Typesetting with "odd-shaped" margins

Question

I am considering a poster presentation that I would like to design using nonstandard margin shapes. Current standard essentially puts elements inside a rectangle determined by page size, header and footer spacing, margin widths and likely other things I don't know. I think I can get the effect I want by specifying a slanted margin, e.g. specify spacing at the top of the page, and a slope for the left margin (separately for the right margin). Think of it as specifying typesetting for a trapezoidal sheet of paper.

(Although slanted lines of text would be cool, I don't intend to use that: just slanted left and right margins. Knowing how to slant the text line (not the font) would be a bonus, though.)

Is there a LaTeX package that would allow specification of slanted margins, especially on a per page basis? (Yes, I am considering different slopes for different pages.)

Is there one which would allow a shaped margin? (I doubt I would use it for this project, but having the margin slope change halfway down the page might have its uses. Curves and more interesting effects would be a bonus.)

Suppose I have use a package which lets me specify a slanted margin with slope 10 (so as I go down the page 10 inches, the margin slides over steadily until it is one inch further left). What are the readability issues in doing this? Is it a bad idea for a page with more than, say 30 lines of text?

For a poster one could imagine this to be plausible. For a document it's not very likely since it typically requires consistency from page-to-page. — Werner, Jul 03 '14 at 05:41
Welcome to TeX.SX! I think that the more lines you have applied this to, the more regular it will appear; it would appear strange with just a few lines. I'm not aware of any package that can do this; you will probably have to do this on a per paragraph basis using \parshape. — ChrisS, Jul 03 '14 at 05:41
Related/duplicate(s): Non rectangular page geometry; How to let text flow around irregular-shaped graphics in ConTeXt?; How to layout irregular paragraph shape; Inserting text in the image between two columns; Very specific paragraph shape; Text wrap with shapepar (insert image between text) — Werner, Jul 03 '14 at 05:47
@Werner, thanks for the links. I think \parshape may be the right thing for me at this point in time. Can I find good documentation at CTAN, or is there another newbie guide that tells how \parshape works inside a LaTeX environment that you would recommend? (I am wading through the links in any case, thanks.) — Not Quite An Outsider, Jul 03 '14 at 16:33
@NotQuiteAnOutsider: I would think most of the examples in the linked posts will cover how it works. Also see More condensed version of \parshape which provides a way of specifying the paragraph shape in a more terse (but easier) way. Which of the linked posts do you think answered your question most successfully (so we can perhaps close this question as a duplicate)? If none, let us know and why. — Werner, Jul 03 '14 at 16:40
@Werner, for the direct technical question, "How to layout irregular paragraph shape" comes closest. Unfortunately, I added other questions about readability and slanting lines, so this question is a partial duplicate of the other at best. I will work with the links, but I am far from being a TeX hacker, so I may return. On closing, do as you think best for the forum: if your and ChrisS's remarks were in a single answer, I would accept that answer. — Not Quite An Outsider, Jul 03 '14 at 17:07
By the way, I could not find "slanted margin" in this forum using search, or anywhere else, which is why I asked the question. If you do post an answer, it would be useful to include "slanted margin" as well as one or two synonyms or similar phrases for the benefit of future newbies. — Not Quite An Outsider, Jul 03 '14 at 17:14
@NotQuiteAnOutsider: I'll see what I can do. There is currently no automated way of getting a "slanted margin", unless you plan on using shapepar. I wrote an answer about it in Text wrap with shapepar (insert image between text)... — Werner, Jul 03 '14 at 17:38

Typesetting with "odd-shaped" margins

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