[pdftex] Creating a TeX file with data around predefined "design"

[William F. Adams]

On Jul 4, 2005, at 8:32 PM, Kári Hreinsson wrote:

> I spent some time trying to "tweak" LaTeX into getting the layout I 
> wanted
> with no or very little success. Doing this required a lot of work with
> images (that represent the layout) that "wrap" around the content (the 
> list)
> and the content might even float over the images. I found this very
> un-friendly in LaTeX so I tried thinking of other ways. Some days 
> before I
> had come across the "TeX Showcase" so I figured it might be easier to 
> do in
> plain TeX then in LaTeX (well, easier, at least possible).

Can what you wish to do be done w/ \usepackage{wrapfig}?

> - Is it possible to do this in TeX (if yes, is it easy?) or is it just 
> plain
> stupid and I should be focusing on something different?

Yes, it can be done, and is highly desirable for texts w/ many pages / 
much data.

> If "yes", then
> - What should I focus on, ConTeXt, MetaPost, plain Tex or something 
> else
> (just telling me what not to focus on would still be help!)?

If you can find LaTeX packages on CTAN w/ address your needs, 
definitely stick w/ LaTeX.

> - I ran into "layers" in ConTeXt, might that be the answer to the 
> layout
> images staying "behind" the content?

Place the image first if it's in running text, or use esopic to place 
them if they're static / fixed on a given page.

> Then just a small one in the end. This book is in Icelandic which has 
> the
> special characters Þ (html: þ) and Ð (html: &eth). It is 
> possible to
> get these characters to work? Perhaps just a question of getting the 
> right
> font encoding or something?

A Google search on ``latex icelandic babel'' has as its ``I feel 
lucky'' hit:

http://cerium.raunvis.hi.is/~tpr/latex/

which says:

Add to your LaTeX document header:
\usepackage[icelandic]{babel}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
(install the font package cm-super)

William

-- 
William Adams, publishing specialist
voice - 717-731-6707 | Fax - 717-731-6708
www.atlis.com