Context, LaTeX, or an XML for academic writing?
Dear NTG-context denizens, today I went to work to make up my mind about whether it would be a good idea to go ahead and produce my BSc. Thesis with ConTeXt. It's clear, I'm very much attracted to it's approach, I do like the syntax and the focus on PDF output (I never used DVI before) et cetera pp. This is my first post to the list and I'm happy that CB just formulated my main requirements. The hard contraints are certainly 2, 3 and 5. I've seen Hrabans' ciee juxtaposition of ConTeXt and LaTeX, and after searching the list I am not sure whether going for a KOMA class wouldn't be better considering that I definitely don't have time develop my own ConTeXt environment this time. I've also seen the MS thesis of Han The Thanh. It's good. But I would need something more suited for natural sciences that accomodates plenty of figures and references. Also I would like to "cloak" my thesis by avoiding Computer Modern. Do ready-made "academic templates" by one of you experts exist - or do you dissuade me from "just using" ConTeXt for for writing academic literature? - Tobias
On Saturday 14 May 2005 12:45 pm, Tobias Wolf wrote:
Dear NTG-context denizens,
today I went to work to make up my mind about whether it would be a good idea to go ahead and produce my BSc. Thesis with ConTeXt. It's clear, I'm very much attracted to it's approach, I do like the syntax and the focus on PDF output (I never used DVI before) et cetera pp.
AFAIK pdflatex will also bypass the dvi to ps to pdf maypole dance. -- John Culleton
Hello, Tobias Wolf wrote:
today I went to work to make up my mind about whether it would be a good idea to go ahead and produce my BSc. Thesis with ConTeXt. It's clear, I'm very much attracted to it's approach, I do like the syntax and the focus on PDF output (I never used DVI before) et cetera pp.
As John already pointed out: Using "pdflatex" this is also possible with LaTeX (well, both use PDFTeX behind the scenes).
I've seen Hrabans' ciee juxtaposition of ConTeXt and LaTeX, and after searching the list I am not sure whether going for a KOMA class wouldn't be better considering that I definitely don't have time develop my own ConTeXt environment this time.
Well, the question is how much you want to change; I think one can (in both cases) live with the defaults provided (plus some minor changes). The defaults in LaTeX are arguably better, ConTeXt on the other hand allows changes much easier. I have also the feeling that ConTeXt's figure placement is better - at least I had so far not as much problems as with LaTeX. (In LaTeX frequently all figures are collected at the very end of the document -- or in between when one does a \clearpage.)
I've also seen the MS thesis of Han The Thanh. It's good. But I would need something more suited for natural sciences that accomodates plenty of figures and references. Also I would like to "cloak" my thesis by avoiding Computer Modern. Do ready-made "academic templates" by one of you experts exist - or do you dissuade me from "just using" ConTeXt for for writing academic literature?
One reason to favour LaTeX is that many publishing houses are accepting LaTeX submission, while for ConTeXt less so. This is maybe less a problem for BSc/MSc theses, but for PhD theses, where one frequently includes some (own, published) papers, this means extra work. Having said that, I have written my diploma (~ MSc) thesis in physics using ConTeXt and I do plan to do so for my PhD as well. I can send you the environment I used;¹ the layout could probably done better, but I think (hope) that it looks quite ok; I used Latin Modern/Computer Modern at 12pt on A4. (For my PhD theses I'll use probably use octavo/A5.) Changing the used font is easy, but one has to find one which contains all characters needed (incl. maths symbols, small caps [if needed], AMS Math symbols [or the font should fit to those AMS fonts], etc.) Tobias ¹ http://www.physik.fu-berlin.de/~tburnus/thesis/thesis.pdf, 5.6 MiB
As John already pointed out: Using "pdflatex" this is also possible with LaTeX (well, both use PDFTeX behind the scenes).
That was what I meant of course. I always avoided DVI by using PdfTeX.
Well, the question is how much you want to change; I think one can (in both cases) live with the defaults provided (plus some minor changes). The defaults in LaTeX are arguably better, ConTeXt on the other hand allows changes much easier. I have also the feeling that ConTeXt's figure placement is better - at least I had so far not as much problems as with LaTeX. (In LaTeX frequently all figures are collected at the very end of the document -- or in between when one does a \clearpage.)
Exactly these were my considerations. The topic this time forces me to include many graphics and placement with LaTeX often depends on either luck or browsing through many obscure packages that try to alleviate the situation. On the other hand does the ConTeXt default look rather "bare-bones" and I'm afraid that I'll lose myself in micro- and macro-tweaking.
One reason to favour LaTeX is that many publishing houses are accepting LaTeX submission, while for ConTeXt less so. This is maybe less a problem for BSc/MSc theses, but for PhD theses, where one frequently includes some (own, published) papers, this means extra work. Having said that, I have written my diploma (~ MSc) thesis in physics using ConTeXt and I do plan to do so for my PhD as well.
That will be less of an issue for me (The paper that will be published based also on my findings is formatted in Word(TM)).
I can send you the environment I used;¹ the layout could probably done better, but I think (hope) that it looks quite ok; I used Latin Modern/Computer Modern at 12pt on A4. (For my PhD theses I'll use probably use octavo/A5.)
It looks quite nice. At first the baselines seemed a bit fuzzy in acroread but that was an illusion I guess. I you sent me your thing to have a peek at that would surely be very instructive. Go ahead, please! - Tobias
Hi Tobias, here is my recommendation: Ask somebody in your field who is really good at TeX for the LaTeX sources of his/her thesis, and use them as templates. Spend as little time as possible thinking about layout and as much as you can about content. You only will have the energy to strive for excellence in layout after you have had the satisfaction of creating content worthy of it. There are also more worldly considerations: To preserve content, it helps if the content is written in a well-supported, rarely changing format. For instance, the arxiv preprint server currently accepts among TeX dialects only TeX/LaTeX/AMSTeX/AMSLaTeX but not ConTeXt (you could submit PDF, though). Also, if you ever write a joint paper, chances are high that you'll use LaTeX. Even though I have been using ConTeXt now for over a year for my personal projects, I am almost forced to use LaTeX for collaboration and journal publication. Hope that helps, Matthias On May 14, 2005, at 7:45 AM, Tobias Wolf wrote:
Dear NTG-context denizens,
today I went to work to make up my mind about whether it would be a good idea to go ahead and produce my BSc. Thesis with ConTeXt. It's clear, I'm very much attracted to it's approach, I do like the syntax and the focus on PDF output (I never used DVI before) et cetera pp. This is my first post to the list and I'm happy that CB just formulated my main requirements. The hard contraints are certainly 2, 3 and 5. I've seen Hrabans' ciee juxtaposition of ConTeXt and LaTeX, and after searching the list I am not sure whether going for a KOMA class wouldn't be better considering that I definitely don't have time develop my own ConTeXt environment this time.
I've also seen the MS thesis of Han The Thanh. It's good. But I would need something more suited for natural sciences that accomodates plenty of figures and references. Also I would like to "cloak" my thesis by avoiding Computer Modern.
Do ready-made "academic templates" by one of you experts exist - or do you dissuade me from "just using" ConTeXt for for writing academic literature?
- Tobias _______________________________________________ ntg-context mailing list ntg-context@ntg.nl http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
participants (4)
-
John R. Culleton -
Matthias Weber -
Tobias Burnus -
Tobias Wolf