabus in Markdown, with the following variables in the frontmatter:

documentclass: scrartcl
classoption:
    - 12pt
    - ngerman    
    - american
    - headings=big
geometry:
    - verbose
    - lmargin=1.9cm
    - rmargin=1.9cm
    - tmargin=2.9cm
mainfont: Garamond Libre
sansfont: Open Sans
header-includes: |
    \usepackage{fancyhdr}
    \pagestyle{fancy}
    \usepackage{graphicx} 
    \renewcommand{\maketitle}{}

But the size for level 1,2, and 3 headings look like it's just the regular font size in bold. They are not standing out. Maybe level 1 heading is 1 pt bigger.

Strangely, in a previous version created in LyX, using the same document class and other settings, the headings have the right sizes (and that is even without the headings=big setting set in the class options).

Does pandoc's Latex template have something to do with this? How can I get the font size right?

[TomBener]

I've tried your example and it seems the font size of headings is not incorrect.

If you want to change the font size of headings, you can try these methods.

[ElDuderino321]

Thanks! I got it the way I wanted it using

\setkomafont{section}{\Huge}
\setkomafont{subsection}{\huge}
\setkomafont{subsubsection}{\Large}

I played with different setting, removing setkomafont and using different headings= setting, and I'm wondering if either my previous Latex setup was different (but it's the same install, and same options) and has unusually "large" headings, or something other I don't understand. But if I don't use setkomafont, and only headings=big, it looks like this:

To me, that's barely standing out. In my old version (made in LyX), it looked like this:

Now, with setkomafont used like above, I got it looking like this:

Are my expectations for heading size unusually "huge," or what could be going on? I checked all the relevant settings, both documents should be produced with the same class and class settings.

(But that's just me being curious, my problem got solved, thank you!!)

[jpcirrus]

The KOMA-Script default for the headings class option is big, which according to p. 104 of scrguide-en applies the following default values to the scrbook and scrreprt classes:

Element	Value
part	\Huge
partnumber	\huge
chapter	\huge
chapterprefix	\usekomafont{chapter}
section	\Large
subsection	\large
subsubsection	\normalsize
paragraph	\normalsize
subparagraph	\normalsize

Of note:

scrartcl generally uses slightly smaller headings. (p. 96)

Obviously, your, and mine too when initially using the KOMA classes, taste differs. I now defer to their typographic expertise.

[ElDuderino321]

Lol, I hear you! Thanks for clearing that up for me. I wonder what it was about my previous setup that made the fonts so big, even though I'm sure it's the same settings. Maybe I'll find out, and I'll play around with more settings a bit. Thanks!