On Mon, Apr 13, 2026 at 21:21 (-0400), Aditya Mahajan wrote:
>>>> If not, can someone tell me how to make oddities (2) and (3) go away?
>>> \showgrid
>>> \starttext
>>> \startbuffer
>>> Some text which will get set
>>> between two lines. The bottom
>>> line goes across the page.
>>> \stopbuffer
>>> % What I want to see looks like this:
>>> \startcolumns[n=2,distance=0.75cm,separator=rule]
>>> \typebuffer
>>> \column
>>> \switchtobodyfont[small]
>>> \getbuffer
>>> \stopcolumns
>>> \smallskip\line{\hss M\hss}
>>> \startframedtext[offset=none,width=broad] %, frame=off]
>>> \startsimplecolumns[n=2,distance=0.5cm,separator=rule]
>>> \typebuffer
>>> \column
>>> \switchtobodyfont[small]
>>> \getbuffer
>>> \stopsimplecolumns
>>> \stopframedtext
>>> \smallskip\line{\hss M\hss}
>>> This is more text to see what happens next.
>>> This is more text to see what happens next.
>> Interestingly (to me), wrapping \startsimplecolumns ... \stopsimplecolumns
>> inside \startnarrower ... \stopnarrower doesn't make the columns any
>> narrower. I went to look up options to \startsimplecolumns in the wiki
>> when I discovered it wasn't there. :-)
> Actually, I was replying from memory. It appeared to work in my MWE, but
> now that I look at the code, simplecolumns is a bit too simplistic, and
> definitely not appropriate for being used inside a box or any other
> environment.
Good to know.
> \startnarrower narrows the page by setting \leftskip and \rightskip, but
> \startsimplecolumns has a \forgetall, so the skips are forgotten! An
> option is to set the width, but the skips are still wrong:
> \startnarrower[2cm]
> \input knuth
> \setsimplecolumnshsize[width=\availablehsize]
> \startsimplecolumns[n=2]
> \typebuffer
> \column
> \switchtobodyfont[small]\setupinterlinespace
> \getbuffer
> \stopsimplecolumns
> \stopnarrower
> You can fix the skips by wrapping everything in a \framed, but at this
> stage, the code is not so simple anymore :-)
> \startnarrower[4cm]
> \input knuth
> \dontleavehmode
> \framed[frame=off]{\setsimplecolumnshsize[width=\availablehsize]%
> \startsimplecolumns
> \typebuffer
> \column
> \switchtobodyfont[small]\setupinterlinespace
> \getbuffer
> \stopsimplecolumns}
> \stopnarrower
> So, the standard \startcolumns is a better mechanism.
Thanks for passing on the analysis.
Jim
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