[NTG-context] Re: New user here!

Thanks Taco. I'm sure I'll get the hang of the new tabular commands eventually - though reproducing the example on pp. 274-5 of the Not so Short Introduction doesn't quite work (the second column is shifted a line down from the first column - but I guess there's something I should have set up initially to get it to work). It's not the definition of \yogh that would cause me any difficulty, but the fact that I can't say: \defʒ This works in plain (Xe)TeX after I've reassigned the \catcode of \char"0292 to \active, but ConTexT grumbles that I must have a backslash after \def, and when I try that the compilation still fails. No matter - I'll figure it out eventually! Best wishes John *🇪🇺 * Слава Україні! * 🇺🇦* http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail Virus-free.www.avg.com http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail <#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2> On Mon, 16 Jun 2025 at 14:54, Taco Hoekwater wrote:

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On 16 Jun 2025, at 15:06, John Was wrote:

Thanks - it's at least useful to know what I needn't waste my time on!

I see that I shall also have to master ConTexT's commands for tables, though I hope they are customizable (as per my training at OUP a lifetime ago, I like a half-point rule at the beginning and end but a quarter-point rule between headings and the data). Plain (Xe)TeX's \halign command works only for that generally useless item, a table with only one column - if you try add an extra column the setting halts and one is presented with the false information that there is more than one instance of # between instances of & in the setup of the table. They lie!

This should help:

https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Tables/Natural_tables_with_TABLE#Rules

...

I'm disappointed that I can't use \catcode = \active to do anything useful - I do often use that, particularly to fetch a character not in the typeface. For example, if I want a yogh and am obliged to use a particular typeface (because of house style for a journal or book series) that doesn't have the character, I would give in the file header in XeTeX:

\catcode"0292=\active \defʒ{\yogh}

(I have \yogh defined as 'put \char"0292 here, grouped within {}, from Junicode'.) That allows me to keep the character ʒ in the input file and leave it to TeX to carry out the appropriate instruction whenever it encounters it.

This is prohibited in ConTexT, I find, but I'll have to learn a new way of achieving the same thing.

\yogh is not predefined in ConTeXt. The \catcode change itself is fine, but you will have to come up with a definition for \yogh. Something like

\def\yogh{{\switchtobodyfont[dejavu]\char"0292 }}

Best wishes, Taco

— Taco Hoekwater E: taco@bittext.nl genderfluid (all pronouns)

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