problem with two columns on a page

problem with two columns on a page

[Jelle Huisman]

Hi,

I'm typesetting a dictionary using \startcolumns[n=2,balance=yes] to get 
balanced columns. I have 26 balanced columns with simple headers in 
between and a lot of situations with two columns on one page. (see 
example). As long as the number of lines of the first columns (AA) is 
fewer than a certain value around 20 the next columns (BB) will be 
placed on the same page, but if there are more lines from the first 
columns they push the second columns to the next page. Is there a way to 
control this behavior, I would like to be able to keep this second 
columns starting on this page even if there are only 5 lines of text 
available for it. (using MkII)

\starttext
\showgrid

\startalignment[center] AA \stopalignment\blank
\startcolumns[n=2,balance=yes]
\dorecurse{40}{a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a } % << this works
%\dorecurse{42}{a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a } % << this 
pushes columns (BB) to the next page
\stopcolumns

\startalignment[center] BB \stopalignment\blank
\startcolumns[n=2,balance=yes]
\dorecurse{100}{b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b }
\stopcolumns

\stoptext

Thanks,

Jelle
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Re: problem with two columns on a page

[Jelle Huisman]

Hans Hagen wrote:
> the problem is that the paragraph is larger than two columns and 
> that's tricky to handle without too much messing around (i'll redo the 
> balancer in mkiv once i've arrived at it; i see where the catch takes 
> place but i'd rather not touch the mkii code now)
>
> so, what you can do is trigger the otr before columns end
>
> add \penalty\outputpenalty just before \stopcolumns
>
> (ok, might hav eother side effects 

It does indeed not do what I expected. One final try: is there some sort 
of setting for the number of lines allowed in a column that triggers the 
OTR, so that I could tweak that? Or is it hard coded and will it break 
everything?

Thanks,

Jelle
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Re: problem with two columns on a page

[Hans Hagen]

Jelle Huisman wrote:
> Hans Hagen wrote:
>> the problem is that the paragraph is larger than two columns and 
>> that's tricky to handle without too much messing around (i'll redo the 
>> balancer in mkiv once i've arrived at it; i see where the catch takes 
>> place but i'd rather not touch the mkii code now)
>>
>> so, what you can do is trigger the otr before columns end
>>
>> add \penalty\outputpenalty just before \stopcolumns
>>
>> (ok, might hav eother side effects 
> 
> It does indeed not do what I expected. One final try: is there some sort 
> of setting for the number of lines allowed in a column that triggers the 
> OTR, so that I could tweak that? Or is it hard coded and will it break 
> everything?

where did you put the penalty?


-----------------------------------------------------------------
                                           Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE
               Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands
      tel: 038 477 53 69 | fax: 038 477 53 74 | www.pragma-ade.com
                                              | www.pragma-pod.nl
-----------------------------------------------------------------
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___________________________________________________________________________________

Re: problem with two columns on a page

[Jelle Huisman]

Hans Hagen wrote:
> Jelle Huisman wrote:
>> Hans Hagen wrote:
>>> the problem is that the paragraph is larger than two columns and 
>>> that's tricky to handle without too much messing around (i'll redo 
>>> the balancer in mkiv once i've arrived at it; i see where the catch 
>>> takes place but i'd rather not touch the mkii code now)
>>>
>>> so, what you can do is trigger the otr before columns end
>>>
>>> add \penalty\outputpenalty just before \stopcolumns
>>>
>>> (ok, might hav eother side effects 
>>
>> It does indeed not do what I expected. One final try: is there some 
>> sort of setting for the number of lines allowed in a column that 
>> triggers the OTR, so that I could tweak that? Or is it hard coded and 
>> will it break everything?
>
> where did you put the penalty? 

Right before \stopcolumns, as you suggested.

\starttext
\showgrid

\startalignment[center] AA \stopalignment\blank
\startcolumns[n=2,balance=yes]
%\dorecurse{40}{a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a } % << this works
\dorecurse{42}{a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a } % << this 
pushes columns (BB) to the next page
\penalty\outputpenalty
\stopcolumns

\startalignment[center] BB \stopalignment\blank
\startcolumns[n=2,balance=yes]
\dorecurse{100}{b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b }

\stopcolumns

\stoptext


Jelle
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___________________________________________________________________________________

Re: problem with two columns on a page

[Hans Hagen]

Jelle Huisman wrote:
> Hans Hagen wrote:
>> Jelle Huisman wrote:
>>> Hans Hagen wrote:
>>>> the problem is that the paragraph is larger than two columns and 
>>>> that's tricky to handle without too much messing around (i'll redo 
>>>> the balancer in mkiv once i've arrived at it; i see where the catch 
>>>> takes place but i'd rather not touch the mkii code now)
>>>>
>>>> so, what you can do is trigger the otr before columns end
>>>>
>>>> add \penalty\outputpenalty just before \stopcolumns
>>>>
>>>> (ok, might hav eother side effects 
>>>
>>> It does indeed not do what I expected. One final try: is there some 
>>> sort of setting for the number of lines allowed in a column that 
>>> triggers the OTR, so that I could tweak that? Or is it hard coded and 
>>> will it break everything?
>>
>> where did you put the penalty? 
> 
> Right before \stopcolumns, as you suggested.
> 
> \starttext
> \showgrid
> 
> \startalignment[center] AA \stopalignment\blank
> \startcolumns[n=2,balance=yes]
> %\dorecurse{40}{a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a } % << this works
> \dorecurse{42}{a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a } % << this 
> pushes columns (BB) to the next page
> \penalty\outputpenalty
> \stopcolumns
> 
> \startalignment[center] BB \stopalignment\blank
> \startcolumns[n=2,balance=yes]
> \dorecurse{100}{b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b }

\penalty\outputpenalty


> \stopcolumns
> 
> \stoptext
> 
> 
> Jelle
> ___________________________________________________________________________________ 
> 
> If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry 
> to the Wiki!
> 
> maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / 
> http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
> webpage  : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net
> archive  : https://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/
> wiki     : http://contextgarden.net
> ___________________________________________________________________________________ 
> 


-- 

-----------------------------------------------------------------
                                           Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE
               Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands
      tel: 038 477 53 69 | fax: 038 477 53 74 | www.pragma-ade.com
                                              | www.pragma-pod.nl
-----------------------------------------------------------------
___________________________________________________________________________________
If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the Wiki!

maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
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archive  : https://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/
wiki     : http://contextgarden.net
___________________________________________________________________________________

Re: problem with two columns on a page

[Marcin Borkowski]

Hans,

I've read in this thread that you're going to work on columns some day.
Could you pay some attention to multicolumn itemizations?  Currently
they *must* be [packed], which is a serious restriction for me (I can
put some struts, but it's not very comfortable nor elegant...)

Regards

-- 
Marcin Borkowski (http://mbork.pl)
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___________________________________________________________________________________

Re: problem with two columns on a page

[Jelle Huisman]

Hans Hagen wrote:
>> \starttext
>> \showgrid
>> \startalignment[center] AA \stopalignment\blank
>> \startcolumns[n=2,balance=yes]
>> %\dorecurse{40}{a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a } % << this 
>> works
>> \dorecurse{42}{a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a } % << this 
>> pushes columns (BB) to the next page
>> \penalty\outputpenalty
>> \stopcolumns
>> \startalignment[center] BB \stopalignment\blank
>> \startcolumns[n=2,balance=yes]
>> \dorecurse{100}{b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b }
>
> \penalty\outputpenalty
>
>> \stopcolumns
>> \stoptext 

The "B" columns still start at the seond page :-(

Jelle
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