Hello, I am working on typesetting a newsletter in ConTeXt. I have been very pleased with ConTeXt so far; I was previously using plain TeX, as I couldn't get the control I wanted with LaTeX. I have been able to do almost everything I wanted with ConTeXt. However, I have been having some trouble with trying to use floats and figures with my two-column layout. Since joining the list, I have heard a bit about columnsets, and they seem that they may provide what I am looking for. I have been able to set some figures, and a masthead, and double columns. However, I was wondering if there was anywhere a collection of information, however incomplete, that could help me figure out how this stuff works, or do I have to look through the source? Besides a few examples in the list archive, there seems to be little. And I don't want to have to ask on the list each time I need to figure out how to do something. I understand that the feature is experimental & that a manual is in progress, but it seems that this is what I want to use. On the other hand, if somebody else has a better grasp of advantages and disadvantages of columnsets vis a vis traditional columns, and could tell me whether or not I am on the right path, I would apprecate that too. Anyhow, thanks for any help. -Erik Hetzner
On Friday 04 April 2003 01:59 pm, Willi Egger wrote:
Hi Erik
Since joining the list, I have heard a bit about columnsets,
Did you try to study the 'details.pdf' manual from the pragma site?
Willi
That manual does not discuss columnsets but rather pseudo columns AFAIK Anyone remember the command for forcing a new column in the columnset environment? John Culleton
At 16:27 07/04/2003 -0500, you wrote:
On Friday 04 April 2003 01:59 pm, Willi Egger wrote:
Hi Erik
Since joining the list, I have heard a bit about columnsets,
Did you try to study the 'details.pdf' manual from the pragma site?
Willi
That manual does not discuss columnsets but rather pseudo columns AFAIK
Anyone remember the command for forcing a new column in the columnset environment?
\column ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE | pragma@wxs.nl Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands tel: +31 (0)38 477 53 69 | fax: +31 (0)38 477 53 74 | www.pragma-ade.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------- information: http://www.pragma-ade.com/roadmap.pdf documentation: http://www.pragma-ade.com/showcase.pdf -------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hans Hagen writes:
At 16:27 07/04/2003 -0500, you wrote:
That manual does not discuss columnsets but rather pseudo columns AFAIK
Anyone remember the command for forcing a new column in the columnset environment?
\column
Thanks to Hans & others (although to be clear I did not ask the question about forcing new column). The details.pdf discusses pseudo-columns, but its discussion of the placement of floats did help me. I have been able to mostly do what I wanted to do through playing with the setup. I do have one question: is it possible to place floats in columnsets like left or right floats in regular text & columns? (I don't know if that is what they are formally called. You know the kind, I am sure.) +++ kjl fdsa jkls +++ asdfhdsf asdf fsd ksd jkfkj qweyre uirt vncmd Thanks for the help. -Erik Hetzner
At 10:12 08/04/2003 -0700, you wrote:
Hans Hagen writes:
At 16:27 07/04/2003 -0500, you wrote:
That manual does not discuss columnsets but rather pseudo columns AFAIK
Anyone remember the command for forcing a new column in the columnset environment?
\column
Thanks to Hans & others (although to be clear I did not ask the question about forcing new column). The details.pdf discusses pseudo-columns, but its discussion of the placement of floats did help me. I have been able to mostly do what I wanted to do through playing with the setup. I do have one question: is it possible to place floats in columnsets like left or right floats in regular text & columns? (I don't know if that is what they are formally called. You know the kind, I am sure.)
+++ kjl fdsa jkls +++ asdfhdsf asdf fsd ksd jkfkj qweyre uirt vncmd
not yet, since this demands some trickery in the otr; i had some experimental code working, but lost it somehow, so it's on the todo list (a complication is that the concept of a margin is somewhat different in multicolumns) Hans ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE | pragma@wxs.nl Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands tel: +31 (0)38 477 53 69 | fax: +31 (0)38 477 53 74 | www.pragma-ade.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------- information: http://www.pragma-ade.com/roadmap.pdf documentation: http://www.pragma-ade.com/showcase.pdf -------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hans Hagen writes:
+++ kjl fdsa jkls +++ asdfhdsf asdf fsd ksd jkfkj qweyre uirt vncmd
not yet, since this demands some trickery in the otr; i had some experimental code working, but lost it somehow, so it's on the todo list
(a complication is that the concept of a margin is somewhat different in multicolumns)
Hans
Okay, I look forward to it, in the meantime I think I could probably hack something together with \hangafter if I need it. Another question, if it's not too much to ask people. With regular columns, I had a \widearticle macro that allowed me to end & balance two columns, have a full-size heading, and then start two new columns. Here's a picture: aa aa aaaaa aaa aa aaaa aaaa aaa aaaa aaaa aaaa aaa aaaa aa aa aaaaa aaa aa aa aa aaaaa aaa aa aaaa aaaa aaa aaa. ---------- Here is a full length heading. aaaa aaaa aaa aaaa aa aa aaaaa aaa aa aa aa aaaaa aaa aa aaaa aaaa aaa aaaa aaaa aaaa aaa aaaa aa aa aaaaa aaa aa I have been trying to do this with: \definecolumnsetspan[two][width=40pc,location=middle] \def\widearticle#1{% \startcolumnsetspan[two][]{\ArticleHeadFont #1}\stopcolumnsetspan } Simplified, because I can't even get this to work. I found this in the source. I'm not really sure what it does, but it sure sounds like it might be what I want. It seems that I could also do this with floats, but the heading really ought to be at a certain place. It really shouldn't float at all. Also I tried with: \definecolumntextarea[spanall][right][x=1,y=1,nx=2,ny=4,state=start] and ... \definecolumntextarea[spanall][right][nx=2,ny=4,state=start] I'm not sure what the state=start does. \definecolumntextarea seems to work; I am using it for the masthead. But as far as I can tell it must be known from the beginning, which is a problem because an article might end at any time. Any suggestions? -Erik Hetzner
participants (4)
-
Erik George Hetzner -
Hans Hagen -
John Culleton -
Willi Egger