On 11/26/05, Taco Hoekwater wrote:

VnPenguin wrote:

...

Just tried to compile: $ texexec --pdf ma-cb-en

and I got:

[skip]

Hi,

Please read the beginning of the "mfont.tex from manuals" thread (http://archive.contextgarden.net). It is the exact same error David Arnold had.

Thanks, it's ok. But I have to add: \usemodule[abr-01] into ma-cb-abbreviations.tex in order to fix error \ASCII non defined. Regards, -- http://vnoss.org Vietnamese Open Source Software Community

On 11/28/05, Hans Hagen wrote:

...

Thanks, it's ok. But I have to add:

\usemodule[abr-01]

into ma-cb-abbreviations.tex in order to fix error \ASCII non defined.

no, you need a new version of context -)

Release 2005.11.24 is not ok for this ? Thank you, -- http://vnoss.org Vietnamese Open Source Software Community

Hans, Taco, et al, It's time for me to wax philosophic on the beginner's manual. I've read a few posts to this list, and tried to think back to my experience, and looked at my troubles now, but I haven't reread the beginner's manual as yet. That I will do in the upcoming weeks. My first thought is this: In my opinion, the beginner's manual remains one of very best sources for Context. My second thought is the fact that this is a beginner's manual in every sense of the word. That is, you need to be very careful with what goes into the manual. Truly, a guiding principle should be: What does a beginner need to see? Think of a user who is beginning with a blank slate, or alternatively, think of a user who's been gone for a while (I've qualified for this category on several occasions and revisiting the beginner's manual has always been helpful). What does this user need to see? And what does this user need to be protected from? First and foremost, you've got to make sure that users on different platforms have a good install of Context. This could be a set of appendices: Appendix A -- Installation on Windows, Appendix B -- Installation on Linux, Appendix C -- Installation on Mac OS. Again, users could be very helpful in testing these instructions. This is a "beginner's manual," so it would be helpful if these instructions were of the "Quick Start" variety, as involved instructions will only serve to frustrate the beginner. Of course, these instructions should include a "Hello, World!" example in order to test for a valid installation. Whenever I teach a new concept in mathematics, I'm faced with a choice of two directions. I can start with the concept, then give examples. Or I can do some examples, then discuss the abstraction at a higher level. I am constantly forgetting that the second method is usually a better choice for my students. For example, suppose that I want to show that any multiple of an eigenvector is again an eigenvector of a given matrix. I can first prove it in the abstract (A (cx)=c(Ax)=c(lx)=l(cx)), then give examples. Alternatively, I can put a little 2x2 matrix on the board, find the eigenvectors, then demonstrate that multiples of the eigenvectors are again eigenvectors. Once the students have the idea, then I can put up the abstraction of the general proof. A reference manual is an example of the first method, a beginner's manual should follow the second method. It's easier, in my opinion, to learn by example, to learn by doing. Topics should be included or excluded based on a guiding principle: What does a beginner need to know to get started? It will be tempting to include using a different font, or talk about interactive documents, etc, but these are advanced topics, which belong in separate manuals where space and time will do them justice. Indeed, what is truly needed is a separate beginner's manual on interactive documents. Layout really threw me for a loss the first time (and times thereafter) I went through the beginner's manual. I was confronted with terms (cutspace, backspace) that might be familiar to typographers, but I had no clue what they meant. I can remember spending countless hours tweaking layout parameters, printing, then measuring with a ruler, only to scratch my head when I did not get predicted results. To this day, I am still not completely sure what I am doing in this area. I think what is needed in the beginner's manual is an image similar to Patrick's \ShowLayout result from his t- layout module. Secondly, it would be time well spent to build an improved \showframe command. Perhaps this even exists, but I am not aware of it. It needs to provide accurate measurements, even when printed and the rulers come out. Perhaps if a user included the \showframe command, a trigger of some sort could change the size of the paper that the document is typeset on, with an outline of the actual paper size, and the edges, margins, headers, etc, all framed and in view, even if they lie outside the actual paper outline. List users can help to make sure that the manual is free of errors. If something doesn't work, this is much more upsetting to a beginner than a seasoned user. A seasoned user might say "oh, that's just a typo, do this," but a beginner has an entirely different reaction on an entirely different emotional level. Troubleshooting should get some time in the beginner's manual. People coming from a Word environment are not going to understand what is going on when a compilation halts. Seasoned TeX users know about typing h, x, s, e, etc, but people who've never seen TeX before are going to freak out. So, some time should be spent on troubleshooting. Or, a conscious decision has to be made: Will we assume that all beginners in Context have TeX experience? So, I advise, stick to the basics. Get the user started. Ask yourself what a user needs to write a good paper: Title page, abstract, toc, index, bibliography, section headers, headers and footers, footnotes, labels and references, mathematics (somewhat weak in the current manual), tables, figures (including the idea of floats which bothers users coming from Word no end), lists, layout, alignment, quotations, formating text (bold, italic, slant, verbatim, etc), defining new environments for examples, definitions, theorems, etc., and some small macro capability. Finally, you should certainly provide pointers to advanced documents where users can continue their growth. I hope this helps. David

VnPenguin wrote:

Hi Hans et al,

Just tried to compile "ma-cb-en" with T5. Here are some remarks:

1. \def\TitlePage#1#2#3 in file "ma-cb-style.tex" does not work with T5. Because of

\definedfont[SansBold at 40pt]

I lossed so many vietnamese accented characters. I have to change to

\switchtobodyfont[40pt]\bf

in order to make T5 work. I think the file "ma-cb-style.tex" needs more attention for multi-lang support.

sure, the only thing i did so far is split and reorganize; at your place, it runs with: \startnotmode[atpragma] \usetypescriptfile[type-buy] \usetypescript[palatino][ec] \setupbodyfont[palatino,10pt] \stopnotmode so for vietnamese you need another encoding. (i added language modes, so we can now do for vietnamese): \startmode[*vn] \enableregime[utf] \setupencoding[default=t5] \stopmode \startnotmode[atpragma] \usetypescriptfile[type-buy] \usetypescript[palatino][\defaultencoding] \setupbodyfont[palatino,10pt] \stopnotmode (in ma-cb-style.tex) can you test that?

2. In file "ma-cb-en-document.tex" : ... \CONTEXT\ expects a plain \ASCII\ input file. Of course you can use any texteditor or wordprocessor you want, but you should not forget that \CONTEXT\ can only read \ASCII\ input. Most texteditors or wordprocessors can export your file as plain \ASCII. ... What do you think about a plain text input file in UTF-8 charset ? It's not ASCII by definition, but the current ConTeXt (pdfetex) can work with it no problem. All my works with ConTeXt are prepared in UTF-8 input file.

sure, no problem for the vn version Hans

Hans Hagen wrote:

Vit Zyka wrote:

...

I got unexpected positive responce to idea of beginners manual translation on Saturday's Czech/Slovak TUG meeting. The small working group of 5 people was establish there. Nobody but me has context experience now, but I think it is not a serious drawback for translating.

i don't know if david antos was present, but he knows his way around context and can be of help (given that he has time)

He was not. Anybody's help will be welcomed, especially David... Vit

Hi, The SVN repository is here: svn://ctx.pragma-ade.nl/manuals but that only works when you have subversion client installed. In the mean time or for people that cannot get subversion running at all: I have an automatic checkout script that gets called every hour, and the working directory of that is online as: http://context.aanhet.net/svn/ So if you do not mind a lag of 30min \pm 30, you can download/browse that from your normal internet browser. Cheers, Taco Mari Voipio wrote:

Hans Hagen wrote:

...

I 'reorganized' (split) the beginners manual and put it in svn, so anyone who is willing to translate can check out a copy.

OK, I'm either out of the loop (had off-the-Internet holiday) or just a dummy Windows user, but the above doesn't really parse here so cannot even get started...

I've used CVS, but SVN is totally new for me (although I've seen it mentioned here once or twice) - so if anyone has recommendations for what client/program to use in Windows (2000/XP) and Mac OS 10.4, I'd be very interested. And a URL or other directions towards the SVN server (or whatever it is) would be appreciated; my work computer isn't very cooperative with online pdf pages, so I've got real problems with finding anything on Pragma website (*never* install newer Acrobat Reader on a Windows that already has an older full Acrobat...).

Feeling really stupid, but grateful for any help

Mari _______________________________________________ ntg-context mailing list ntg-context@ntg.nl http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context

Mari Voipio wrote:

Hans Hagen wrote:

...

I 'reorganized' (split) the beginners manual and put it in svn, so anyone who is willing to translate can check out a copy.

OK, I'm either out of the loop (had off-the-Internet holiday) or just a dummy Windows user, but the above doesn't really parse here so cannot even get started...

I've used CVS, but SVN is totally new for me (although I've seen it mentioned here once or twice) - so if anyone has recommendations for what client/program to use in Windows (2000/XP) and Mac OS 10.4, I'd be very interested. And a URL or other directions towards the SVN server (or whatever it is) would be appreciated; my work computer isn't very cooperative with online pdf pages, so I've got real problems with finding anything on Pragma website (*never* install newer Acrobat Reader on a Windows that already has an older full Acrobat...).

for windows ... google for "tortoise svn" Hans