Re: Is there a Groff showcase?

[Peter Schaffter]

On Sat, Dec 16, 2023, Mike wrote:
> My original thought was:
> 
> Is there a website where the various document layouts and visual
> capabilities of groff are displayed?
> 
> - Drop caps
> - Text in the margin
> - Text around an image or quote
> - Graphical title pages
> - Background images
> - Coloured backgrounds
> - Custom bullet points
> - Coloured text boxes
> - Custom paper sizes
> ...

I've been following this thread silently.  Time to chime in.

If such a website were to exist, it should be divided into
categories by the primary macro set used, with an additional
category "pure groff" for user-written DIY solutions.  The mom
macros, for example, handle everything in your list with ease
(except text around images/quotes), but it would be misleading to
post a mom example as *the* way to accomplish something with groff.
Take margin notes.  If using mom, they are added with the MN macro.
If using ms, they require Werner Lemberg's standalone margin notes
macros.  Showing "that groff can do this" isn't really useful;
groff can handle just about any typographic challenge.  Showing
examples of *the ways it can be done* strikes me as better.
 
> Has anyone achieved flowing text around an image or text box, I
> would love to know? (I have seen discussion on this topic, but no
> examples).

To my knowledge, no one has achieved this with any degree of
robustness.  I can be done "by hand" on a case-by-case basis, but I
doubt that's what you want.  I've made several stabs at it
but have never come up with a solution sturdy enough to go into the
mom macros.  Left or right aligned images/quotes don't present much
of a problem for floating text, neither do columns with cutouts for
images.  However, floating justified text around an image is a whole
'nother ball of wax.

-- 
Peter Schaffter
https://www.schaffter.ca