Adjustable column size in paracol

Question

I'm using paracol (and verse) to get a poem in two different languages. Some lines are of different lenght in a language or in the other. How can adjust the column size so that the line doesn't get broken?

Answer 1

You can define the \columnratio that you want.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{paracol}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{lmodern}

\begin{document}
\begin{paracol}{2}
\lipsum[2]
\switchcolumn
\lipsum[2]
\end{paracol}

\columnratio{0.6}
\begin{paracol}{2}
\lipsum[2]
\switchcolumn
\lipsum[2]
\end{paracol}

\columnratio{0.4}
\begin{paracol}{2}
\lipsum[2]
\switchcolumn
\lipsum[2]
\end{paracol}
\end{document}

Answer 2

You can modify the separation between columns modifying the following parameter:

\setlength{\columnsep}{20pt}

And this part fixes the justification issue with columns flowing over:

\tolerance=1
\emergencystretch=\maxdimen
\hyphenpenalty=10000
\hbadness=10000