Page Layout
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There is now a manual chapter on page design!
Contents
Location of Areas
You can use these design areas in your page:
leftedge | leftmargin | width | rightmargin | rightedge | |
top | . | . | ↑ topspace ↓ | . | . |
header | . | . | HEADER ↑ headerheight ↓ |
. | . |
textheight | ←leftedgewidth→ | MARGINALS ←leftmarginwidth→ |
TEXT ←textwidth→ × ↑ textheight ↓ |
MARGINALS ←rightmarginwidth→ |
←rightedgewidth→ |
footer | . | . | FOOTER ↑ footerheight ↓ |
. | . |
bottom | . | . | ↑ bottomspace ↓ | . | . |
The names in the column and row headers are the keywords for \setuplayout, the words inside of the table are given to clarify ConTeXT terminology. There are also keywords suffixed by "distance" to set the distance
between each of the areas, e.g. leftedgedistance, leftmargindistance (from the named area to the inner).
height is normally used instead of textheight, it is the sum of footer + footerdistance + textheight + headerdistance + header
The size of the margins does not affect the size of the text area. Control the size of the text area with backspace, topspace, height and width.
Table of Parameters
Parameter | Variable | Remarks |
---|---|---|
paperheight | \paperheight | height of paper page |
paperwidth | \paperwidth | width of paper page |
printpaperheight | \printpaperheight | differs from paperheight when using Imposition (arranging) |
printpaperwidth | \printpaperwidth | differs from paperwidth when using Imposition (arranging) |
topspace | \topspace | above header: from top rim of paper to to top rim of header |
backspace | \backspace | from left rim of paper to left rim of main text area |
height | \makeupheight | sum of heights of text area, header and footer (plus distances) |
width | \makeupwidth | width of the main text area. \makeupwidth is normally same as \textwidth, but it can be different, for example in columns |
top | \topheight | height of the top area |
topdistance | \topdistance | between top and header |
header | \headerheight | height of header area |
headerdistance | \headerdistance | between header and text |
textheight | \textheight | height of text area |
footerdistance | \footerdistance | between text and footer |
footer | \footerheight | height of footer area |
bottomdistance | \bottomdistance | between footer and bottom |
bottom | \bottomheight | space below footer (but isn't calculated automatically) |
bottomspace | \bottomspace | space from bottom footer to bottom rim of paper |
cutspace | \cutspace | from right rim of paper to right rim of main text area |
leftedge | \leftedgewidth | from left rim of paper to left rim of left margin |
leftedgedistance | \leftedgedistance | between leftegde and left margin |
leftmargin | \leftmarginwidth | width of left margin (marginals space) |
leftmargindistance | \leftmargindistance | between left margin and text |
textwidth | \textwidth | width of text area. when columns are used, the value of \textwidth can differ from \makeupwidth |
rightmargindistance | \rightmargindistance | between text area and right margin |
rightmargin | \rightmarginwidth | width of right margin (marginals area) |
rightedgedistance | \rightedgedistance | between right margin and right edge |
rightedge | \rightedgewidth | from right margin to right rim of paper |
Note:
- width=middle
if cutspace == 0pt then
cutspace = backspace
end
makeupwidth = paperwidth- backspace -cutspace
- width=fit
if cutspace == 0pt then
cutspace = backspace
end
makeupwidth = paperwidth-cutspace
scratchdimen = backspace - leftedgewidth-leftedgedistance-leftmarginwidth-leftmargindistance
if scratchdimen< 0pt then
scratchdimen = 0pt
end
makeupwidth = makeupwidth - rightmargindistance-rightmarginwidth- rightedgedistance-rightedgewidth- scratchdimen
- otherwise:
makeupwidth=width
if cutspace == 0pt then
cutspace = paperwidth-makeupwidth-backspace
else
% A kind of inconsistent specification, but used
% in for instance s-pre-19.tex; the cutspace is
% used only for determining some kind of right
% margin; don't use this in doublesided mode
pass
end
(from page-lay.mkiv, 2009-11-17 - 23:59).
Setup / Paper Size
You define always a right page; if you use a double page layout 'right' and 'left' values are mirrored on a left page.
\setuppapersize[A4][A4] % this is default and may be omitted \setuplayout[backspace=20mm, width=160mm, topspace=20mm, top=0mm, header=0mm, footer=0mm, height=250mm]
ConTeXt users in the United States might use
\setuppapersize[letter][letter]
for standard US Letter-sized paper (8.5" × 11.0")
If you need a special paper size, have a look at our list of paper sizes (ConTeXt's, standardized and traditional), and use \definepapersize if it's not already defined.
You can make all the geometry information visible with \showlayout and the related commands.
See \setuplayout and \setuppapersize in the manual.
How to setup your layout
Define the placement and size of your type area by first defining backspace, topspace, width and height. The height includes header and footer.
The width of the margins has no influence on the location of the type area!
Details are in the page design chapter of the new reference manual.
Keep
If you have a certain run of text that you want to keep together, you can test for the number of lines available on the current page with \testpage[n] where n is the number of lines required. If there are not n lines available, a page break will be inserted at the location of the testpage command.
Multiple layouts
If you need to use different layouts in some parts of the document, you can set up a global layout for the overall and then define additional named layouts for the deviating parts. These settings go into the setup area of your document.
\setuplayout[key=value,key=value,...] %global layout \definelayout[wide][key=value,key=value,...] %different layout called 'wide' \definelayout[short][key=value,key=value,...]%different layout called 'short'
That takes care of the global layout. When you want to switch to a different layout, you just call it up in the appropriate place in the document:
\setuplayout[wide] % switches to layout called 'wide'
Note. Use reset to revert back to the global layout:
\setuplayout[reset] % reverts to the global layout
This text is based on a thread on the mailing list, answers and examples are given there by Hans and Wolfgang.
Defining layouts with a number as their name allows to specify the layout of the page with that specific number. For example, to use a different layout for the first page, you can use this code:
\setuplayout[key=value,key=value,...] % global layout \definelayout[1][key=value,key=value,...] % layout of the first page \definelayout[2][reset] % revert to the global layout starting from the second page
Do not forget to reset the layout on the second page. Note that keys that are not set in the layout of the first page will be conveniently inherited from the global layout.
A typical example of the above is the following:
\setuplayout[% default layout for all the pages backspace=1cm, width=middle] \definelayout[1][% set this layout on the first page backspace=6cm] \definelayout[2][reset] % reset to the default layout starting from the second page \definelayout[5][backspace=6cm] % use this layout starting from page 5 \definelayout[9][reset] % reset to the default layout starting from page 9 \starttext \showframe \dorecurse{20}{\input dawkins \blank[big] \input knuth \page} \stoptext
Layout components
A hidden nice feature is
\showlayoutcomponents
By adding the above command at the beginning of your file you obtain a PDF file in which different components of the layout (such as layers) can be made visible or invisible in Acrobat Reader (or maybe a few other PDF viewers).
Hints
By using Layers, you can also place elements at specific places, as done in the BusinessCard example.
At Paul Tremblay's XML ConTeXt site, there's a lot about layout from a XML/FO perspective with some descriptive pictures.
TODO: Unfortunately it's not that easy to define a layout. We need more documentation about which parameters define which length, what influences what else etc. (See: To-Do List) |