2 column layout without using tabular

Question

I'd like to write a 2 column layout page: one column at the left that should show the year, and one column at the right that should show text that goes along the year.

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\begin{document}
\begin{table}[ht]
  \begin{tabular}{l|c}
2012&Some text\vspace{5pt}\\
2011&Some other text\\
  \end{tabular}
\end{table}
\end{document}

Now: I would like to avoid using \begin{tabular} .

• \begin{tabular} will not split across multiple pages
• footnotes are too tricky.

My question: Is the a simple way to get this kind of 2 column layout without using \begin{tabular} ?

Answer 1

table will not split across pages either. So you shouldn't is too.

I would use a list, e.g. description or labeling from the KOMA-classes:

\documentclass{scrartcl}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\begin{document}
\begin{labeling}{XXXXXXX}%template for longest item.
\item[2000] \lipsum[1-2]
\item[2001] \lipsum[1-2]
\end{labeling}
\end{document}

Answer 2

I would use the margin column to hold the years and the usual text column to put the paragraphs.

\documentclass[12pt]{article}

%setup a page layout with a large margin
\usepackage[paperwidth=170mm, paperheight=240mm, left=42pt, top=40pt, textwidth=280pt, marginparsep=20pt, marginparwidth=100pt, textheight=560pt, footskip=40pt]{geometry}

%marginpar would move, but here the year has to be right next to the paragraph
\usepackage{marginnote}

\begin{document}
Some text\marginnote{2012}

Some other text\marginnote{2011}

\end{document}

you have to change the page layout to your liking. This leads to

Footnotes will work (try Some\footnote{This works} text\marginnote{2012}) and pagebreaks are no problem. Please run LaTeX up to 3 times if the alignment is off.

Answer 3

I doubt that you are trying to write a CV. If so, you may try dedicated packages like moderncv for this. However, you may try the following:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{parallel}
\usepackage[margin=1in]{geometry}
\begin{document}
\begin{Parallel}[v]{0.1\textwidth}{0.89\textwidth} %% [v] for drawing the vertical line
%===========================
\ParallelLText{ 2001 } 
\ParallelRText{ \lipsum[2] } 
\ParallelPar
%===================
%===========================
\ParallelLText{ 2002 }
\ParallelRText{ \lipsum[4]This is a foot note\footnote{This is a foot note}. }
\ParallelPar
%===========================
\ParallelLText{ 2003 } 
\ParallelRText{ \lipsum[6]} 
\ParallelPar
%===========================
\ParallelLText{ 2004 }
\ParallelRText{ \lipsum[8] } 
\ParallelPar
%===========================
\ParallelLText{ 2005 }
\ParallelRText{ \lipsum[10]}
\ParallelPar
%===========================
\ParallelLText{2006 }
\ParallelRText{ \lipsum[12] } 
\ParallelPar
%===========================
\ParallelLText{ 2007 } 
\ParallelRText{ \lipsum[14]} 
\ParallelPar
%===========================
\ParallelLText{ 2008}
\ParallelRText{ \lipsum[16]} 
\ParallelPar
%===========================
\ParallelLText{ 2009} 
\ParallelRText{ \lipsum[18]} 
\ParallelPar
%===========================
\end{Parallel}


\end{document}

Another option will be the famous longtable where 1. footnotes work and 2. things will break across pages.:

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage{longtable}
\begin{document}
\begin{longtable}{r|p{.8\textwidth}}
2012&Some text\footnote{This is a foot note}\\
2011&Some other text\\
\newpage
2012&Some text\footnote{This is a foot note}\\
2011&Some other text\\
\end{longtable}
\end{document}