How to print section titles like tab-list?
Here's a possible option using the background package to place the border, the tabs and the page number:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[a5paper,vmargin=2cm]{geometry}
\usepackage{background}
\usepackage{etoolbox}
\usepackage{totcount}
\usepackage{lipsum}
% to have access to the total number of sections
\regtotcounter{section}
% every section starts on a new page
\pretocmd{\section}{\clearpage}{}{}
% auxiliary lengths for the height of the frame and the width of each tab
\newlength\mylen
\newlength\mylena
% style for the section tabs
\tikzset{tab/.style={
text width=\mylena,anchor=south,
draw=gray,thick,rectangle,rounded corners=12pt,rotate=270,
align=center,text height=20pt,
text depth=25pt,inner sep=0pt,fill=gray!20,
yshift=-18pt,font=\sffamily\LARGE}}
% style for the current section tab
\tikzset{selectedtab/.style={tab,color=white,fill=gray!90}}
% the page number is showed in the background material
\pagestyle{empty}
\AtBeginDocument{
% calculation of the width for each tab
\setlength\mylen{\dimexpr\textheight+2cm\relax}
\ifnum\totvalue{section}>0
\setlength\mylena{\dimexpr\mylen/\totvalue{section}\relax}
\fi
% the main part; as background material we place the border,
% the section (current and other) tabs and the page number
\backgroundsetup{
scale=1,
color=black,
angle=0,
opacity=1,
contents= {
\begin{tikzpicture}[remember picture, overlay]
\node[inner sep=0pt,text width=\the\dimexpr\textwidth+1.5cm\relax]
at (current page.center) (border) {\rule{0pt}{\dimexpr\textheight+2cm\relax}};
\foreach \valsection in {0,...,\numexpr\totvalue{section}-1\relax}
{
\node[\ifnum\thesection<\numexpr\valsection+1\relax tab\else \ifnum\thesection>\numexpr\valsection+1\relax tab\else selectedtab\fi\fi,xshift=(0.5+\valsection)*\mylena]
at (border.north east) (tab-\valsection) {Section \the\numexpr\valsection+1\relax};
}
\node[draw=gray,line width=2pt,rectangle,rounded corners=10pt,inner sep=0pt,
text width=\the\dimexpr\textwidth+1.5cm\relax,fill=white]
at (current page.center) {\rule{0pt}{\dimexpr\textheight+2cm\relax}};
\node[font=\LARGE\sffamily,fill=white]
at (border.south) {\makebox[3em][c]{\thepage}};
\end{tikzpicture}}
}
}
\begin{document}
\section{Test Section One}
\lipsum[1-3]
\section{Test Section Two}
\lipsum[1-3]
\section{Test Section Three}
\lipsum[1-3]
\section{Test Section Four}
\lipsum[2]
\end{document}
The document needs to be processed three times.
If the most recent version for the background package is not available, here's the code using the syntax for version 1.0:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[a5paper,vmargin=2cm]{geometry}
\usepackage{background}
\usepackage{etoolbox}
\usepackage{totcount}
\usepackage{lipsum}
% to have access to the total number of sections
\regtotcounter{section}
% every section starts on a new page
\pretocmd{\section}{\clearpage}{}{}
% auxiliary lengths for the height of the frame and the width of each tab
\newlength\mylen
\newlength\mylena
% style for the section tabs
\tikzset{tab/.style={
text width=\mylena,anchor=south,
draw=gray,thick,rectangle,rounded corners=12pt,rotate=270,
align=center,text height=20pt,
text depth=25pt,inner sep=0pt,fill=gray!20,
yshift=-18pt,font=\sffamily\LARGE}}
% style for the current section tab
\tikzset{selectedtab/.style={tab,color=white,fill=gray!90}}
% the page number is showed in the background material
\pagestyle{empty}
\AtBeginDocument{
% calculation of the width for each tab
\setlength\mylen{\dimexpr\textheight+2cm\relax}
\ifnum\totvalue{section}>0
\setlength\mylena{\dimexpr\mylen/\totvalue{section}\relax}
\fi
% the main part; as background material we place the border,
% the section (current and other) tabs and the page number
\SetBgScale{1}
\SetBgColor{black}
\SetBgAngle{0}
\SetBgOpacity{1}
\SetBgContents{
\begin{tikzpicture}[remember picture, overlay]
\node[inner sep=0pt,text width=\the\dimexpr\textwidth+1.5cm\relax]
at (current page.center) (border) {\rule{0pt}{\dimexpr\textheight+2cm\relax}};
\foreach \valsection in {0,...,\numexpr\totvalue{section}-1\relax}
{
\node[\ifnum\thesection<\numexpr\valsection+1\relax tab\else \ifnum\thesection>\numexpr\valsection+1\relax tab\else selectedtab\fi\fi,xshift=(0.5+\valsection)*\mylena]
at (border.north east) (tab-\valsection) {Section \the\numexpr\valsection+1\relax};
}
\node[draw=gray,line width=2pt,rectangle,rounded corners=10pt,inner sep=0pt,
text width=\the\dimexpr\textwidth+1.5cm\relax,fill=white]
at (current page.center) {\rule{0pt}{\dimexpr\textheight+2cm\relax}};
\node[font=\LARGE\sffamily,fill=white]
at (border.south) {\makebox[3em][c]{\thepage}};
\end{tikzpicture}}
}
\begin{document}
\section{Test Section One}
\lipsum[1-3]
\section{Test Section Two}
\lipsum[1-3]
\section{Test Section Three}
\lipsum[1-3]
\section{Test Section Four}
\lipsum[2]
\end{document}
Here is another suggestion based on the answer of @Gonzalo Medina but using the scrlayer package to define a layer pagestyle:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[a5paper,vmargin=2cm]{geometry}
\usepackage{tikz}% loads also xcolor and graphicx
\usepackage{totcount}
\usepackage{lipsum}% for dummy text
\usepackage{etoolbox}
% to have access to the total number of sections
\regtotcounter{section}
% every section starts on a new page
\pretocmd{\section}{\clearpage}{}{}
% auxiliary length for the width of each tab
\newlength\mylena
\tikzset{
tab/.style={% style for the section tabs
text width=\mylena,
draw=gray,
thick,
rectangle,
rounded corners=12pt,
align=center,
text width=53pt,
inner sep=0pt,
fill=gray!20,
font=\sffamily\LARGE,
overlay
},
selectedtab/.style={% style for the current section tab
tab,
color=gray!90,
text=white
},
pagenumber/.style={% style for the page number
font=\LARGE\sffamily,
fill=white,
text width=3em,
align=center
}
}
\usepackage{scrlayer}
\DeclarePageStyleByLayers{border}{border.odd,border.even}
\pagestyle{border}
\DeclareNewLayer[
background,
oddpage,
textarea,
addvoffset=-1cm,
addhoffset=-.75cm,
addheight=2cm,
addwidth=1.5cm,
contents={%
\ifnum\totvalue{section}>0
\setlength\mylena{\dimexpr\layerheight/\totvalue{section}\relax}%
\fi
\begin{tikzpicture}
\pgfdeclarelayer{background}
\pgfsetlayers{background,main}
\node[
draw=gray,
fill=white,
inner sep=0pt,
minimum width=\layerwidth-\pgflinewidth,
minimum height=\layerheight-\pgflinewidth,
rounded corners=10pt,
line width=2pt
](border){};
\node[pagenumber]at (border.south){\thepage};
\begin{pgfonlayer}{background}
\foreach \valsection in {0,...,\numexpr\totvalue{section}-1\relax}{%
\node[
\ifnum\value{section}<\numexpr\valsection+1\relax
tab%
\else
\ifnum\value{section}>\numexpr\valsection+1\relax
tab%
\else
selectedtab%
\fi
\fi,
minimum height=\mylena-\pgflinewidth
] at ([yshift=-(0.5+\valsection)*\mylena]border.north east)
{%
\hspace*{25pt}\rotatebox{-90}{Section \the\numexpr\valsection+1\relax}%
};
}
\end{pgfonlayer}
\end{tikzpicture}%
}
]{border.odd}
\DeclareNewLayer[
clone=border.odd,
evenpage,
contents={%
\begin{tikzpicture}
\node[
draw=gray,
fill=white,
inner sep=0pt,
minimum width=\layerwidth-\pgflinewidth,
minimum height=\layerheight-\pgflinewidth,
rounded corners=10pt,
line width=2pt
](border){};
\node[pagenumber]at (border.south){\thepage};
\end{tikzpicture}%
}
]{border.even}
\begin{document}
\section{Test Section One}
\lipsum[1-3]
\section{Test Section Two}
\lipsum[1-3]
\section{Test Section Three}
\lipsum[1-3]
\section{Test Section Four}
\lipsum[1-5]
\end{document}
Run twice to get
As in the example above it is possible to define different layers for even an odd pages. For a twosided article
\documentclass[twoside]{article}
the example above results in
