Linked minipages / boxes in LaTeX

Question

I'm looking for a way of linking box-like environments (e.g. minipages) in LaTeX, so that text that does not fit into the first box spills into subsequent boxes. E.g:

/begin{box-like-environment}
 Text, too much to fit in this box...
/end{box-like-environment}

% some LaTeX here, possibly covering several pages...

/begin{box-like-environment}
% Text which doesn't fit in the first box should appear in this box
/end{box-like-environment}

The effect is something like the 'linked text boxes' of MS Publisher. Any ideas as to if and how this could be achieved?

Answer 1

The idea being, I guess, that the program figures out where to split the text between the two boxes, say so that you can have the text filled between two floats that face each other on opposite pages.

I have no idea how this might be done in Latex; Latex lacks sensitivity to page layout, so I'd guess it can't be done. Context is more sophisticated with regards to layout: it uses METAPOST to handle page layout, not primitive Tex, and there was discussion of something similar on the NTG mailing list: cf. Hans Hagen's post.

Maybe this is an option? There is some software for automatic translation of Latex to Context.