Template with each page divided in three parts

Question

I'm looking for a template where each page of the document is divided in three sections. The upper half of the page is divided in two columns, with the left column being a quote of some original text, and the right column some comments associated to specific parts of the text on the left. The lower half of the page contains "free format" text.

The following is an image with two sample pages:

(In response to David comment)

The bottom half text flows automatically. The upper class is defined by the user. Note that the height of the upper half in each page can vary from page to page. The following picture illustrates this situation.

Is there a latex template or an easy way to achieve this?

Answer 1

\documentclass{article}


\def\a{\stepcounter{enumi}One two three four \roman{enumi} five six seven eight. }
\def\b{\a\a\a\a Red blue yellow. \a\a\a\a\a\ Green black blue \Roman{enumi}. }
\def\c{\b\b\b\par\a\b\a\b\a\par}

\def\z{ Interesting text that has notes attached}
\def\zz{\z\z\z\z\z}

\newcommand\mynote[1]{\strut\vadjust{%
\setbox0\hbox{\parbox[t]{.4\otextwidth}{#1}}%
\noindent
\raisebox{\dp\strutbox}[0pt][0pt]{\rlap{\hskip.6\otextwidth\box0\hss}}}}
\setcounter{totalnumber}{1}
\renewcommand\topfraction{.8}
\newlength\otextwidth
\setlength\otextwidth{\textwidth}

\newenvironment{thingy}
{\begin{figure}\begin{minipage}{.4\otextwidth}\setlength\parskip{\baselineskip}}
{\end{minipage}\bigskip\end{figure}}


\begin{document}

\c
\begin{thingy}
\z\mynote{something}

\zz\mynote{something else very interesting side note

a bit longer this time}
\end{thingy}

xxx\
\begin{thingy}
\zz\mynote{somethin else about this textg}

\zz\zz\mynote{something else very interesting side note

a bit longer this time}
\end{thingy}

\c\c

\end{document}