Thanks for the pointer to crazyinsomniac's xbm thingy. I don't yet know if it will help my particular case, but...

The thing I am making is a Tablet Weaving design tool that shows a visual representation of the outcome that you can edit on the fly. It has something of the spreadsheet character. Each cell will be on the order of eight to ten pixels wide at minimum by anywhere from one to six or more times that height. I'm inclined toward the multiple canvas trick. I can easily pack() them making geometry management relatively simple.

Given the very graphic nature of the beast, Canvas seems to be an obvious choice. I'm not sure which widget would be "better". I'm kind of fixated on Tk for now, or at least I want to provide that option.

yours,
Michael