Is it possible to typeset with angled margins?

Question

I'm typesetting a book using memoir in XeLaTeX, but on some pages, as an accent, I would like to make an angled margin, something like this:

Even if I have to define the page limit separately for each line or something, is this possible with XeLaTeX and Memoir?

I'm sorry, I would include a MWE but I really don't know where to start.

About an MWE: why not just this? `\documentclass{memoir} \usepackage{lipsum}
\begin{document} \lipsum \end{document}` (With appropriate linebreaks inserted.) — Paul Gessler, Mar 06 '15 at 18:09
Per-paragraph, see How to layout irregular paragraph shape. Also see Very specific paragraph shape and Text wrap with shapepar (insert image between text) for wrapping in arbitrary shapes... — Werner, Mar 06 '15 at 18:11
@PaulGessler I'll update with a MWE next time I have an Internet connection for my computer — Ryan, Mar 06 '15 at 18:17
Is there any rhyme or reason for the varying paragraph indent in the requested output? — Paul Gessler, Mar 06 '15 at 18:35
@cfr for my next question, I'll ask how to implement WordArt in TikZ. Actually though, I think the effect will work well, used sparingly of course, to draw design elements from the cover onto key pages of the book. — Ryan, Mar 11 '15 at 08:06

Gonzalo Medina · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-06T18:40:46.340

If you're patient enough:

enter image description here

The code:

\documentclass{memoir}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\usepackage{polyglossia}
\usepackage{lipsum}

\setmainlanguage{latin}
\nonzeroparskip

\begin{document}

\parshape
  12 
  6cm \dimexpr\textwidth-6cm\relax
  5.75cm \dimexpr\textwidth-5.75cm\relax
  5.5cm \dimexpr\textwidth-5.5cm\relax
  5.25cm \dimexpr\textwidth-5.25cm\relax
  5cm \dimexpr\textwidth-5cm\relax
  4.75cm \dimexpr\textwidth-4.75cm\relax
  4.5cm \dimexpr\textwidth-4.5cm\relax
  4.25cm \dimexpr\textwidth-4.25cm\relax
  4cm \dimexpr\textwidth-4cm\relax
  3.75cm \dimexpr\textwidth-3.75cm\relax
  3.5cm \dimexpr\textwidth-3.5cm\relax
  3.25cm \dimexpr\textwidth-3.25cm\relax
\lipsum[2]
\parshape
  8 
  3cm \dimexpr\textwidth-3cm\relax
  2.75cm \dimexpr\textwidth-2.75cm\relax
  2.5cm \dimexpr\textwidth-2.5cm\relax
  2.25cm \dimexpr\textwidth-2.25cm\relax
  2cm \dimexpr\textwidth-2cm\relax
  1.75cm \dimexpr\textwidth-1.75cm\relax
  1.5cm \dimexpr\textwidth-1.5cm\relax
  1.25cm \dimexpr\textwidth-1.25cm\relax
\lipsum[4]

\end{document}

well, you could re-define \par so that it's actually \\\hspace*{\parindent}, and then you could do that page-by-page. Note also that the line-breaking algorithm slows down with this. — yo', Mar 06 '15 at 18:23

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited May 25 '15 at 11:51

This isn't an answer to my question, it's in response to Gonzalo Medina when he says "if you're patient enough"

I do not have the patience, but I do have python.

from __future__ import division

margin = -.25
step = .07

def paragraph(lines,margin,step,name):
    print "\\newcommand{\paragraph%s}{" %(name)
    print " \parshape"
    print " ",lines
    for lines in range(0,lines):
        print " %sin\dimexpr\\textwidth-%sin\\relax" %(margin, margin)
        margin = margin+step
    print "}"
    print ""
    return margin + (.75*step)

margin = paragraph(1,margin,step,"click")
margin = paragraph(5,margin,step,"one")
margin = paragraph(7,margin,step,"two")
margin = paragraph(4,margin,step,"three")
margin = paragraph(3,margin,step,"four")
margin = paragraph(3,margin,step,"five")

This script calculates a straight angled margin, starting with the "margin" and then stepping each line in by "step."

This script generates the parshape code, as commands, to automatically calculate across paragraphs and stuff. It outputs:

\newcommand{\paragraphclick}{
    \parshape
    1
    -0.25in\dimexpr\textwidth--0.25in\relax
}

\newcommand{\paragraphone}{
    \parshape
    5
    -0.1275in\dimexpr\textwidth--0.1275in\relax
    -0.0575in\dimexpr\textwidth--0.0575in\relax
    0.0125in\dimexpr\textwidth-0.0125in\relax
    0.0825in\dimexpr\textwidth-0.0825in\relax
    0.1525in\dimexpr\textwidth-0.1525in\relax
}

\newcommand{\paragraphtwo}{
    \parshape
    7
    0.275in\dimexpr\textwidth-0.275in\relax
    0.345in\dimexpr\textwidth-0.345in\relax
    0.415in\dimexpr\textwidth-0.415in\relax
    0.485in\dimexpr\textwidth-0.485in\relax
    0.555in\dimexpr\textwidth-0.555in\relax
    0.625in\dimexpr\textwidth-0.625in\relax
    0.695in\dimexpr\textwidth-0.695in\relax
}

\newcommand{\paragraphthree}{
    \parshape
    4
    0.8175in\dimexpr\textwidth-0.8175in\relax
    0.8875in\dimexpr\textwidth-0.8875in\relax
    0.9575in\dimexpr\textwidth-0.9575in\relax
    1.0275in\dimexpr\textwidth-1.0275in\relax
}

\newcommand{\paragraphfour}{
    \parshape
    3
    1.15in\dimexpr\textwidth-1.15in\relax
    1.22in\dimexpr\textwidth-1.22in\relax
    1.29in\dimexpr\textwidth-1.29in\relax
}

\newcommand{\paragraphfive}{
    \parshape
    3
    1.4125in\dimexpr\textwidth-1.4125in\relax
    1.4825in\dimexpr\textwidth-1.4825in\relax
    1.5525in\dimexpr\textwidth-1.5525in\relax
}

And then you can label each paragraph with the corresponding command: \paragraphone \paragraphtwo \paragraphthree or whatever you set the python script to name them.

Wish I'd written this in Lua for use with LuaLaTeX, but oh well.

It would probably only take about an hour for me to make this into a basic LuaLaTeX package...

Is it possible to typeset with angled margins?

2 Answers2

Linked