Create "inner" and "outer" parbox

Question

Is there a way to automate the mirroring of parboxes every time a new page occurs?

I have a \documentclass{book} that consists of two side-by-side \parbox. I would like one of the \parbox to always remain the "outer" and the other to always remain the "inner". The pages should essentially mirror each other.

In this example, I would like the skinny column to always be the inner column:

MWE:

\documentclass{book}

\usepackage{lipsum}

\begin{document}

\noindent
\parbox[t][][t]{.7\linewidth}{\lipsum[1]}\hfill
\parbox[t][][t]{.25\linewidth}{\lipsum[2]}

\noindent
\parbox[t][][t]{.7\linewidth}{\lipsum[8]}\hfill
\parbox[t][][t]{.25\linewidth}{\lipsum[9]}

\end{document}

Does your document only contain these \parboxes? Do you always insert these the same way? Is there any flow from one page to the next? — Werner, Mar 07 '17 at 04:06
You can also do this using paracol. See http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/320065/marginpar-start-at-top-of-page/320077?s=5|0.0456#320077 for example. — John Kormylo, Mar 07 '17 at 04:31
@Werner, yes, let's assume that the document contains only the \parboxes, the content within them will be of different lengths, and there is flow from one page to the next. — AML, Mar 07 '17 at 10:46
@John, do you think paracol is a better solution here? Would you please propose an example solution? — AML, Mar 07 '17 at 11:12
@JohnKormylo I figured out what you meant: \twosided[pc]% swap margins and columns under \usepackage{paracol}. Does anyone know how to achieve the same thing but with \parbox? — AML, Mar 07 '17 at 13:18

John Kormylo · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-07T14:52:39.207

The \parbox macros are optional. Their only effect here is to force a \newpage if there is not enough space for the whole thing. Alignment is handled by \switchcolumn*. (Without the \parbox you should use \sloppy.)

\documentclass{book}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{paracol}

\setcolumnwidth{.7\textwidth,.25\textwidth}
\columnsep=.05\textwidth
\twosided[pc]% swap margins and columns

\begin{document}
\begin{paracol}{2}
\noindent\parbox{\columnwidth}{\lipsum[1]}
\switchcolumn
\noindent\parbox{\columnwidth}{\lipsum[2]}
\switchcolumn*
\noindent\parbox{\columnwidth}{\lipsum[8]}
\switchcolumn
\noindent\parbox{\columnwidth}{\lipsum[9]}
\end{paracol}

\end{document}

Here is a solution using the ifoddpage package. It takes two runs, since \checkoddpage stores the page number in the aux file. The \makebox is used to force the page change before testing.

\documentclass{book}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{ifoddpage}

\newcommand{\swapboxes}[2]% #1 = wide text, #2 = narrow text
{\noindent\makebox[\textwidth]{\checkoddpage
 \ifoddpageoroneside
   \parbox[t]{.7\textwidth}{#1}\hfill\parbox[t]{.25\textwidth}{#2}%
 \else
   \parbox[t]{.25\textwidth}{#2}\hfill\parbox[t]{.7\textwidth}{#1}%
 \fi}}

\begin{document}

\swapboxes{\lipsum[1]}{\lipsum[2]}

\swapboxes{\lipsum[8]}{\lipsum[9]}

\end{document}

Create "inner" and "outer" parbox

1 Answers1