On Sun, 27 Feb 2005 20:26:34 +0100, h h extern
no, you uncovered a secret: these backgrounds are only supported on one column mode and column sets; i did a quick hackery test and it is possible to add support for multi-columns, but the complication is that it currently interferes with mixed one/multi columns (it only takes a few lines of code, but then you have half a solution.
i need to separate the multi column sub-output routine first as well as to add an otr state tracking system in order to get this working robustly; remind in half a year or so
ntw, if you want just backgrounds behind columns:
\setupcolors[state=start]
\setupcolumns[option=background,background=color,backgroundcolor=red]
\starttext
\chapter{Chapter TEST}
\input tufte
\startcolumns \section{tufte.tex} \input tufte \section{knuth.tex} \input knuth \stopcolumns
\input tufte
\stoptext
Thank you. Q.