framedmdframed
I'm currently thinking about using shaded and framed sections in my document.
But for now, I couldn't clarify the differences between framed and mdframed (or other packages). Although the documentation of framed says that it handles page breaks, mdframed states it doesn't.
Honestly, I'm confused for now and would be very happy if somebody could recommend a solution which is solid and reliable for the future, so that I don't need to switch the package in the coming time.
Completely EDIT 2012-03-04:
I uploaded the new version 1.3 to CTAN. At the moment the files are available at github.
This version provides a key named shadow. This allows to draw a shadow. The shadow can be manipulated by the new keys shadowsize and shadowcolor
If you use framemethod=tikz it is important to load the TikZ library shadows.
mdframed can do the job but I don't want to load any libraries.
For the methods TikZ and PSTricks I defined a style mdfshadow by tikzset / newpsstyle. For more settings manipulate this key.
Based of the new modification I created the following example:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[framemethod=tikz]{mdframed}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usetikzlibrary{shadows}
\newmdenv[tikzsetting={fill=green!20},
roundcorner=10pt,shadow=true]{myshadowbox}
\begin{document}
\begin{myshadowbox}
\lipsum[2]
\end{myshadowbox}
\lipsum[3]
\begin{myshadowbox}
\lipsum
\end{myshadowbox}
\end{document}
The result is:
An other example is provided in file mdframed-example-pstricks.pdf which uses pstricks and frametitle:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage[framemethod=pstricks]{mdframed}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\newmdenv[%
shadow=true,
shadowsize=11pt,
linewidth=8pt,
frametitlerule=true,
roundcorner=10pt,
]{myshadowbox}
\begin{document}
\begin{myshadowbox}[frametitle={Der Beweis}]
\lipsum[2]
\end{myshadowbox}
\end{document}
Here there are two options to produce the shadowed box, one using mdframed, and the other one with tcolorbox:
\documentclass[parskip]{scrartcl}
\usepackage[most]{tcolorbox}
\usepackage[framemethod=tikz]{mdframed}
\usetikzlibrary{shadows}
\newmdenv[
shadow=true]
{simpages}
\newtcolorbox{tsimpages}{
enhanced,
breakable,
arc=0pt,
outer arc=0pt,
colback=white,
shadow={1mm}{-1mm}{0mm}{color=black!50,sharp corners},
}
\begin{document}
Some text
\begin{simpages}
\begin{itemize}
\item Foo
\item Bar
\item Baz
\end{itemize}
\end{simpages}
Some more text
\begin{tsimpages}
\begin{itemize}
\item Foo
\item Bar
\item Baz
\end{itemize}
\end{tsimpages}
Some more text
\end{document}
And with the framed package, making some adjustments so the parskip option doesn't interfere:
\documentclass[parskip]{scrartcl}
\usepackage{fancybox}
\usepackage{framed}
\usepackage{etoolbox}
\newenvironment{simpages}%
{\AtBeginEnvironment{itemize}{\parskip=0pt\parsep=0pt\partopsep=0pt}
\def\FrameCommand{\fboxsep=.5\FrameSep\shadowbox}\MakeFramed {\FrameRestore}}%
{\endMakeFramed}
\begin{document}
Some text
\begin{simpages}
\begin{itemize}
\item Foo
\item Bar
\item Baz
\end{itemize}
\end{simpages}
Some more text
\end{document}
Best Answer
General
Your question is related to the packages
framedandmdframed. But there are other useful packages for drawing frames around given material:A small list can be found via the search mechanism of CTAN
Differences
Before I list the differences let me start with the similarities.
\vsplit(there are some differences in the implementation, but the idea is the same)Instead of a big list with the differences here is the relevant part:
Everything that
framedcan do, can be done bymdframed. But not everything thatmdframedcan do, can be done byframed.The biggest difference is the frame itself.
mdframedcan draw the frames with three different methods:which leads to the big pool of options.
Recommendation
You asked about the solidity and reliability of the packages.
From this point of view the package
framedshould be recommended. The package was developed in 1992 by Donald Arseneau. If you look at the revision history you will see that the package has had no big changes since 1992. In 2011 Donald Arseneau added some new environments. In my opinion they didn't improve the package significantly. However all these facts are leading to the point thatframedis more solid and reliable.The authors of
mdframedinstead are trying to constantly improve the package. So after an update some previous settings can be changed or maybe the package has a new bug. Every development can result in such problems. So the package isn't as solid and reliable asframed. (Of course I am trying to fix bugs as soon as possible).Conclusion
Nobody can help you with the decision.