Introduction to columnsets

Introduction to columnsets

[Erik George Hetzner]

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

Re: Introduction to columnsets

[Willi Egger]

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

Re: Introduction to columnsets

[John Culleton]

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

Re: Introduction to columnsets

[Hans Hagen]

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
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Re: Introduction to columnsets

[Erik George Hetzner]

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

Re: Introduction to columnsets

[Hans Hagen]

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
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Re: Introduction to columnsets

[Erik George Hetzner]

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