On 7/7/2014 8:51 PM, Yuri Teixeira wrote:

Hello,
I'm sorry this probably is a dumb question but I'm really lost in my
searches. I'm new to context/tex and have been learning/finding
information in the wiki at the contextgarden.net

<http://contextgarden.net> for the past couple of weeks. Some of

information there don't seem up to date but nothing unusual in an
unofficial wiki. For some reason (isp/dns/something) the

contextgarden.net <http://contextgarden.net> has been unavailiable to me

since yesterday even though some verification sites show it up and some

show it down (http://www..isitdownrightnow.com

<http://www.isitdownrightnow.com> been one of the later). That got me
wondering if there are easy official docs. I've seen the pdfs at

pragma-ade.com <http://pragma-ade.com> but the most general ones I tried

are from 1999 (ms-cb-en.pdf) and 2001 (cont-eni.pdf). Are these up to
date with the current developments? I belive they are compatible but
having seen examples of changes in the wiki I a little unsure.
Furthermore, the parameter behavior description in the command reference
seem a bit... dry. So here's my plea for a little bit more love for the
documentation.
In any way, thank you very much for an awesome language, I'm glad I
researched thoroughly before jumping into latex.

When mechanisms in context are extended, we try to remain downward compatible, at least in functionality. Therefore the old manuals are normally okay (no need to fake updates with newer dates.) There are however a few core mechanisms that are obsolete and/or changed and those are input encodings (now always utf) and fonts (now always unicode - or mapped to unicode - using features cf open type and more).

In practice input encodings and fonts have always been complex: what input encoding to choose and what font encoding to use, then running into availability of fonts, differences per language, differences per user. A bit of installation nightmare and user support as soon as it became less standard. By the time that had become easier (tex gyre and lm project) the move to opentype was made so most of the documentation had become somewhat obsolete.

So, when using old manuals, keep in mind that encodings, regimes and fonts are less hassle now and no special commands are needed to use and combine these properties.

In addition some mechanisms were extended and improved in mkiv (sectioning and so) which means that there are additional ways to configure them.

That leaves mechanisms that are completely redone. One example is bibliographies, but users who need them will have no real problems adapting and these come with new manuals.

Stick to mkiv. It's the one where the action takes place.

Hans

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