[XeTeX] Tabular spanning columns

[Karljurgen Feuerherm]

Hi Axel,
 
Thanks again, will try this this weekend.
 
No, Babylonians in the early days read top to bottom, and then the columns go from right to left. That's how it is on the Hammurapi code, and why I have all those turn boxes. One is supposed to rotate the paper in order to read 'properly'.
 
Eventually, though, because of the 'portrait' orientation of a tablet in the hand, this becomes left to right with rows from top to bottom, just like we [western Europeans] do. And most scholars read it that way too. That's how I was taught. I'm just odd enough to want my students to do it the 'right' way ;)
 
BTW you didn't offer a suggestion on how to bring the boxes closer together, perhaps by omission (hoping :)
 
K

>>> Axel Kielhorn <a.kielhorn at web.de> 30/10/2009 10:59 am >>>

Am 29.10.2009 um 21:35 schrieb Karljurgen Feuerherm:

> Hello all,
>
> Thanks to everyone for the various suggestions.
>
> I'm not totally decided on this point, but you can see from the 
> attached that the framebox expands depending on the size of the 
> characters; I might like to make it either constant.

You can add a \strut or a \rule{0pt}{as large as you need it}

> It occurs to me that in some cases, the cuneiform within a box 
> might span multiple lines. Is there a feature to put the box around 
> the item/paragraph rather than around a selection of characters?
> I've copied a section of the code I used below.

You need to put the text inside a \parbox.

Something like:

\item[\begin{turn}{90}{27}\end{turn}] \fbox{\strut\parbox{2.5in} 
{\LARGE{<text goes here>}}}

BTW, do the Babylonians read from right to left?

Axel


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