Hi Hans, can you add a \vspace command which behaves like \hspace but for vertical mode, there are some cases where \blank is not so well suited (i know the \??vs namespace is already used by \blank) \def\definevspace {\dotripleempty\dodefinevspace} \def\dodefinevspace[#1][#2][#3]% {\ifthirdargument \setvalue{\??vs#1:#2}{#3}% \else \setvalue{\??vs:#1}{#2}% \fi} \unexpanded\def\vspace {\dodoubleempty\dohspace} \def\dovspace[#1][#2]% {\ifsecondargument \dodovspace[#1][#2]% \else\iffirstargument \vspace[][#1]% \else \vspace[][\s!default]% \fi\fi} \def\dodovspace[#1][#2]% {\vskip\vspaceamount{#1}{#2}} \def\vspaceamount#1#2% {\executeifdefined{\??vs#1:#2}{\executeifdefined{\??vs:#2}\zeropoint}} Wolfgang