  We use the variational matrix-product ansatz to study elementary excitations
in the S=1/2 ladder with additional diagonal coupling, equivalent to a single
S=1/2 chain with alternating exchange and next-nearest neighbor interaction. In
absence of alternation the elementary excitation consists of two free S=1/2
particles ("spinons") which are solitons in the dimer order. When the
nearest-neighbor exchange alternates, the "spinons" are confined into one S=1
excitation being a soliton in the generalized string order. Variational results
are found to be in a qualitative agreement with the exact diagonalization data
for 24 spins. We argue that such an approach gives a reasonably good
description in a wide range of the model parameters.
