On Wed, 21 Oct 2009, Bryant Eastham wrote:
1. Is Mark IV real? I am only somewhat joking here - after spending hours searching for reasonable documentation on even the most trivial options, I am left wondering whether this is something I want to use...
MKIV is still a moving target. For example, the change is the structure code (headings, pagenumbers, lists, etc) started only in April. There are still some things that are not done yet. Documentation will only make sense once the interface is stable. For structure code, the interface is not fixed yet, so the only documentation is the examples in the source file. Parts that are stable (fonts, typescripts) are documented in the new manual (see wiki). The interface for most other things has not changed, so the MKII interface works.
2. ConTeXt looks great. But what is current? Seriously, I like the look and the support (particularly Unicode). But going over documentation I cannot make heads or tails of what to do. Mark II? Mark IV? TeTeX? LuaTeX? If I really want to use this, what should I use?
Use MKII. It is stable and well documented. Unless there is some feature of MKIV that you definitely need. MKII had some support for unicode and oriental languages.
3. Having answered #2, where in the world is a reference manual!!! I mean one that actually *documents the options*.
See http://www.pragma-ade.com/overview.htm Most of MKII options are documented in ConTeXt the manual. Parts of MKIV are documented in mk.pdf
4. Having answered #3, are there any current examples that actually work? The snippets from the mailing are great, but they are just snippets. That doesn't help me.
The wiki: http://www.contextgarden.net
Now, to resolve my immediate issue, and just because I will not be able to sleep well until I figure this out (yes, I am fixated on this).
A partial solution (I don't know how to set the separator between chapter number and page number) Following Alan's email: % missing setups to: % 1. frontmatter pagenumbering conversion=romannumerals \setupuserpagenumber[way=byblock] \definestructureconversionset[frontpart:pagenumber][][romannumerals] \definestructureconversionset[bodypart:pagenumber] [][numbers] \setupuserpagenumber[numberconversionset=pagenumber] % 2. bodymatter pagenumbering "chapter-page" % 3. reset pagenumber for each chapter % I don't know how to set the - between chapter and page number \setupuserpagenumber [way=bychapter, prefix=yes, prefixset=chapter, prefixsegments=2:2, ] % 4. add blank pages if necessary to start chapters on odd pages. % 5. Page number in top margin \setuppagenumbering[location={header,margin},alternative=doublesided] \starttext \startfrontmatter \completecontent[criterium=all] \stopfrontmatter \startbodymatter \dorecurse{4} {\chapter{Chapter} \dorecurse{8} {\section{Section} \input knuth \endgraf}} \stopbodymatter \stoptext Aditya