Discussion: behaviour of column break?

A page or a section can be configured multi-column (like a newspaper) where text flows to next column when it reached the bottom of the page.

You can force an early spill over to next column by inserting a manual column break.

Suppose you have a 3-column layout. A column break in column 1 will send following text to column 2. Similarly, a column break in column 2 will send text into column 3.

Now, insert a column break in column 3. What should happen?

  • The present implementation makes any column break in last column equivalent to a page break. Note a page break can be used anywhere in a multi-column layout with the expected semantics of continuing text at start of column 1 on next page.

  • Does another semantics make sense?
    Instead of flushing text on next page, could text restart in first column of current page at some “consistent” vertical position ? By consistent I mean this vertical position is computed from the tallest column plus at least a spacing equal to spacing below for the “lowest” paragraph plus the spacing above for the paragraph flown in first column. In other words, this behaviour is similar to a table where we start a new row, with the added property that text can flow from one “cell” to the next.

    Has this case been encountered in traditional typography? I’m thinking of books where argumentation is presented “horizontally” in a columned layout, every argument starting in a new “line of columns”.

This can presently be done by inserting as many sections as there are “points” in the argumentation, but this does not look user-friendly.

If I’m completely off-track, don’t hesitate to tell because my suggestion requires column breaks, which in fact would be better replaced by a table.

Maybe inserting a section must be more user friendly.
Would make any advantage if sections, instead of being containers, were limits like a page break? What would be the drawbacks?