The forum has changed it's categories since last time I visited so I hope I am on the right one.
I am trying to combine the Verse package with the Parcolumns one for a poetry book.
Problem is that whenever I use a verse snipet inside \colchunk, the empty lines do not show up at all and the text at the right column causes breaks at the left one (I think this goes vice versa too).
What I really liked about Verse is that a paragraph --visually, the way that I intent it-- would actually be a semantic paragraph for Latex too.
The solution that I currently use to divide text into poem-paragraphs achieves a visual sense of paragraphs but doesn't keep the paragraphs semantic. This makes Latex split the text (going from one page to another) even inside a visual paragraph.
I am including an example at the end of this post. The first page is a Verse rendered correctly. The second page is how I want to use Verse, in companion with Parcolumns, and it doesn't render correctly. The third page is the solution I have been using so far. The fourth page uses the same technique as the third page and includes long (visual) paragraphs that Latex breaks because they are not semantic.
I am using Texlive 2008 on Linux.
So... is there a way to make Verse work correctly with Parcolumns?
(The example follows. I have removed things that are not necessary to show the problem, such as font styles.)
Code: Select all
\documentclass[oneside]{article}
% included packages
\usepackage[a3paper,landscape]{geometry}
\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\usepackage{parcolumns}
\usepackage{xltxtra}
\usepackage{verse}
% option for Verse, set left margin to zero
\setlength{\leftmargini}{0cm}
% page layout options
\setlength{\parindent}{0cm}
\geometry{top=3cm,bottom=3cm,left=3cm,right=3cm,headheight=55pt}
% jumps two lines, break
\newcommand{\br}{\par\mbox{}\par}
% custom header
\newcommand{\pear}{}
\newcommand{\pearheader}[1]{\renewcommand{\pear}{#1}}
\chead{ \vspace{0.5cm} {\Large\textbf{\pear}} \vspace{0.5cm} }
\setlength\headheight{2cm}
\setlength\headsep{2cm}
\pagestyle{fancy}
% title
\newcommand{\peartitle}[1]{ {\Large #1} \br }
% ---
\begin{document}
\clearpage
\thispagestyle{empty}
\textit{This is how it normaly looks like.}
\begin{verse}
Line\\*
Line\\*
Line\\*
Line\\*
Line
Line\\*
Line\\*
Line
\end{verse}
\clearpage
\pearheader{Incorrect line breaks with Verse}
\begin{parcolumns}[nofirstindent,distance={5cm}]{2}
% left
\colchunk{
\peartitle{Title}
\begin{verse}
Line\\*
Line
Line
Line
Line
Line
Line\\*
Line\\*
Line\\*
Line
\end{verse}
}
% right
\colchunk[2]{
\peartitle{Title}
\begin{verse}
Line\\*
Line\\*
Line
Line\\*
Line
Line
\end{verse}
}
\colplacechunks
\end{parcolumns}
\clearpage
\pearheader{Corrent line breakes by using hacks}
\begin{parcolumns}[nofirstindent,distance={5cm}]{2}
% left
\colchunk{
\peartitle{Title}
\begin{verse}
Line\br
Line\br
Line\par
Line\br
Line\br
Line\br
Line\par
Line\br
Line
\end{verse}
}
% right
\colchunk[2]{
\peartitle{Title}
\begin{verse}
Line\par
Line\par
Line\br
Line\par
Line\br
\end{verse}
}
\colplacechunks
\end{parcolumns}
\clearpage
\pearheader{Visual paragraphs break because they are not semantic}
\begin{parcolumns}[nofirstindent,distance={5cm}]{2}
% left
\colchunk{
\peartitle{Title}
\begin{verse}
Line\br
Line\br
Line\par
Line\br
Line\br
Line\br
Line\par
Line\br
Line
\end{verse}
}
% right
\colchunk[2]{
\peartitle{Title}
\begin{verse}
I expect the following text to only be split in blank lines, or breaks if you would like to. But since my paragraphs are not semantic, Latex doesn't know when not to split text between pages.\br
Line 1\par
Line 2\par
Line 3\par
Line 4\par
Line 5\par
Line 6\br
Line 1\par
Line 2\par
Line 3\par
Line 4\par
Line 5\par
Line 6\par
Line 7\par
Line 8\par
Line 9\par
Line 10\br
Line 1\par
Line 2\par
Line 3\par
Line 4\par
Line 5\br
Line 1\par
Line 2\par
Line 3\br
Line 1\br
Line 1\par
Line 2\par
Line 3\par
Line 4\par
Line 5\par
Line 6\br
Line 1\par
Line 2\par
Line 3\par
Line 4\par
Line 5\par
Line 6\par
Line 7\par
Line 8\par
Line 9\par
Line 10\par
Line 11\par
Line 12\par
Line 13\par
Line 14\par
Line 15\par
Line 16\br
Line 1\par
Line 2\par
Line 3\par
Line 4\par
Line 5\br
Line 1\par
Line 2\par
Line 3\par
Line 4\par
Line 5\par
Line 6\par
Line 7\par
Line 8\par
Line 9\br
Line 1\par
Line 2
\end{verse}
}
\colplacechunks
\end{parcolumns}
\clearpage
\end{document}