minipagewidth
I am working on a poster template with a not so easy to reproduce style with nested blocks. To that end, I have to create a minipage whose width depends on \linewidth minus some fixed value. In a nutshell, I want to subtract something in the width specification of the minipage.
How can I express \linewidth "MINUS" 2ex in my template?
I'd use a low level method with \vsplit:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[latin]{babel} % to hyphenate lipsum
\usepackage{microtype} % avoid overfull lines
%--------------------
\usepackage[
top=0.35in,
bottom=0.35in,
width=4in,
landscape,
includefoot,
includehead,
]{geometry}
%--------------------
\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\pagestyle{fancy}
\renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0.4pt}
\renewcommand{\footrulewidth}{0.4pt}
\fancyhead[L]{Left}
\fancyhead[R]{Right}
%--------------------
\usepackage{lipsum}
\begin{document}
\lipsum[1]
\vspace{2ex}
\noindent
\hspace*{-3in}%
\makebox[0pt][l]{%
\setbox0=\vbox{\hsize=2.5in
\lipsum[1-2]
}%
\splittopskip=0pt \vbadness=10000
\setbox2=\vsplit0 to 2.5in
\vtop{\hrule height0pt\unvbox2}\hspace{0.25in}\vrule\hspace{0.25in}%
\setbox2=\vsplit0 to 2.5in
\vtop{\hrule height0pt\unvbox2}\hspace{0.25in}\vrule\hspace{0.25in}%
\vtop{\hrule height0pt\unvbox0}
}
\vspace{3ex}
\lipsum[2]
\end{document}
Adjust the positioning at will.
If you set a TeX primitive register such as \leftskip then nothing is recalculated not \linewidth or \leftmargin or \@totaleftmargin that is why LaTeX has a list structure and a list environment to set all these parameters to consistent value.
If you want an indented region, do not set \leftskip use quote or a similarly defined environment.
Never set \leftskip directly in latex you will break almost all its display constructs (not just your own definitions).
Best Answer
The
calcpackage allows for expressing operations on dimensions in the argument tominipage,\parbox,\setlengthand other places.So, after
\usepackage{calc}, you're allowed to sayWithout any package the same can be accomplished by
but
calcis more powerful.