[texhax] parbox placement

[Dana Murray]

Thanks very much for your response.  My reaction at the bottom.

>>> Robin Fairbairns <Robin.Fairbairns at cl.cam.ac.uk> 08/09/2004 >>>

> I am using LaTeX and would like to place a parbox somewhere on a page
> without affecting the spacing of the rest of the page.  

you can't do that (easily, anyway -- if you were using pdflatex you
might manage something in a second pass ... i think).

> This is what \marginpar does, but I don't think I can use marginpar.

it's not what \marginpar does: \marginpar is a float mechanism, and
they _do_ affect other things on the page (other \marginpars -- they
won't overlap each other, so if more than one is called "on the same
line" the later one will be displaced).

it might be helpful to know what you actually want to achieve, rather
than your proposed way of achieving it.  can you explain that, simply?

*-------
What I want to achieve: 
I have teaching notes where I want to insert boxes of parenthetical comments/explanations, but I don't want to disturb the main body of text when I insert or delete such boxes. I can do it with a \parbox, but then I have to undo the vertical spacing of the \parbox so the main body of text carries on (This is what I meant by "ad hoc": I will have to do it separately for each \parbox)

What \marginpar does:  One can insert, edit or delete a \marginpar without disturbing the main body of text.  (I appreciate that \marginpar does more, my concern is with not having to fiddle with the main text once I insert or delete something)

Dan Murray