Layout of main text with comment at the margins (talmud layout)

Question

Please see the MWE. Page 1 shows a text with a comment at the margin that is only a few lines. What I want is that the main text expands underneath the marginal comment. In page 2 we have the opposite situation. In this case it is the main text that is short and the marginal note that should expand underneath it. I kept the MWE minimal, but I'm adding a picture to show the layout I wish to obtain. I tried to obtain this by using the packages marginnote and change page. The hebrew character has been added to the main text with the \wrapfigure environment. There is also the possibility of having, instead of the heading in my example, an inner marginal comment. At the end, I'm aiming to a layout that resemble the classical Vilna Talmud layout (See https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~jtreat/rs/002/Judaism/talmud.html).


\documentclass[12pt]{book}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{marginnote}
 \renewcommand*{\marginfont}{\scriptsize }
   \renewcommand\raggedrightmarginnote{}
\renewcommand\raggedleftmarginnote{}
\usepackage[
paperwidth=160mm, paperheight=240mm,
textheight=18cm,
textwidth=7.5cm,
inner=2cm, 
marginparwidth=2.5cm, marginparsep=0.5cm,
showframe]
    {geometry}
\usepackage[strict]{changepage}
\usepackage{polyglossia}
\begin{document}
\sloppy
\paragraph{First}
This
\marginnote{This is a small margin paragraph, way smaller that the text it comments.}
is a long text, way longer that the comment at its margin. So there is no need to keep the paragraph width as is but it can be expanded by 3 cm.
\begin{adjustwidth}{}{-3cm}
 \lipsum[1]
 \end{adjustwidth*}
\newpage
\paragraph{First}
This
\marginnote{This is a long margin note. The text is small so the margin note can expand and take over all the space in the page. \lipsum[1]}
is a small paragraph that lasts only a few lines.
\end{document}

Its not fully clear to me what you want to do with the margin. If you want to increase it permanently, just try changing the marginparwidth= in your geometry options. But what do you mean by towards the inner part? Seen from the margin, the inner part is where the text area is. Expanding in this direction has to shrink the text area, as long as you don't decrease the inner option or the marginparsep. — lukeflo, Aug 23 '23 at 07:27
Maybe draw a short sketch showing, what you want to achieve. And use showframe option with geometry, so you can see the borders of your margin etc. — lukeflo, Aug 23 '23 at 07:31

Udi Fogiel · Accepted Answer · 2023-08-27T05:35:40.547

You can use some do some arithmetic to calculate the number of lines needs to indent for the shorter (by height) text, then use \hangindent and \hangafter to typeset the longer text, and add the shorter one in a box:

\documentclass[12pt]{book}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage[
paperwidth=160mm, paperheight=240mm,
textheight=18cm,
textwidth=10.5cm,
inner=2cm, 
showframe]
    {geometry}
\def\divtrancate(#1/#2){%
    \ifnum\numexpr #1 - #2*\numexpr #1/#2\relax<0
    \the\numexpr #1/#2\relax\else\the\numexpr #1/#2+1\relax\fi
}
\newbox\mishna
\newbox\tosafot
\def\talmudlayout#1 #2\par#3\par{
\setbox\mishna\vbox{\hsize=7.5cm\relax\noindent\textbf{#1}.\hskip 1em\relax #2}
\setbox\tosafot\vbox{\hsize=2.5cm\relax\scriptsize\noindent #3\par}
\ifdim\ht\mishna>\ht\tosafot
    \hangafter=-\divtrancate(\dimexpr\ht\tosafot\relax/\dimexpr\baselineskip\relax)
    \hangindent=-3cm
    \noindent
    \vadjust{\moveright 8cm\vbox to 0pt{\vskip-.5\baselineskip\box\tosafot\vss}}%
    \textbf{#1}.\hskip 1em\relax #2\par
\else
    \hangafter=-\divtrancate(\dimexpr\ht\mishna\relax/\dimexpr 9.5pt\relax)
    \hangindent=8cm
    \noindent
    \vadjust{\vbox to 0pt{\vskip-.5\baselineskip\box\mishna\vss}}%
    {\scriptsize #3\par}
\fi
}
\begin{document}
\talmudlayout First
This is a long text, way longer than the comment at its margin.
So there is no need to keep the paragraph width as is but it can 
be expanded by 3 cm. \lipsum[1]
This is a small margin paragraph, way smaller than the text it comments.
\newpage
\talmudlayout Second
This is a short text, way shorter than the comment at its margin.
So there is no need to keep the comment width as is but it can 
be expanded by 8 cm.
This is a long margin paragraph, way longer than the text it comments.
\lipsum[1]
\end{document}

If you want to change the side of the comment depending on the page number, just like \marginnote, simply add another test in the macro:

\documentclass[12pt]{book}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage[
paperwidth=160mm, paperheight=240mm,
textheight=18cm,
textwidth=10.5cm,
inner=2cm, 
showframe]
    {geometry}
\makeatletter
\newcommand*\writetalmudpage{%
\write@auxout{%
    \string\expandafter\gdef\string\csname\space talmudlayout@\thetalmudpage\string\endcsname{\thepage}}}
\makeatother
\newcommand*\defloop[1]{%
    \expandafter\def\csname talmudlayout@#1\endcsname{0}
    \ifnum#1<100
    \expandafter\defloop
    \expandafter{\number\numexpr#1+1\expandafter}%
    \fi}
\defloop{1}
\def\divtrancate(#1/#2){%
    \ifnum\numexpr #1 - #2*\numexpr #1/#2\relax<0
    \the\numexpr #1/#2\relax\else\the\numexpr #1/#2+1\relax\fi
}
\newcounter{talmudpage}
\newbox\mishna
\newbox\tosafot
\def\talmudlayout#1 #2\par#3\par{
\stepcounter{talmudpage}
\setbox\mishna\vbox{\hsize=7.5cm\relax\noindent\textbf{#1}.\hskip 1em\relax #2}
\setbox\tosafot\vbox{\hsize=2.5cm\relax\scriptsize\noindent #3\par}
\ifdim\ht\mishna>\ht\tosafot
    \hangafter=-\divtrancate(\dimexpr\ht\tosafot\relax/\dimexpr\baselineskip\relax)
    \hangindent=\ifodd\csname talmudlayout@\thetalmudpage\endcsname -3cm\else 3cm\fi
    \noindent\writetalmudpage
    \vadjust{\ifodd\csname talmudlayout@\thetalmudpage\endcsname \moveright 8cm\fi\vbox to 0pt{\vskip-.5\baselineskip\box\tosafot\vss}}%
    \textbf{#1}.\hskip 1em\relax #2\par
\else
    \hangafter=-\divtrancate(\dimexpr\ht\mishna\relax/\dimexpr 9.5pt\relax)
    \ifodd\csname talmudlayout@\thetalmudpage\endcsname \hangindent=8cm\else \hangindent=-8cm\fi 
    \noindent\writetalmudpage
    \vadjust{\ifodd\csname talmudlayout@\thetalmudpage\endcsname\else \moveright 3cm\fi\vbox to 0pt{\vskip-.5\baselineskip\box\mishna\vss}}%
    {\scriptsize #3\par}
\fi
}
\begin{document}
\sloppy
\talmudlayout First
This is a long text, way longer than the comment at its margin.
So there is no need to keep the paragraph width as is but it can 
be expanded by 3 cm. \lipsum[1]
This is a small margin paragraph, way smaller than the text it comments.
\newpage
\talmudlayout Second
This is a long text, way longer than the comment at its margin.
So there is no need to keep the paragraph width as is but it can 
be expanded by 3 cm. \lipsum[1]
This is a small margin paragraph, way smaller than the text it comments.
\newpage
\talmudlayout Third
This is a short text, way shorter than the comment at its margin.
So there is no need to keep the comment width as is but it can 
be expanded by 8 cm.
This is a long margin paragraph, way longer than the text it comments.
\lipsum[1]
\newpage
\talmudlayout Fourth
This is a short text, way shorter than the comment at its margin.
So there is no need to keep the comment width as is but it can 
be expanded by 8 cm.
This is a long margin paragraph, way longer than the text it comments.
\lipsum[1]
\end{document}

Edit

The second block of code had some issues, so I fixed it. It now need two compilations to get the correct results.

As for the questions in the comments, I think making a package would be the easiest thing to do here.

Put the following code in a file called talmudlayout.sty:

\NeedsTeXFormat{LaTeX2e}
\ProvidesPackage{talmudlayout}
\RequirePackage{xkeyval}
\RequirePackage{footnote}
\newlength\talmudlayout@mishna@width
\setlength\talmudlayout@mishna@width{.7\textwidth}
\newlength\talmudlayout@tosafot@width
\setlength\talmudlayout@tosafot@width{.25\textwidth}
\newlength\talmudlayout@mishnahead@hsep
\setlength\talmudlayout@mishnahead@hsep{.05\textwidth}
\newcommand\talmudlayout@tosafot@size{scriptsize}
\newcommand\talmudlayout@mishna@ext{0}
\newcommand\talmudlayout@tosafot@ext{0}
\newcommand\talmudlayout@mishnahead@ext{0}
\newcommand*\talmudlayout@max{30}
\DeclareOptionX{tosafot}{\renewcommand\talmudlayout@tosafot@ext{#1}}
\DeclareOptionX{mishna}{\renewcommand\talmudlayout@mishna@ext{#1}}
\DeclareOptionX{head}{\renewcommand\talmudlayout@mishnahead@ext{#1}}
\DeclareOptionX{max}{\talmudlayout@max}
\DeclareOptionX{headsep}{\setlength\talmudlayout@mishnahead@hsep{#1}}
\DeclareOptionX{mishnawidth}{\setlength\talmudlayout@mishna@width{#1}}
\DeclareOptionX{tosafotwidth}{\setlength\talmudlayout@tosafot@width{#1}}
\DeclareOptionX{tosafotsize}{\renewcommand\talmudlayout@tosafot@size{#1}}
\ProcessOptionsX\relax
\newif\if@talmudlyaout@headmax
\newcommand\talmudlayout@savecounters{%
    \begingroup
    \def@elt##1{%
    \global\csname c@##1\endcsname\the\csname c@##1\endcsname}%
    \xdef@gtempa{%
        \cl@@ckpt
        \let\noexpand\talmudlayout@restorecounters\noexpand@empty
    }%
    \endgroup
    \let\talmudlayout@restorecounters@gtempa
}
\newcommand\talmudlayout@restorecounters{}
\let\talmudlayout@restorecounters@empty
\newcommand*\talmudlayout@skip{}
{\csname \talmudlayout@tosafot@size\endcsname\xdef\talmudlayout@skip{\the\baselineskip}}
\newcommand*\write@talmudlayout@page{%
\write@auxout{%
    \string\expandafter\gdef\string\csname\space talmudlayout@\thetalmudlayout@page\string\endcsname{\thepage}}}
\newcommand*\talmudlayout@defloop[1]{%
    \expandafter\def\csname talmudlayout@#1\endcsname{0}
    \ifnum#1<\talmudlayout@max
    \expandafter\talmudlayout@defloop
    \expandafter{\number\numexpr#1+1\expandafter}%
    \fi}
\talmudlayout@defloop{1}
\newcommand*\talmudlayout@exploop[3]{% #1 = start, #2 = max, #3 = min
    \ifnum #1<\numexpr #3+1\relax
        \ifodd\csname talmudlayout@\thetalmudlayout@page\endcsname
            \dimexpr \wd\talmudlayout@mishnaheadh + \talmudlayout@mishnahead@hsep\relax 
            \dimexpr \talmudlayout@mishna@width - \wd\talmudlayout@mishnaheadh-\talmudlayout@mishnahead@hsep\relax
        \else
            \dimexpr \textwidth-\talmudlayout@mishna@width \relax 
            \dimexpr \talmudlayout@mishna@width - \wd\talmudlayout@mishnaheadh-\talmudlayout@mishnahead@hsep\relax
    \fi
    \else
        \if@talmudlyaout@headmax
            \ifodd\csname talmudlayout@\thetalmudlayout@page\endcsname
            \dimexpr \wd\talmudlayout@mishnaheadh+\talmudlayout@mishnahead@hsep\relax 
            \dimexpr \textwidth-\wd\talmudlayout@mishnaheadh-\talmudlayout@mishnahead@hsep\relax
        \else
            \z@ \dimexpr\textwidth-\wd\talmudlayout@mishnaheadh-\talmudlayout@mishnahead@hsep\relax
        \fi
    \else
        \ifodd\csname talmudlayout@\thetalmudlayout@page\endcsname
            \z@ \dimexpr\talmudlayout@mishna@width\relax
        \else
            \dimexpr \textwidth-\talmudlayout@mishna@width \relax \talmudlayout@mishna@width
        \fi
    \fi
    \fi
    \ifnum#1<#2
    \expandafter\talmudlayout@exploop
    \expandafter{\the\numexpr#1+1\expandafter}%
    \expandafter{\the\numexpr#2\expandafter}%
    \expandafter{\the\numexpr#3\expandafter}%
    \fi}
\newcommand\talmudlayout@divtrancate[2]{%
    \ifnum\numexpr #1 - #2\numexpr #1/#2\relax<0
    \the\numexpr #1/#2\relax\else\the\numexpr #1/#2+1\relax\fi
}
\newcommand*\talmudlayout@parshape[2]{
    \ifnum #1 <  #2 
            @talmudlyaout@headmaxtrue
        \parshape \numexpr #2+1\relax
        \talmudlayout@exploop{1}{#2}{#1}
    \else
           @talmudlyaout@headmaxfalse
       \parshape \numexpr #1+1\relax
       \talmudlayout@exploop{1}{#1}{#2}
    \fi
    \z@ \textwidth

}
\def\talmudlayout@mishna@box#1#2#3{\vbox{\hsize=\talmudlayout@mishna@width
    \hangafter=-\numexpr\talmudlayout@divtrancate{\dimexpr\ht\talmudlayout@mishnaheadv\relax}{\dimexpr \baselineskip\relax}+\talmudlayout@mishnahead@ext\relax
    \ifodd\csname talmudlayout@\thetalmudlayout@page\endcsname
        \hangindent=\dimexpr \wd\talmudlayout@mishnaheadh + \talmudlayout@mishnahead@hsep\relax
    \else
    \hangindent=-\dimexpr \wd\talmudlayout@mishnaheadh + \talmudlayout@mishnahead@hsep\relax
    \fi
    \noindent
    \vadjust{\ifodd\csname talmudlayout@\thetalmudlayout@page\endcsname\else \moveright \dimexpr \talmudlayout@mishna@width - \wd\talmudlayout@mishnaheadh\relax\fi
        \vbox to 0pt{\vskip-.75\baselineskip\bfseries\fontsize{46pt}{46pt}\selectfont\noindent #1\vss}}%
    \strut\textbf{#2}.\hskip 1em\relax #3}}
\newbox\talmudlayout@mishnaheadh
\newbox\talmudlayout@mishnaheadv
\newbox\talmudlayout@mishna
\newbox\talmudlayout@tosafot
\newcounter{talmudlayout@page}
\newcommand*\talmudlayout{}
\long\protected\def\talmudlayout#1 #2 #3\par#4\par{
\stepcounter{talmudlayout@page}
\talmudlayout@savecounters
\setbox\talmudlayout@mishnaheadh\hbox{\bfseries\fontsize{46pt}{46pt}\selectfont\noindent #1}
\talmudlayout@restorecounters\talmudlayout@savecounters
\setbox\talmudlayout@mishnaheadv\vbox{\bfseries\fontsize{46pt}{46pt}\selectfont\noindent #1}
\talmudlayout@restorecounters\talmudlayout@savecounters
\setbox\talmudlayout@mishna\talmudlayout@mishna@box{#1}{#2}{#3}
\talmudlayout@restorecounters\talmudlayout@savecounters
\setbox\talmudlayout@tosafot\vbox{\hsize=\talmudlayout@tosafot@width\csname \talmudlayout@tosafot@size\endcsname\noindent\strut #4\par}
\talmudlayout@restorecounters\savenotes
\ifdim\ht\talmudlayout@mishna>\ht\talmudlayout@tosafot
    \talmudlayout@parshape{\numexpr\talmudlayout@divtrancate{\dimexpr\ht\talmudlayout@tosafot\relax}{\dimexpr \baselineskip\relax}+\talmudlayout@mishna@ext\relax}%
        {\numexpr\talmudlayout@divtrancate{\dimexpr\ht\talmudlayout@mishnaheadv\relax}{\dimexpr \baselineskip\relax}+\talmudlayout@mishnahead@ext\relax}
    \noindent\write@talmudlayout@page
    \vadjust{\ifodd\csname talmudlayout@\thetalmudlayout@page\endcsname \moveright \dimexpr\textwidth-\talmudlayout@tosafot@width\relax\fi
        \vbox to 0pt{\vskip-.75\baselineskip\vbox{\hsize=\talmudlayout@tosafot@width\csname \talmudlayout@tosafot@size\endcsname\noindent\strut #4\par}\vss}}%
    \vadjust{\ifodd\csname talmudlayout@\thetalmudlayout@page\endcsname\else \moveright \dimexpr\textwidth-\wd\talmudlayout@mishnaheadh\relax\fi
        \vbox to 0pt{\vskip-.75\baselineskip\bfseries\fontsize{46pt}{46pt}\selectfont\noindent #1\vss}}%
    \strut\textbf{#2}.\hskip 1em\relax #3\par
\else
    \hangafter=-\numexpr\talmudlayout@divtrancate{\dimexpr\ht\talmudlayout@mishna\relax}{\dimexpr \talmudlayout@skip\relax}+\talmudlayout@tosafot@ext\relax
    \ifodd\csname talmudlayout@\thetalmudlayout@page\endcsname
        \hangindent=\dimexpr\textwidth-\talmudlayout@tosafot@width
    \else
        \hangindent=-\dimexpr\textwidth-\talmudlayout@tosafot@width
    \fi
    \noindent\write@talmudlayout@page
    \vadjust{\ifodd\csname talmudlayout@\thetalmudlayout@page\endcsname\else \moveright \dimexpr\textwidth-\talmudlayout@mishna@width\relax\fi
        \vbox to 0pt{\vskip-\talmudlayout@skip\talmudlayout@mishna@box{#1}{#2}{#3}\vss}}%
    {\csname \talmudlayout@tosafot@size\endcsname\strut #4\par}
\fi
\par
\spewnotes
}
\endinput

Now I think you want something similar to the following document

\documentclass[12pt]{book}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage[
paperwidth=160mm, paperheight=240mm,
textheight=18cm,
textwidth=10.5cm,
inner=2cm]
    {geometry}
\usepackage[
tosafot=1,
mishna=1,
head=1,
headsep=1cm,
mishnawidth=7.5cm,
tosafotwidth=2.5cm]
{talmudlayout}
\begin{document}
\sloppy
\talmudlayout Big First
This is a long text, way longer than the comment at its margin.
So there is no need to keep the paragraph width as is but it can 
be expanded by 3 cm. \lipsum[1]
This is a small margin paragraph, way smaller than the text it comments.
\newpage
\talmudlayout Big Second
This is a long text, way longer than the comment at its margin.
So there is no need to keep the paragraph width as is but it can 
be expanded by 3 cm. \lipsum[1]
This is a small margin paragraph, way smaller than the text it comments.
\newpage
\talmudlayout Big Third
This is a short text, way shorter than the comment at its margin.
So there is no need to keep the comment width as is but it can 
be expanded by 8 cm.
This is a long margin paragraph, way longer than the text it comments.
\lipsum[1]
\newpage
\talmudlayout Big Fourth
This is a short text, way shorter than the comment at its margin.
So there is no need to keep the comment width as is but it can 
be expanded by 8 cm.
This is a long margin paragraph, way longer than the text it comments.
\lipsum[1]
\end{document}

The package defines a macro called \talmudlayout which accept 4 arguments.

The first is the head of the main text, and is delimited by space after it.
The second is the first word of the main text and is delimited by a space.
The third is the main text, and it is delimited by \par so if you will want several paragraphs in this argument, you will have to use \endgraf, or change the delimiters of the arguments.
The fourth is the margin text and it is also delimited by \par, same remarks apply to him.

Feel free to change the delimiters if you find the syntax inconvenient.

The package has 8 options.

tosafot, head and mishna adds extra lines of space below the specified part (the default is 0).
mishnawidth and tosafotwidth controls the width of the main and "margin" text (at least when they overlap, defaults are .7\textwidth and .25\textwidth).
headsep is the horizontal space between the head and the main text (default is .05\textwidth).
max is the maximum allowed of layouts in a document (default is 30)
tosafotsize is a name of a command size to control the size of the margin text (default is scriptsize).

This code will need two compilations as well. Feel free to change the default values of the options, I did not put much thought about them.

For a better alignment of the first lines you will need to tweak some of the length I used in the code, probably tweaking the length of the \vskip will eventually get you what you want.

The example file presents the four possible situation of the layout.

The main text is longer then the margin text, and the page number is odd
The main text is longer then the margin text, and the page number is even
The main text is shorter then the margin text, and the page number is odd
The main text is shorter then the margin text, and the page number is even

Thanks Udi this is exactly what I needed! It works and it permits me to have a neat readable text separated from the code. Unfortunately my latex knowledge is little. I understand the logic of your code but not all commands. So maybe you can help me with a couple of tweaks. — Haim, Aug 25 '23 at 09:56

lukeflo · Answer 2 · 2023-08-23T20:31:42.453

Since your wanted output is not totally clear, I just guessed something from your question. Maybe is that the style you're looking for (Doesn't necessary is the best way to do it, but uses your MWE as basis):

\documentclass[12pt]{book}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{marginnote}
 \renewcommand*{\marginfont}{\scriptsize }
   \renewcommand\raggedrightmarginnote{}
\renewcommand\raggedleftmarginnote{}
\usepackage[fontsize=13pt]{fontsize}
\usepackage[
paperwidth=160mm, 
paperheight=240mm,
textheight=18cm,
textwidth=7.5cm,
inner=2cm, 
marginparwidth=5cm, 
marginparsep=0.5cm,
showframe]
{geometry}
\usepackage[strict]{changepage}
\begin{document}
\sloppy
\paragraph{First}
\marginnote{%
    \begin{adjustwidth}{2.5cm}{}
    This is a long margin note that takes over the whole page. 
    \end{adjustwidth}
    \lipsum[1]
    }{} is a small paragraph that lasts only a few lines.
\end{document}

Looks like this:

Or did you indeed want to shrink the inner margin and the marginparsep so the text area can move further inwards and the enlarged marginnote is closer to the middle of the text:

\documentclass[12pt]{book}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{marginnote}
 \renewcommand*{\marginfont}{\scriptsize }
   \renewcommand\raggedrightmarginnote{}
\renewcommand\raggedleftmarginnote{}
\usepackage[fontsize=13pt]{fontsize}
\usepackage[
paperwidth=160mm, 
paperheight=240mm,
textheight=18cm,
textwidth=7.5cm,
inner=.5cm, 
marginparwidth=2.5cm, 
marginparsep=0.1cm,
showframe]
{geometry}
\usepackage[strict]{changepage}
\begin{document}
\sloppy
\paragraph{First}
\marginnote{This is a long margin note that takes over the all page. 
     \begin{adjustwidth}{}{-8em} \lipsum[1]
     \end{adjustwidth}
     }{} is a small paragraph that lasts only a few lines.
\end{document}

Looks like that (but really arkward, IMHO):

Or something totally different, which I could not guess from your question... ;)

Thanks. My fault I was not clear, apologies. I tried to update my question and MWE. Please tell me if it is clear now. — Haim, Aug 24 '23 at 02:00
For a background of what I'm after, please see the typical talmud layout, where the margin notes expand inward when the text is short, and viceversa. http://murals.wbtla.org/uploads/2/4/7/9/24790045/talmud_layout_%281%29.pdf — Haim, Aug 24 '23 at 02:03
OK, now I get an idea oft what you want. But, to be honest, I see no straightforward way to accomplish that. For your demands you need to adjust textwidth, marginparwidth etc. in the middle of a paragraph and that multiple times on the same page. AFAIK there are no boxes in Latex which have uneven widths or change them while not leaving the "box-environment". Maybe there is a way to automatically widen the left/rightmargin of the marginpar when the left/rightmargin of the text is shrinked to overlap in the other area and vice versa. But my TeX knowledge isn't deep enough for that... — lukeflo, Aug 24 '23 at 05:28
I guess in that case you need the knowledge of one of the longtime TeX/LaTeX pros on this webpage. Sorry and good luck ;) — lukeflo, Aug 24 '23 at 05:44

Layout of main text with comment at the margins (talmud layout)

2 Answers2

Edit