paracol (v1.37): a multi-column package to typeset columns in "parallel".
===
Copyright (C) 2005-2018
  Hiroshi Nakashima (Kyoto University, deceased)
Copyright (C) 2024,2025
  Markus Kurtz
This package can be redistributed and/or modified under the terms
of the LaTeX Project Public License distributed from CTAN
archives in directory macros/latex/base/lppl.txt; either
version 1 of the License, or any later version.
===

[Contents]

- README ............ this document
- paracol.ins ....... for docstrip
- paracol.dtx ....... main dtx for manual and implementation document
- man.dtx ........... source of Section 1 to 6 of user's manual
- ref.dtx ........... source of Section 7 of user's manual
- pwfnote.dtx ....... source of Section 8 of user's manual
- ppts.dtx .......... source of Section 9 of user's manual
- bgpaint.dtx ....... source of Section 10 of user's manual
- probs.dtx ......... source of Section 11 of user's manual
- impl.dtx .......... source of implementation document
- paracol-man.pdf ... PDF of user's manual
- paracol.pdf ....... PDF of implementation manual

[How to "make"]

## The l3build way: get the zip archive from
# https://codeberg.org/mgkurtz/paracol/archive/main.zip

  % unzip main.zip
  % cd paracol
  % l3build install # to install paracol.sty or
  % l3build install --full # to also install docs and source

## The classical way

  % tex paracol.ins     # you'll have paracol.sty and paracol-man.tex

# to have user's manual (its PDF is included in the distribution)
  % latex paracol-man
  % latex paracol-man   # you need do it twice to make index correct.
  % makeindex -s gind.ist -o paracol-man.ind paracol-man.idx
  % latex paracol-man

# to have implementation document of almmost 300 pages(!!)
  % latex paracol.dtx
  % latex paracol.dtx   # you need do it twice to make index correct.
  % makeindex -s gind.ist -o paracol.ind paracol.idx
  % makeindex -s gglo.ist -o paracol.gls paracol.glo
  % latex paracol.dtx

Note that if you want LaTeXing paracol-man.tex and/or paracol.dtx,
you need newvbtm.sty being also available in CTAN.

[Features]

+ "paracol" environment in which you may "switch" and "synchronize columns
  by \switchcolumn(*).

+ "column", "nthcolumn", "leftcolumn" and "rightcolumn" environments used in
  "paracol" to enclose texts to appear in a column.

+ Counters are "local" to each column in default but you may make some of
  them global to all columns by \globalcounter{<ctr>}.

+ \definethecounter{<ctr>}{<col>}{<rep>} to give <ctr> its <rep>resentaion
  specific to <col>-th column.

+ \addcontentsonly{<file>}{<col>} to allow contents output for <file> only
  from <col> (new for v1.00).

+ \columnratio{<r_0>,<r_1>,...} to control the width of each column rather
  than splitting columns evenly (new for v1.1).

- \columncolor[<mode>]{<color>}[<col>] to give the default <color> (with
  <mode>) to the column <col> (new for v1.2).

- \footnoteplacement{<layout>} to choose ordinary column-wise footnote
  typesetting or page-wise typesetting to gather footnotes in all columns
  (new for v1.2, *NEW* for v1.3 with better API, new for v1.36 with new name).

- \twosided{<t_1><t_2>...} to enable ordinary two-sided typesetting
  (<t_i>=p), reversal of printing order of columns in even-numbered pages
  (<t_i>=c), reversal of margins where marginal notes go to (<t_i>=m),
  and/or mirroring background painting (<t_i>=b) ('m' and 'b' and better API
  are *NEW* for v1.3).

- "paracol" environment has options for "parallel-paging" to typeset
  parallel-columns in adjacent page pairs (*NEW* for v1.3).

- \thecolumn to let your macros know which columns they are in (*NEW* for
  v1.3).

- \ensurevspace{<len>} to force a page break if a synchronization point
  would be set leaving a small space less than <len> (*NEW* for v1.3).

- \setcolumnwidth{<s_1>,<s_2>,...}[<s'_1>,<s'_2>,...] to specify widths of
  columns and column-separating gaps more detailedly than \columnratio
  (*NEW* for v1.3).

- \marginparthreshold{<k>}[<k'>] to specify the minimum ordinal <k> of
  columns whose marginal notes go to right margin (*NEW* for v1.3).

- \[no]coloredwordhyphenated to allow/disallow hyphenating the first word
  following a coloring command (*NEW* for v1.3).

- \colseprulecolor[<mode>]{<color>}[<col>] to specify the color of rules
  drawn in gaps separating columns, i.e., now they can be drawn (*NEW* for
  v1.3).

- \backgroundcolor{<regino>}{<color>}[<mode>] to paint the background of a
  <region> by <color> (*NEW* for v1.3).

- \globalcounter* to make all counters global (*NEW* for v1.32).

- Compatible with the new implemenatation of LaTeX (2015/01/10 or
  later) now (*NEW* for v 1.32).

- \belowfootnoteskip to add space below non-merged pre-environment footnotes
  (*NEW* for v 1.35).

- \definecolumnpreamble{<col>}{<pream>} to define the column preamble
  <pream> for the column <col> (*NEW* for v 1.35).

- Emulation of \marginnote[<left>]{<right>}[<voffset>] given by marginnote
  package (*NEW* for v 1.35).

- Bugs found in v1.3 and successors up to v1.35 has been fixed.

Enjoy!

Hiroshi Nakashima
