Skip to content

The Triplicate: A Data-Driven Large-Format Newspaper Layout Engine (v1.0.1)

Latest

Choose a tag to compare

@docxology docxology released this 14 Jun 19:56
· 1 commit to main since this release

Release v1.0.1 for templates/template_newspaper.

Publication

Abstract

Abstract

We present template_newspaper, a pure-Python engine that renders a complete
twelve-page, large-format newspaper to a print-ready PDF from structured YAML
content. The exemplar edition is The Triplicate, a homage to the historic
newspaper of Crescent City, California (founded 1879). The engine demonstrates
designed multi-column page layout — nameplate and ears, spanning headlines,
flowing column frames with an optional rail, drop caps, pull quotes, ruled
modular boxes, data tables, halftone "engraving" figures and running folios —
while keeping a strict separation between content (data) and engine (code):
a new title is a data edit, never a code change. The layout strategy is a hybrid
in which fixed furniture is drawn directly on the canvas to establish where
the column grid begins, after which body copy flows through ReportLab frames
that split paragraphs across columns automatically. The project obeys the
research-template monorepo contract and is discovered and executed by the same
orchestration pipeline as its code- and prose-focused siblings.