Re: newbie-questions

[Albert Kinderman]

Jeff Kingston wrote:

> On Sun, 30 Sep 2001 21:10:00 +0200 (CEST), Erich Hoffmann wrote:
>   > 
>   > Hello Louters,
>   > 
>   > 2.) Is there a functionality to format the main text one-column and the
>   >     footnotes two-column, like this:
>   > 
>   >     MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
>   >     MMMMMMM(1)MMMMMMMMMMMM      [Main text with footnote-numbers]
>   >     MMMMMMMMMMMMMM(2)MMMMM
>   >     ---
>   >     [1]mmmmmmm  mmmmmmmmmm
>   >     mmmmmmmmmm  [2]nnnnnnn      [Footnotes]
>   >     mmmmmmmmmm  nnnnnnnnnn
>   > 
[snip]
> Lout doesn't optimize its footnote placement, so your example won't
> come out as you show it, even if I succeed in getting the basic thing
> going.  Immediately after the line containing (1) lout will place the
> first footnote and, in your example, it will occupy the whole of its
> column space available and cause the body text line containing (2) to
> be bumped to the next page, leaving a blank second footnote column.



I only know Lout at a very elementary level, but I thought that lout 
(modified to handle two column footnotes) would yield the following 
after the first footnote:

(A)

MMMMMMM(1)MMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMM


---

[1] mmmm   mmmmmm
mmmmmmmm   mmmmmm

i.e., the footnote would be compressed to use the least amount of space 
necessary at the bottom of the page.  Since two columns  are available, 
the footnote would use both, flowing from the first to the second.


Jeff, you seem to be saying it would produce

(B)

MMMMMMM(1)MMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMM
---
[1] mmmm
mmmmmmmm
mmmmmmmm
mmmmmmmm

ignoring the available space in the second column.

Is (A) not possible?

Al



--
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Albert Kinderman         Department of Management Science
       California State University, Northridge