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authorKarl Berry <karl@freefriends.org>2009-05-22 23:51:44 +0000
committerKarl Berry <karl@freefriends.org>2009-05-22 23:51:44 +0000
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+<head>
+<title>UK TeX FAQ -- question label varwidth</title>
+</head><body>
+<h3>Automatic sizing of <code>minipage</code></h3>
+<p/>The <code>minipage</code> environment requires you to specify the
+width of the &ldquo;page&rdquo; you&rsquo;re going to create. This is sometimes
+inconvenient: you would like to occupy less space, if possible, but
+<code>minipage</code> sets a box that is exactly the width you
+specified.
+<p/>The <i>pbox</i> package defines a <code>\</code><code>pbox</code> whose width is exactly
+that of the longest enclosed line, subject to a maximum width that you
+give it. So while <code>\</code><code>parbox{2cm}{Hello\\world!}</code> produces a
+box of width exactly <code>2cm</code>,
+<code>\</code><code>pbox{2cm}{Hello\\world!}</code> produces one whose width is
+<code>1.79cm</code> (if one&rsquo;s using the default <i>cmr</i> font for the
+text, at least). The package also provides a
+<code>\</code><code>settominwidth[</code><em>min</em><code>]{</code><em>length</em><code>}{</code><em>text</em><code>}</code> (which looks (almost)
+like the standard <code>\</code><code>settowidth</code> command), and a <code>\</code><code>widthofpbox</code>
+function analogous to the <code>\</code><code>widthof</code> command for use with the
+<i>calc</i> package.
+<p/>The <i>eqparbox</i> package extends <i>pbox</i>&rsquo;s idea, by
+allowing you to set a series of boxes, all with the same (minimised)
+width. (Note that it doesn&rsquo;t accept a limiting maximum width
+parameter.) The package documentation shows the following example
+drawn from a joke <em>curriculum vitae</em>:
+<blockquote>
+
+<pre>
+\noindent%
+\eqparbox{place}{\textbf{Widgets, Inc.}} \hfill
+\eqparbox{title}{\textbf{Senior Widget Designer}} \hfill
+\eqparbox{dates}{\textbf{1/95--present}}
+
+...
+
+\noindent%
+\eqparbox{place}{\textbf{Thingamabobs, Ltd.}} \hfill
+\eqparbox{title}{\textbf{Lead Engineer}} \hfill
+\eqparbox{dates}{\textbf{9/92--12/94}}
+</pre>
+</blockquote><p>
+The code makes the three items on each of the heading lines have
+exactly the same width, so that the lines as a whole produce a regular
+pattern down the page. A command <code>\</code><code>eqboxwidth</code> allows you to use
+the measured width of a group: the documentation shows how the command
+may be used to produce sensible-looking columns that mix <code>c</code>-,
+<code>r</code>- or <code>l</code>-rows, with the equivalent of a <code>p{...}</code>
+entry, by making the fixed-width rows an <i>eqparbox</i> group, and
+making the last from a <code>\</code><code>parbox</code> using the width that&rsquo;s been
+measured for the group.
+<p/>The <i>varwidth</i> package defines a <code>varwidth</code>
+environment which sets the content of the box to match a &ldquo;narrower
+natural width&rdquo; if it finds one. (You give it the same parameters as
+you would give <code>minipage</code>: in effect, it is a &lsquo;drop-in&rsquo;
+replacement.) <i>Varwidth</i> provides its own ragged text command:
+<code>\</code><code>narrowragged</code>, which aims to make narrower lines and to put more
+text in the last line of the paragraph (thus producing lines with more
+nearly equal lengths than typically happens with <code>\</code><code>raggedright</code>
+itself).
+<p/>The documentation (in the package file) lists various restrictions and
+things still to be done, but the package is already proving useful for
+a variety of jobs.
+<dl>
+<dt><tt><i>eqparbox.sty</i></tt><dd><a href="ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/eqparbox.zip">macros/latex/contrib/eqparbox</a> (<a href="ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/eqparbox.tar.gz">gzipped tar</a>, <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/eqparbox/">browse</a>)
+<dt><tt><i>pbox.sty</i></tt><dd><a href="ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/pbox.zip">macros/latex/contrib/pbox</a> (<a href="ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/pbox.tar.gz">gzipped tar</a>, <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/pbox/">browse</a>)
+<dt><tt><i>varwidth.sty</i></tt><dd><a href="ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/misc/varwidth.sty">macros/latex/contrib/misc/varwidth.sty</a>
+</dl>
+<p/>
+<p/><p/><p/><p>This question on the Web: <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=varwidth">http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=varwidth</a>
+</body>