% title \makeatletter % \newcommand{\subtitle}[1]{\def \@subtitle {#1}} % \subtitle{} \gdef\@subtitle{} \def\subtitle#1{\gdef\@subtitle{#1}} \subtitle{} \def \maketitle {% % \begin{titlepage} % ~\vfill \begin{center} {\Large \@title} \\ \ifx \@subtitle \@empty \relax \else \vspace{0.5em} {\large \@subtitle} \\ \fi \vspace{1em} \ifx @author \@empty \relax \else \@author \\ \vspace{0.5in} \fi \@date \end{center} % \vfill % \end{titlepage} } \makeatother %opening \title{this is the title} \subtitle{this is the subtitle} \author{john smith} \date{ } \begin{document} \maketitle the contents \end{document}