Btukfyl

I'm trying to align structures %first, %second and %third. I have tried some alignment options using below of and align but they don't do what I expect.

documentclass{article}

usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}

usepackage{tikz}

usepackage{blindtext}

usetikzlibrary{positioning}



begin{document}









begin{tikzpicture}

    % First

    node[fill opacity=0.1,circle,label=left:n1-label,fill=black] at (0,0) (n1) {};

    node[right=0cm of n1,draw,fill=none, text width=linewidth-2.4cm] (n2) {

        title2

    };

    node[below=0.5cm of n2,draw,text width=linewidth-2.4cm] (n3){

        Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah 

        blinditemize

    };



    % Second

    node[below=1cm of n3,fill opacity=0.1,circle,label=left:n4-label,fill=black] at (0,0) (n4) {};

    node[right=0cm of n4,draw,fill=none, text width=linewidth-2.4cm] (n5) {

        title2

    };

    node[below=0.5cm of n5,draw,text width=linewidth-2.4cm] (n6){

        Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah 

        blinditemize

    };



    % Third

    node[below=1cm of n6,fill opacity=0.1,circle,label=left:n7-label,fill=black] at (0,0) (n7) {};

    node[right=0cm of n7,draw,fill=none, text width=linewidth-2.4cm] (n8) {

        title3

    };

    node[below=0.5cm of n8,draw,text width=linewidth-2.4cm] (n9){

        Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah 

        blinditemize

    };





end{tikzpicture}

end{document}

b) I'd like also to make n2, n3, n5, n6 to span just until the right margin.

Update: Code is been updated with some suggestions, b) is fixed thanks to @marmot

FIRST ANSWER: A few comments:

1. Positioning only works within one tikzpicture but not across separate tikzpictures unless you use overlay. However, in that case I would not do that.


2. Your syntax right of=n1 is deprecated, it is not even mentioned in the pgfmanual any more. You greatly benefit from loading the positioning library and do something like right=5mm of n1 instead.


3. If you do not specify the width of the text, the nodes will become arbitrarily wide. In order to avoid this, set an appropriate text width.

Suggested code:

documentclass{article}

usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}

usepackage{tikz}

usetikzlibrary{positioning}

usepackage{blindtext}

begin{document}



noindent

begin{tikzpicture}[buffl/.style={fill opacity=0.1,circle,fill=black}]

node[buffl,label=left:foo] at (0,0) (n1) {};

node[draw,fill=none, right=1cm of n1, text width=linewidth-3.4cm] (n5) {

    title5

};

node[draw,below=1cm of n5, text width=linewidth-3.4cm] (n6){

    blindtext

};

node[draw,below=1cm of n6, align=center,text width=linewidth-3.4cm] (n3) {

    blindtext

};

node[buffl,label=left:n4-label,left=1cm of n3]  (n4) {};



draw[fill opacity=0.1] ([yshift=-0.25cm]n1.south) -- ([yshift=0.25cm]n4.north);



end{tikzpicture}



end{document}

RESPONSE TO YOUR UPDATE: Given your updated question, I am actually wondering if you would not be better off with a table, and just add the bullets and lines between them via overlay.

documentclass{article}

usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}

usepackage{tikz}

usepackage{blindtext}

usepackage{tabularx}

usetikzlibrary{positioning}



begin{document}

tikzset{every picture/.append style={remember picture},

fluffy/.style={fill opacity=0.1,circle,fill,inner sep=3pt,outer sep=1mm}}



blindtext



noindentbegin{tabularx}{linewidth}{@{} l @{~} |X| @{}}

cline{2-2}

begin{tikzpicture}

 node[fluffy,label=left:n1-label] at (0,0) (n1) {};

end{tikzpicture}   

& title2\

cline{2-2}

multicolumn{1}{c}{~}& multicolumn{1}{c}{~}\

cline{2-2}

&

 Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah 

 blinditemize

\

cline{2-2}

multicolumn{1}{c}{~}& multicolumn{1}{c}{~}\

cline{2-2}

begin{tikzpicture}

 node[fluffy,label=left:n2-label] at (0,0) (n2) {};

end{tikzpicture}   

& title2\

cline{2-2}

multicolumn{1}{c}{~}& multicolumn{1}{c}{~}\

cline{2-2}

&

 Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah Blah blah 

 blinditemize 

\

cline{2-2}

end{tabularx}

begin{tikzpicture}[overlay]

draw (n1) -- (n2);

end{tikzpicture}

end{document}