two independent columns of text

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birksworks
Got the styles thing figured out
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Jun 27, 2008 12:17 pm

two independent columns of text

Post by birksworks »

Dear All,

I hope you are well.

This suggestion has popped up in the Forum in the past, but I have not been able to tell if this feature has been added or not.

I would like to have two independent columns of text in one document. The left column on page 1 would continue onto the left column of page 2 and not into the right column of page 1. Same thing with the right column--it would contiune onto the right column of the next page and not into the left column of the next page.

Can Mellel 5 do this?

Thanks for your help,

BW
birksworks
Got the styles thing figured out
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Jun 27, 2008 12:17 pm

Re: two independent columns of text

Post by birksworks »

Note that you can make a table, but if there is too much text in one cell, it disappears beyond the bottom of the page and does not flow over on the next page, which is what happens with a Word table. (And I hate Word!)
DavidH
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Posts: 122
Joined: Wed Mar 26, 2008 9:13 pm

Re: two independent columns of text

Post by DavidH »

Mellel can’t handle multiple independent text streams like a story-based desktop publishing app. And it won’t continue a table cell or text box across a page break. So I’m afraid the answer to your question is still no at this point. This would be a very useful feature for people offering translations alongside text in an original language, but adding it would represent a pretty big break with how Mellel has handled text up to now.
birksworks
Got the styles thing figured out
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Jun 27, 2008 12:17 pm

Re: two independent columns of text

Post by birksworks »

Thank you very much for your answer. It isn't the answer I was hoping for--but it is definite!

I have wanted to see this feature in Mellel for more than 10 years and feel ill about having to use tables in Word to make this happen. One would think having text in the cell of a table flow from one page to anther would not be a big deal -- and would also do what I want, but....

Could you recomment other software that will do this (other than Word)?

As it happens, I want this functionality both for parallel translation passges and for comparing two passages from different sources in the same language.

Thanks for your help! :-)
Amontillado
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Joined: Fri May 04, 2018 4:00 am

Re: two independent columns of text

Post by Amontillado »

When I need something more than is possible in Mellel, I use a desktop publishing application, Affinity Publisher. It's very close to the capabilities of Adobe inDesign with one major difference.

Adobe inDesign is $20.99 per month. Affinity Publisher is $69.99 one time.

You can write in Publisher but you can tell that's not what it's for. You'll need some kind of editor to go along with it. Plain text editors almost make sense, but paragraphs should end with a single newline. Markdown and plain text editors encourage two newlines to separate paragraphs.

When I write a pamphlet, I write the copy in Mellel. Highlight and copy in Mellel, paste and match format in Affinity. That way I control my print style with the styles in Affinity.

Styles in Mellel are far stronger, but if I use Affinity's styles I keep the styles with the Publisher document.

Affinity also has sales from time to time. I got Photo, Designer, and Publisher for $50 each, no subscription.

Add an Epson Ecotank 11x17 printer, a guillotine cutter to even up the edges, and a long reach stapler and you've got a little book production system on your desk. I can print magazine style booklets with equipment all at arm's reach.

I use that setup to write exposé pamphlets about corruption in our local property tax office. I'm very happy with the results. The tax collector is very unhappy. That makes my day. :-)
DavidH
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Re: two independent columns of text

Post by DavidH »

A very different option, free but with a longer learning curve, is the LaTex typesetting system, originally created for mathematics but having lots of non mathematical uses. Several of the add-on “packages” that come with a basic LaTex installation and can be called in as you need them are designed to give you delicate control over special purpose column setups. A package that looks especially promising for your purposes is called paracol.
greifenklau
New to all this
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Jun 29, 2020 5:59 pm

Re: two independent columns of text

Post by greifenklau »

birksworks wrote: Sun May 07, 2023 9:34 am
Could you recomment other software that will do this (other than Word)?


Thanks for your help! :-)
Hello Birksworks,
I can recommend SoftMaker Office as an alternative. The word processor there "TextMaker" can link text fields, even over several pages: https://www.softmaker.de/

With kind regards
Gerd
Icelander
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Re: two independent columns of text

Post by Icelander »

I want this functionality both for parallel translation passges and for comparing two passages from different sources in the same language. […] Could you recomment other software that will do this (other than Word)?
Check out Nisus Writer Pro. It can do both!

Regarding the columns, in Nisus go to View > Split View > and enable Vertical Orientation. Then enable Synchronize Scrolling… (also in the View menu.) Now your source text and the translation will move in synchronized scrolling.
Press the command key to temporary stop the scrolling (good if you want to move one of the columns up or down).

This also works with *two* independent documents. You can have the original text version in doc 1 and the translation in doc 2. Ideal setup for translators!

Regarding "comparing two passages from different sources," Nisus has a macro for this. You can customize it to suite your personal needs.
DavidH
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Re: two independent columns of text

Post by DavidH »

Hi Icelander,

I could be wrong, but I think you’ve misunderstood Birkswork’s needs. As I understand him, he wants to present two separate streams of text in parallel columns of a single document, with alignment controls to keep a passage and its translation, or comparable passages from two source texts, side by side in the two columns, adding white space when needed on one side or the other to make this happen.

The Nisus tools you mention can help in making a translation (when original and translation are in two different documents) or in locating the differences between two texts (when they are in two separate existing documents). Birksworks is concerned with formatting the results of translation or comparison in a single document, side by side.

Mellel can’t perform this particular task in its current incarnation. But as far as I can tell, neither can Nisus Writer Pro.

All best,
DavidH
Icelander
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Re: two independent columns of text

Post by Icelander »

Hi DavidH,
birksworks wrote: Sun May 07, 2023 9:34 am I want this functionality both for parallel translation passges and for comparing two passages from different sources in the same language.
I always try to discover what a user is trying to achieve and what purpose lies behind the action, because there's more than one way to skin a cat.

It is my understanding that the OP intends to translate text from one language into another language, and he also wants to compare two parts in a document (or two individual documents, it's irrelevant in this case) in order to see if there are differences between the two. When I wrote "[Nisus] can do both!" I was referring to (1) setting up an ideal surrounding for the translation process and (2) comparing documents.
Birksworks is concerned with formatting the results of translation or comparison in a single document, side by side.

If the OP's goal is primarily to *format* text that has already been translated, putting for example the source text on the left and the (already finished) translation on the right side, then you are right, I didn't think of that.
Comparison in a single document can still be done in Nisus; we would just have to split it into two documents or copy the passages we want to compare and paste them into two documents. :–)

Perhaps birksworks, the original poster, can chime in and provide some clarification.
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