Hello Hraban,

thanks for your tip.
Hopefully I'll find time to have a look at it after that busy weekend.

Regards
Thomas

Am 22.02.25 um 19:11 schrieb Henning Hraban Ramm:

Am 22.02.25 um 18:36 schrieb Thomas Meyer:

Thank you Wolfgang,

I guess I'm thinking too complicated. Ultimately, this should result in a type area according to the golden ratio.
(textheight = 660 pt = 1.618 * textwidth or something similar, depending on the font size or interlinespace)

To simplify your code, you can replace many of these measures with units, e.g. th, tw; see also lowlevel-registers.pdf

Perhaps this can help. It works for me. It lays out his page 155 (1st edition paperback) bottom page, which has a 1.7 ratio type area on a 1.5 ratio page.

  \doifmodeelse{frame}{\def\Paper{letter}}{\def\Paper{octavo}}
  \definepapersize [octavo]
                   [width=6in,%   152.4mm, 433.62pt, 432bp
                    height=9in]%  228.6mm, 650..43pt, 648bp
  \setuppapersize[octavo][\Paper]
  \setuplayout   [
%Bringhurst example on p155
%
% P = 1.5 (h=9", w=6") (648bp × 432bp) (54pc × 36pc)
% T = 1.7 (d=6.8", m=4") (491.44pt × 289.08pt) (489.6bp × 288bp) (40.8pc × 24pc)
%         (exclusive of running heads and folios)
% s = t = w/9 = 0.667" backspace and top margin
% e = 2s = 1.333" foredge
% ( f = h - t - d = 9" - 0.667" - 6.8" = 1.533"
%   but must allow for footer/footerdistance in that )
%  36 lines @ 13.5pt = 486pt, 36 lines @ 13.45bp  = 484.2bp
      %
      % Bringhurst calculations for 24pica width   char/line
      %    libertinus alphabet width 10pt:   122pt   66
      %    libertinus alphabet width 10.5pt: 128pt   63
      %    libertinus alphabet width 11pt:   134pt   61
      %    libertinus alphabet width 12pt:   146pt   56
% backspace = leftedge+leftedgedistance+leftmarginwidth+leftmargindistance
% cutspace  = right...
% s = w/9 = leftmarginwidth+leftmargindistance = 0.667" = 48bp
% t = s = topspace + header+headerdistance
%         header+headerdistance = 27bp
%         topspace = 48bp - 27bp = 21bp
% e = 2×s = rightmarginwidth+rightmargindistance = 1.333" = 96bp
                  vz=2,
                  location=middle,
                  backspace=pw / 9,
                  cutspace=\backspace * 2,
                  width=\backspace * 6,
                  height=(\backspace * 6 * 1.7) + (4 * \lineheight),
                  topspace=\backspace - 2 * \lineheight,
                  headerdistance=\lineheight,    header=\lineheight,
                  footerdistance=\lineheight,    footer=\lineheight,
                  leftmargindistance=8bp,   rightmargindistance=8bp,
                  leftmargin=\backspace - \leftmargindistance,
                  rightmargin=\cutspace - \rightmargindistance,
                 ]

--
Rik