Some time back (maybe three years ago) Hans showed me a way to create a sidebar, with optional background and hanging out half way into the margin. Now I would like to encapsulate the commands into a simple \start \stop sequence. But I don't know how to do it. Hans started off with some definitions: \setupfloat [intermezzo] [leftmargindistance=-\outercombitotal, rightmargindistance=-\outercombitotal, default={outer,high}] \setupcaption[intermezzo][location=none] \defineframedtext [myohmy] [width=6cm,bodyfont=small, frame=off, backgroundcorner=round, backgroundradius=16pt,background=screen,backgroundscreen=.7] Then he called these two definitions with a sequence like: (some text) \placeintermezzo{}{\startmyohmy\input dawkins \relax\stopmyohmy} (some text) What I would like to do is boil down the last mentioned command sequence into \startsidebar (some text) \stopsidebar But I am stumped by the task. If there were a \startintermezzo and \stopintermezzo pairing then the task would be simpler. John Culleton