On Monday 03 October 2005 07:45 pm, Idris Samawi Hamid wrote:

...

I should explain that I use Context for non-fiction but plain pdftex for novels etc.

I must ask: Why is that? -)

Idris

============================ Professor Idris Samawi Hamid Department of Philosophy Colorado State University Fort Collins, CO 80523

For novels I find plain plus eplain easier to manipulate. I write my own TOC macros a la eplain. My chapter heads often have odd designs. All this can be done in Context with effort but just hacking it out in plain requires (for me) less effort, less research and fewer inquiries on mailing lists. For example for a recent TOC I wanted to put the Part items in bold face, with the title and page number separator a "|", but the chapters within each part in triple columns, using an em dash for a separator (there are 150+ numbered chapters!) I know how to do his in plain: \def\tocpartentry#1#2#3{\singlecolumn \vskip 15pt\line{\hskip 1.25in\bf \ #1 \ | \ #3\ \hfil \rm} \triplecolumns}% and \def\tocchapterentry#1#2#3{l\line{#1\ #2 --- #3\hfil \rm}}% There were three epilogues and I handled them in yet a third way. All of this can be done in Context I am sure. But it would take me a bit of research to do it in Context. OTOH for a conventional non-fiction book with illustrations, numbered sections, sidebars and so on Context has the tools to do it easily. The philosophy of eplain is to provide the building blocks but allow you to build the walls any way you want. Context does more for you, but there is more to "undo" when you have a strange variation. This is of course dictated in large part by my own skill set (or lack thereof). I have been working in plain for several years. John Culleton Books with answers to marketing and publishing questions: http://wexfordpress.com/tex/shortlist.pdf Book coaches, consultants and packagers: http://wexfordpress.com/tex/packagers.pdf