[Tex/LaTex] the advantage of using widetext package instead of cuted package

cutedtwo-column

I was looking for an answer to this question which is, by the way, unanswered 🙁

After searching this site, I read many questions similar to this one, and I found out that all of the answers suggested the use of widetext package.

But after looking in the code of widetext package, I found that it basically uses the strip environment from cuted package.

Am I missing something? Apart from those rules (which I don't understand/like) what is the advantage of using widetext package rather than cuted package?

Here are two examples where the code looks similar (the widetext package just paints those rules, adds a \par and adds \parindent \@parindent, two indents?).

\documentclass[twocolumn]{scrartcl}

\usepackage{kantlipsum,widetext}

\begin{document}
\kant[1-2]
\begin{widetext}
    \kant[4]
\end{widetext}
\kant[5]
\end{document}

And the other one

\documentclass[twocolumn]{scrartcl}

\usepackage{kantlipsum,cuted}

\begin{document}
\kant[1-2]
\begin{strip}
    \kant[4]
\end{strip}
\kant[5]
\end{document}

Here you can download the package widetext.

Best Answer

Yes, you are right; they are basically the same; the widetext package defines its widetext environment using strip from cuted.sty, but adds the rules. In fact, the author of widetext says in the .sty file:

%% This package just defines the widetext environment and the rules.

The other difference is that widetext gives you indentation for the first line of paragraphs, but cuted doesn't; this is done by widetext, using the ineternal length \@parindent to store the value of \parindent before the environment, and then using this value inside the widetext (that's the meaning of the line \parindent \@parindent in widetext.sty).

An image comparing widetext and strip (notice, in particular, the indentation for widetext but not for strip):

\documentclass[twocolumn]{scrartcl}
\usepackage{lipsum,widetext}

\begin{document}
\lipsum[4]
\begin{strip}
\lipsum[4]
\end{strip}
\lipsum[4]
\begin{widetext}
\lipsum[4]
\end{widetext}
\lipsum[4]

\end{document}

enter image description here

In short:

Advantages of widetext: the rules and indentation for the firs line of paragraphs. I personally don't the rules much, but they are there "to guide the reader" (the idea of the rules was taken from the widetext environment defined in revtex4.cls).

Disadvantage of widetext; the author didn't take any precautions to prevent the rules to be detached from the text; so you can get the initial rule at the bottom of a page, then the text beginning on the next page.

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