(mgp-users 00580) Re: side-by-side positioning

["Rouben Rostamian" <rostamian@umbc.edu>]

The proposed side-by-side columns will be a very valuable addition to mgp.
I wish I had it for a presentation two weeks ago.

I have a suggestion about the syntax of such side-by-side columns.
What we are doing, in effect, is creating a table.  So why not call
a table a table?

Something like this:

%begin table 20 40 60
%column
item11
item21
item31
item41
%column
item12
item22
item32
item42
%column
item13
item23
item33
item43
%end table

This describes a table of 3 columns and 4 rows, the columns being
positioned at 20%, 40%, and 60% from the left margin.

One should also be able to describe a table in the row-order, as in:

%begin table 20 40 60
%row
item11
item12
item13
%row
item21
item22
item23
%row
item31
item32
item33
%end table

This describes a 3x3 table where the entries are prescribed in the row-order.
The argument "20 40 60" specifies the column spacing, as before.

-- 
Rouben Rostamian <rostamian@umbc.edu>