beamertwo-column
I'd like to use something like beamer's \columns environment in an article-like document. Does anyone know if this is possible and how to do it?
I found this: (beamer blocks in ordinary article-style document) which shows how to use beamer's block environments in an article-like document, but it didn't show how to use the columns.
The only way to decrease the intercolumn space is to increase the column width. You can do this manually, or you can define auxiliary lengths to do the calculations for you; in the following example, you simply set the desired value for \MyColSep and the \MyColWd will give you the column width producing the desired separation:
\documentclass{beamer}
\usepackage[orientation=landscape,size=a0,scale=1.4,debug]{beamerposter}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{calc}
\beamertemplategridbackground[1cm]
\newlength\MyColSep
\setlength\MyColSep{1cm}
\newlength\MyColWd
\setlength\MyColWd{0.3333\textwidth-0.6666666\MyColSep}
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}[t]{}
\begin{columns}[t]
\begin{column}[t]{\MyColWd}
\lipsum[1-3]
\end{column}
\begin{column}[t]{\MyColWd}
\lipsum[1-3]
\end{column}
\begin{column}[t]{\MyColWd}
\lipsum[1-3]
\end{column}
\end{columns}
\end{frame}
\end{document}
To control the margins you can use \setbeamersize,a and the onlytextwidth option for the columns environment:
\documentclass{beamer}
\usepackage[orientation=landscape,size=a0,scale=1.4,debug]{beamerposter}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{calc}
\beamertemplategridbackground[1cm]
\setbeamersize{text margin left=3cm,text margin right=3cm}
\newlength\MyColSep
\setlength\MyColSep{1cm}
\newlength\MyColWd
\setlength\MyColWd{0.3333\textwidth-0.66666\MyColSep}
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}[t]{}
\begin{columns}[onlytextwidth]
\begin{column}[t]{\MyColWd}
\lipsum[1-3]
\end{column}
\begin{column}[t]{\MyColWd}
\lipsum[1-3]
\end{column}
\begin{column}[t]{\MyColWd}
\lipsum[1-3]
\end{column}
\end{columns}
\end{frame}
\end{document}
As far as I know, the only possibility is to interrupt the columns environment, include the wider material end then start a new columns environment (in fact, that's what the author of the poster you linked to does):
\documentclass{beamer}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
\begin{columns}[t,totalwidth=\textwidth]
\column{.5\linewidth}
Some material for the first column goes here
\column{.5\linewidth}
Some material for the second column goes here
\end{columns}
\vfill
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth,height=1cm]{cat}
\vfill
\begin{columns}[t,totalwidth=\textwidth]
\column{.5\linewidth}
Some material for the first column goes here
\column{.5\linewidth}
Some material for the second column goes here
\end{columns}
\end{frame}
\end{document}
And here's the code showing one possible approach to have an image spanning two out of three columns. The idea is to have one outer columns environment of width, for example, \textwidth; inside this environment two columns are created; one of them twice as wide as the other one; inside the wider column, the idea from the previous example is used: an inner columns environment is used to produce two columns of equal width; this inner columns environment is then ended to include the image spanning two columns, and finally another inner columns environment is used to hold the final two columns.
\documentclass{beamer}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
\begin{columns}[t,totalwidth=\textwidth]
\column{.32\textwidth}
Some material for the first column goes here. Some material for the first column goes here.
Some material for the first column goes here. Some material for the first column goes here.
\hfill
\column{.65\textwidth}
\vspace*{-\baselineskip}
\begin{columns}[t,totalwidth=\textwidth]
\column{.48\textwidth}
Some material for the second column goes here.
\column{.48\textwidth}
Some material for the third column goes here.
\end{columns}
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth,height=2cm]{cat}
\begin{columns}[t,totalwidth=\textwidth]
\column{.48\textwidth}
Some material for the second column goes here.
\column{.48\textwidth}
Some material for the third column goes here.
\end{columns}
\end{columns}
\end{frame}
\end{document}
Best Answer
The
columnsenvironment internally usesminipage, so you can simply useminipages in your document; a simple example (I added some frames just as visual guidelines). The\Colseplength can be used to control the separation between theminipages:I used a fixed height (
6cm) for the innerminipages and center alignment but this, of course, is optional.