[Tex/LaTex] margin notes on both sides of a single-column document

marginparnotes

I have to write a paper for a course work. We are supposed to use a given layout with a single column text and margin notes on both sides – references on one side and section notes on the other.
I have been playing around for some time but I did not find any working solution yet.
Trying to copy the definition of \marginpar let to a whole lot of compile errors but that’s not exactly what I was looking for 😉

Also, having titles and graphs spanning the whole page width would be cool but I don't know if I will need it anyway. Just in case there is a class or package that can do both…

Any suggestions?

Best Answer

The memoir package supports both marginpars and sidenotes, which can be in opposite margins.

Here's an example:

\documentclass[a4paper,final,oneside]{memoir}
\isopage[6] % Quick and dirty large margins
\checkandfixthelayout
\begin{document}
The medievalpage command generates the position and 
  \sidepar{A sidepar note}
  \marginpar{A marginpar note}
size of the typeblock according
to the principles of medieval scribes and the early 
printers, as discovered and described
by Jan Tschichold. The basic principle is that the 
spine, top, fore-edge and bottom
margins around the typeblock are in the ratio 2:3:4:6. 
Typically the spine margin was 1/9
the width of the page, which is what medievalpage 
assumes by default. This can be
changed with the optional [spine] argument. 
\end{document}

Note that \sidepar notes do not float, and so may overlap.

Sorry, as I'm a bit bogged down, this is just a quick-and-dirty answer, which I'm sure can be improved upon. I haven't, for example, detailed how you can adjust the margins to what you want (memoir has this built-in, so you don't need geometry).

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Margin notes (and subsection titles) in both sides of a two column document

I'm not sure how much flexibility you have in changing base document classes, but the memoir class includes features similar to titlesec, and doesn't exhibit this problem by default.

\documentclass[twocolumn]{memoir}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\settrimmedsize{11in}{210mm}{*}
\setlength{\trimtop}{0pt}
\setlength{\trimedge}{\stockwidth}
\addtolength{\trimedge}{-\paperwidth}
\settypeblocksize{7.75in}{33pc}{*}
\setulmargins{4cm}{*}{*}
\setlrmargins{1.25in}{*}{*}
\setmarginnotes{17pt}{51pt}{\onelineskip}
\setheadfoot{\onelineskip}{2\onelineskip}
\setheaderspaces{*}{2\onelineskip}{*}
\checkandfixthelayout

\begin{document}
\chapter{Chapter Title}
\section{Section Title}
\marginpar{\subsection{Subsection Title 1}}{\lipsum[1-3]}
\marginpar{\subsection{Subsection Title 2}}{\lipsum[4]}
\end{document}

Here, I'm using the page layout used in the memoir manual (section 2.9.1). You'd need to read through their page layout documentation and adjust for your needs.

Results:

Memoir marginpar example

[Tex/LaTex] Layout with captions in margin and margin notes

As others have said, you can use the tufte-book document class. It offers captions in the sidenotes area and a fullwidth environment that stretches across the main text block and the sidenotes area.

\documentclass{tufte-book}
\usepackage{lipsum}

\begin{document}

\lipsum[1]
\begin{figure}[!ht]
  \centering
  \rule{4cm}{2cm}
  \caption{A black rectangle with lots of text so it fills up some space.}
\end{figure}
\lipsum[1]
\begin{table}[!ht]
  \centering
  \rule{4cm}{2cm}
  \caption{A black rectangle with lots of text so it fills up some space.}
\end{table}
\begin{fullwidth}
\lipsum[1]
\end{fullwidth}

\end{document}

If you don't want to use the tufte-book class, then you can use one of the standard ones (book, report) together with the geometry package to change the page layout, the floatrow package to have captions in the margins, and the changepage package to change the margins for a part of a document:

\documentclass{book}
\usepackage[margin=4cm,marginparwidth=3cm]{geometry}
\usepackage{floatrow}
\usepackage{changepage}
\usepackage{lipsum}

\floatsetup{margins=hangleft,capposition=beside,
capbesideposition={top,left},floatwidth=\textwidth}

\begin{document}

\lipsum[1]
\begin{figure}[!ht]
  \centering
  \rule{4cm}{2cm}
  \caption{A black rectangle with lots of text so it fills up some space.}
\end{figure}
\lipsum[1]
\begin{table}[!ht]
  \centering
  \rule{4cm}{2cm}
  \caption{A black rectangle with lots of text so it fills up some space.}
\end{table}
\begin{adjustwidth}{-3cm}{}
\lipsum[1]
\end{adjustwidth}

\end{document}

You could also consider using one of the classes from the KOMA-Script bundle (scrbook, scrreprt) or the memoir document class and adapting them to your needs.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Margin notes (and subsection titles) in both sides of a two column document

[Tex/LaTex] Layout with captions in margin and margin notes

Related Question