Re: multi-column spread control (was Re: beginner's questions)

[Ed L Cashin <ecashin@coe.uga.edu>]

Hans Hagen <pragma@wxs.nl> writes:

> At 09:49 AM 11/14/00 -0500, Ed L Cashin wrote:
...
> >Is that the kind of problem it is?
> 
> Right, something 
> 
> \newdimen\naturalvsize \naturalvsize=10cm
> 
> \vsize=2\naturalvsize
> \hsize=10cm
> 
> \def\Split%
>   {\setbox0=\vsplit255 to \naturalvsize \setbox0=\vbox to
> \naturalvsize{\unvbox0} % left column
>    \setbox2=\vsplit255 to \naturalvsize \setbox2=\vbox to
> \naturalvsize{\unvbox2} % right column 
>    \shipout{\hbox{\box0\hskip1em\box2} % page 
>    \unvbox255 } % leftovers
>    
> \output{\Split}
> 
> plus compensations plus test plus balancing plus nightmares 

I reviewed vsplit in the TeXbook, and it looks like by getting very
fancy with low-level glues and penalties (like the fancy index
example, "Paragraph Manuvers", number seven in Appendix D., but
vertically instead of horizontally) one could control exactly how the
columns balanced.

But for a macropackage author like yourself, that would mean breaking
open the box255 and changing the vertical glue between the elements.
Maybe that's the kind of compensation and nightmare you're talking
about?

It's too bad there's not an easier way to do perfectly balanced
columns with metapost.  ;)

-- 
--Ed Cashin                     PGP public key:
  ecashin@coe.uga.edu           http://www.coe.uga.edu/~ecashin/pgp/