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On 20/07/12 17:41, Thomas A. Schmitz wrote:
Just a few comments on this helpful mail:
Thank you very much for your reply, Thomas.
On 07/19/2012 12:57 PM, MANUEL GONZALEZ SUAREZ wrote:
I'm not a classical philologist, but the way ConTeXt works is much clearer than ledmac to me (although I have only tested ledmac for a couple of days).
I haven't looked at ledmac too closely, and of course I'm a huge fan of ConTeXt; nevertheless, we shouldn't promise too much: for the time being, ledmac provides a pretty good working environment which you can just use; ConTeXt offers a much better overall syntax and programming interface, but right now, it's more of a DIY experience when it comes to critical editions. There is no ready drop-in replacement for ledmac
I must admit that I didn't get ledmac to do some of the documented tricks. I haven't tried much, but some code didn't work.
But there are two features from ledmac that aren't available in ConTeXt (or at least I don't know how to achieve them):
-ConTeXt numbers all linenotes that come from the same line and there seems to be no way to limit number in the apparatus to only the first linenote from that line.
This is something that can be fixed, I assume. The best you could do: make a small example file, explain what output you expect and what you get, and ask Hans nicely if he can implement this. Chances are he'll reply "on a rainy Sunday afternoon, maybe," and you'll have to give him a couple of weeks and gently remind him. He (or the Wolfgang) will be willing and helpful, but of course time is a finite resource. So: the better and clearer and shorter your example, the more polite your request, the better your chances to see this implemented.
My minimal example is this: \definelinenote[lnote] \setuplinenote[lnote][rule=off,paragraph=yes,numbercommand=,inbetween=\qquad] \setupdescriptions[lnote][display=yes,location=serried,distance=1em] \starttext \startlinenumbering This\lnote{That} is\lnote{was} imposible\lnote{possible}. \stoplinenumbering \stoptext which gives as result something like: 1 This 1 was 1 impossible And the output I would like to have is: 1 This was impossible I mean, what it would be extremely useful to have is an option to avoid that the line number and the space after (distance from \setupdescriptions) could be disabled after the first linenote from that same line.
-From the way linenotes are implemented, linenotes mark a point in the body text, but not a text passage, so it seems to be impossible to refer to a passage that is typeset in different lines (such as 2-3).
This may be a bit more difficult, because it involves thinking about proper input syntax. How do you want to mark this passage? If you can come up with clean and unequivocal syntax and demonstrate it in an example, your chances aren't too bad. However, I mean really clean syntax, not just a kludge to give you the output you want. Ideally, have a look at the TEI syntax. IMO, this is the best way to go; I don't think TeX is a good input format for critical editions. If you can come up with a good mapping TEI --> ConTeXt --> output, that would facilitate things.
A clear syntax might be not so easy not being a philologist at all (classical or not). As far as I understand, ledmac syntax should be left aside. There was a syntax proposal from Idris Hamid for this at section 4.2 http://meeting.contextgarden.net/2007/share/idris/cr-apparatus.pdf. Isn't this syntax right? But after just consulting the TEI Guidelines on critical apparatus, I must admit that I would need more experience typesetting critical editions to provide a meaningful example. Consider that even TEI has a working group on critical apparatus to improve the TEI syntax and possibilities.
Just my personal opinions; I'm not a spokesperson for ConTeXt in any way!
I know these are your personal opinions. Sorry for not being able to provide a second example and many thanks for your help, Pablo -- http://www.ousia.tk