Dnia Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 07:31:32AM +0200, Peter Münster napisał(a):

On Wed, Oct 22 2008, Marcin Borkowski wrote:

...

Well, my heart is breaking when I type this, but my beloved emacs;) has rather poor ConTeXt support... I use Emacs 22 with AUCTeX 11.84. Well, although it *works*, it is by no means convenient - at least not that convenient as an emacs should be;).

Hello Marcin,

What are the problems with emacs?

Here is the (unordered) list of what I remember at the moment. * It almost never knows when to launch "View"; it almost always offers me to "ConTeXt" the file. * (This is probably related to the previous one.) When finished compilation, it says "ConTeXt: problems after {1} page." or something like this. * When finding files, it offers me to find not only the .tex file, but also all the .tui, .tuo stuff etc. by default, which is rather inconvenient. * It has no idea about most of ConTeXt commands, e.g., it tries to insert {} after ConTeXt commands put by C-c C-m. * Unlike when editing LaTeX files, it does not insert an \item when doing C-c C-e itemize. I use itemizations a lot and this is a bit annoying, especially that I got used to its behaior when doing LaTeX. Also, having C-c C-j asking about the (optional) label all the time is also tiring, I would prefer to be asked for it only with C-u C-c C-j. * Only recently I discovered the --arrange parameter for texexec, and the fact that AUCTeX does not know about it. * By default, being in dvi or pdf mode doesn't matter: you always end up with a pdf file. This is fine when you have a fast computer, but on low-end, older ones (like mine;)) xdvi is *a lot* faster than xpdf. I use the emacs & AUCTeX shipped with ubuntu 8.04. It seems that emacs comes preconfigured in this system in a rather stupid way, e.g., transient-mark-mode is on by default, which is not what I was used to. A skim through the initialization files shows, however, that the ubuntu people messed with almost everything but ConTeXt support, so this seems to be a general AUCTeX issue. I know that these are not *serious* problems; but the UX is poor with them... I plan to learn emacs lisp a bit in my spare time (though I almost forgot what "spare time" means;P), but I certainly won't do any serious hacking there.

Cheers, Peter

-- http://pmrb.free.fr/contact/

Greets -- Marcin Borkowski (http://mbork.pl) - Is it a Perl program or a Perl script? - Well, a script is what you give the actors. A program is what you give the audience. (Larry Wall)

On Wed, Oct 22 2008, Marcin Borkowski wrote:

...

What are the problems with emacs?

Here is the (unordered) list of what I remember at the moment.

* It almost never knows when to launch "View"; it almost always offers me to "ConTeXt" the file.

Hello Marcin, Right, this is a bug. I could make a bug report for that issue. I haven't done this before, because I don't really need this feature: - I open a ConTeXt file - then I begin with the View command to open an xpdf window - then I only need ConTeXt commands, that refresh automatically the xpdf window (C-c C-c return) Customization code for TeX-command-list: ("ConTeXt" "context --once --nonstopmode %t; xpdfcheck \"%s\" && xpdf -remote \"%s\" -reload" TeX-run-TeX nil (context-mode) :help "Run ConTeXt once") ("ConTeXt Full" "context --nonstopmode %t; xpdfcheck \"%s\" && xpdf -remote \"%s\" -reload" TeX-run-TeX nil (context-mode) :help "Run ConTeXt until completion") This is xpdfcheck.c : #include #include int main(int argc, char *argv[]) { Display *display; Atom remoteAtom; char remoteName[256]; if(argc != 2){ fprintf(stderr, "Usage: %s <remote-name>\n", argv[0]); return 1; } snprintf(remoteName, sizeof(remoteName), "xpdf_%s", argv[1]); if(!(display = XOpenDisplay(NULL))) return 1; remoteAtom = XInternAtom(display, remoteName, False); return !XGetSelectionOwner(display, remoteAtom); }

* (This is probably related to the previous one.) When finished compilation, it says "ConTeXt: problems after {1} page." or something like this.

Indeed, this should be mentioned in the bug report.

* When finding files, it offers me to find not only the .tex file, but also all the .tui, .tuo stuff etc. by default, which is rather inconvenient.

(setq completion-ignored-extensions (append completion-ignored-extensions '(".tui" ".tuo")))

* It has no idea about most of ConTeXt commands, e.g., it tries to insert {} after ConTeXt commands put by C-c C-m.

Don't know about this one, I just type the command (often with the help of "dabbrev-expand").

* Unlike when editing LaTeX files, it does not insert an \item when doing C-c C-e itemize. I use itemizations a lot and this is a bit annoying, especially that I got used to its behaior when doing LaTeX. Also, having C-c C-j asking about the (optional) label all the time is also tiring, I would prefer to be asked for it only with C-u C-c C-j.

This is also annoying to me. I'll try to solve this, should no be too complicated I think (only problem I have, is no spare time, just like you...).

* By default, being in dvi or pdf mode doesn't matter: you always end up with a pdf file. This is fine when you have a fast computer, but on low-end, older ones (like mine;)) xdvi is *a lot* faster than xpdf.

Start xpdf just once, then use only "xpdf -reload". Besides, there are more and more issues with dvi, since it's no more supported by ConTeXt (clipping of figures, protrusion with TTF and perhaps a lot more). So I consider dvi as obsolete. Cheers, Peter -- http://pmrb.free.fr/contact/

On Fri, 24 Oct 2008, Marcin Borkowski wrote:

...

...

* Unlike when editing LaTeX files, it does not insert an \item when doing C-c C-e itemize. I use itemizations a lot and this is a bit annoying, especially that I got used to its behaior when doing LaTeX. Also, having C-c C-j asking about the (optional) label all the time is also tiring, I would prefer to be asked for it only with C-u C-c C-j.

This is also annoying to me. I'll try to solve this, should no be too complicated I think (only problem I have, is no spare time, just like you...).

That would be great, also from the point of view of learning elisp...

Hello, Here some code that you can attach to your .emacs file (just a copy from auctex with minor modifications): (require 'context-en) (defun ConTeXt-en-mode-initialization () "ConTeXt english interface specific initialization." (mapcar 'ConTeXt-add-environments (reverse ConTeXt-environment-list-en)) (TeX-add-symbols '("but" ConTeXt-arg-define-ref (TeX-arg-literal " ")) '("item" (TeX-arg-literal " ")) '("items" [ConTeXt-arg-setup] (TeX-arg-string "Comma separated list")) '("its" ConTeXt-arg-define-ref (TeX-arg-literal " ")) '("nop" (TeX-arg-literal " ")) '("ran" TeX-arg-string (TeX-arg-literal " ")) '("sub" ConTeXt-arg-define-ref (TeX-arg-literal " ")) '("sym" (TeX-arg-string "Symbol") (TeX-arg-literal " ")))) (defun ConTeXt-insert-environment (environment &optional extra) "Insert ENVIRONMENT, with optional argument EXTRA." (if (and (TeX-active-mark) (not (eq (mark) (point)))) (save-excursion (if (< (mark) (point)) (exchange-point-and-mark)) (insert TeX-esc (ConTeXt-environment-start-name) environment) (newline) (forward-line -1) (indent-according-to-mode) (if extra (insert extra)) (goto-char (mark)) (or (TeX-looking-at-backward "^[ \t]*") (newline)) (insert TeX-esc (ConTeXt-environment-stop-name) environment) (newline) (forward-line -1) (indent-according-to-mode) ;;(goto-char (point)) ) (or (TeX-looking-at-backward "^[ \t]*") (newline)) (insert TeX-esc (ConTeXt-environment-start-name) environment) (indent-according-to-mode) (if extra (insert extra)) (end-of-line) (newline-and-indent) (if (string-equal environment "itemize") (ConTeXt-insert-item)) (newline) (insert TeX-esc (ConTeXt-environment-stop-name) environment) (or (looking-at "[ \t]*$") (save-excursion (newline-and-indent))) (indent-according-to-mode) (end-of-line 0))) Cheers, Peter -- Contact information: http://pmrb.free.fr/contact/

On Thu, 5 Feb 2009, luigi scarso wrote:

Here some code that you can attach to your .emacs file (just a copy from auctex with minor modifications):

Peter, can you put it into wiki ?

Of course, just as everybody else can do it ;) But this is only a quick workaround. It would be nicer, if a clean solution could be integrated into auctex. Cheers, Peter -- Contact information: http://pmrb.free.fr/contact/

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- Von: ntg-context-bounces@ntg.nl [mailto:ntg-context-bounces@ntg.nl] Im Auftrag von Albrecht Kauffmann Gesendet: Mittwoch, 11. Februar 2009 16:35 An: mailing list for ConTeXt users Betreff: [NTG-context] local footnotes Hi all, please have a look to the following small table with its own footnotes: \setupoutput[pdftex] \starttext \startlocalfootnotes[n=0,conversion=characters] \placetable[here][]{} \placelegend { \tfx \setupTABLE [frame=off] \bTABLE \bTR\bTD 1990 \eTD\bTD 1991 \eTD\eTR \bTR\bTD 2.\footnote[foot:a]{Bezogen auf das Jahresmittel der Gesamtbevoelkerung} \eTD\bTD 19.0 \eTD\eTR \bTR\bTD 3.\footnote[foot:b]{Bezogen auf das Jahresmittel der Stadtbevoelkerung} \eTD\bTD 26.1 \eTD\eTR \eTABLE } {\placelocalfootnotes} \stoplocalfootnotes \stoptext The problem is that the footnotes are printed centered over a very small linewidth. To avoid this I can put every footnote text in a \hbox and then use \leftaligned{\placelocalfootnotes}}, but this is rather cumbersome. Has anyone a better solution? With many thanks in advance, Albrecht Hi, maybe like this: \setupoutput[pdftex] \starttext \startlocalfootnotes[n=0,conversion=characters] \placetable[here][]{} % \placelegend { \tfx \setupTABLE [frame=off] \bTABLE \bTR\bTD 1990 \eTD\bTD 1991 \eTD\eTR \bTR\bTD 2.\note[foot:a] \eTD\bTD 19.0 \eTD\eTR \bTR\bTD 3.\note[foot:b] \eTD\bTD 26.1 \eTD\eTR \eTABLE } \footnotetext[foot:a]{Bezogen auf das Jahresmittel der Gesamtbevoelkerung} \footnotetext[foot:b]{Bezogen auf das Jahresmittel der Stadtbevoelkerung} {\placelocalfootnotes} \stoplocalfootnotes \stoptext This gives footnotes at textwidth. Greetings Thomas ____________________________________________________________________________ _______ If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the Wiki! maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context webpage : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net archive : https://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/ wiki : http://contextgarden.net ____________________________________________________________________________ _______

Hi Albrecht, have you tried my proposal from 13.2.08? (http://archive.contextgarden.net/message/20090213.144419.432c095e.en.html) Maybe there is a better solution (?) but with my context installation and mkII it just works fine this way. Greetings Thomas \setupoutput[pdftex] \starttext \startlocalfootnotes[n=0,conversion=characters] \placetable[here][]{} % \placelegend { \tfx \setupTABLE [frame=off] \bTABLE \bTR\bTD 1990 \eTD\bTD 1991 \eTD\eTR \bTR\bTD 2.\note[foot:a] \eTD\bTD 19.0 \eTD\eTR \bTR\bTD 3.\note[foot:b] \eTD\bTD 26.1 \eTD\eTR \eTABLE } \footnotetext[foot:a]{Bezogen auf das Jahresmittel der Gesamtbevoelkerung} \footnotetext[foot:b]{Bezogen auf das Jahresmittel der Stadtbevoelkerung} {\placelocalfootnotes} \stoplocalfootnotes \stoptext -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- Von: ntg-context-bounces@ntg.nl [mailto:ntg-context-bounces@ntg.nl] Im Auftrag von Albrecht Kauffmann Gesendet: Freitag, 20. Februar 2009 09:18 An: mailing list for ConTeXt users Betreff: [NTG-context] local footnotes Hi all, please have a look to the following small table with its own footnotes: \setupoutput[pdftex] \starttext \startlocalfootnotes[n=0,conversion=characters] \placetable[here][]{} \placelegend { \tfx \setupTABLE [frame=off] \bTABLE \bTR\bTD 1990 \eTD\bTD 1991 \eTD\eTR \bTR\bTD 2.\footnote[foot:a]{Bezogen auf das Jahresmittel der Gesamtbevoelkerung} \eTD\bTD 19.0 \eTD\eTR \bTR\bTD 3.\footnote[foot:b]{Bezogen auf das Jahresmittel der Stadtbevoelkerung} \eTD\bTD 26.1 \eTD\eTR \eTABLE } {\placelocalfootnotes} \stoplocalfootnotes \stoptext The problem is that the footnotes are printed centered over a very small linewidth. To avoid this I can put every footnote text in a \hbox and then use \leftaligned{\placelocalfootnotes}}, but this is rather cumbersome. Has anyone a better solution? With many thanks in advance, Albrecht ____________________________________________________________________________ _______ If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the Wiki! maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context webpage : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net archive : https://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/ wiki : http://contextgarden.net ____________________________________________________________________________ _______

Hi all, I have a question regarding natural tables: Would it be able to set the rulethickness parameter for one (e.g. the right) side of selected columns separately (e.g. "rulethickness_right=2pt")? With many thanks for any hint, Albrecht

Mojca Miklavec wrote:

On Thu, Feb 26, 2009 at 20:28, Albrecht Kauffmann wrote:

...

Hi all,

I have a question regarding natural tables: Would it be able to set the rulethickness parameter for one (e.g. the right) side of selected columns separately (e.g. "rulethickness_right=2pt")?

Not directly. One can misuse an empty column or use metafun to draw the background separately.

See http://www.vim.org/sponsor/vote_results.php

If there was something similar for ConTeXt, I would vote for this feature immediately :)

hm, yet another thing then to track ... also, having such a system would disable your private hot-line-get-me-this-feature priveliges so you'd better think twice Hans ----------------------------------------------------------------- Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands tel: 038 477 53 69 | fax: 038 477 53 74 | www.pragma-ade.com | www.pragma-pod.nl -----------------------------------------------------------------

Wolfgang Schuster wrote:

On Sun, Mar 1, 2009 at 7:26 PM, Mojca Miklavec wrote:

...

...

I have a question regarding natural tables: Would it be able to set the rulethickness parameter for one (e.g. the right) side of selected columns separately (e.g. "rulethickness_right=2pt")? Not directly. One can misuse an empty column or use metafun to draw the background separately.

See http://www.vim.org/sponsor/vote_results.php

If there was something similar for ConTeXt, I would vote for this feature immediately :)

I would set offset parameters for all four margins before rule values but will us Hans ever grant this wish, it's been on the list from a lot of us for years.

indeed, but only because it has a speed penalty; maybe some day in mkiv only ----------------------------------------------------------------- Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands tel: 038 477 53 69 | fax: 038 477 53 74 | www.pragma-ade.com | www.pragma-pod.nl -----------------------------------------------------------------

On Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 2:25 AM, Wolfgang Schuster wrote:

Am 02.03.2009 um 11:41 schrieb Hans Hagen:

...

...

I would set offset parameters for all four margins before rule values but will us Hans ever grant this wish, it's been on the list from a lot of us for years.

indeed, but only because it has a speed penalty; maybe some day in mkiv only

Test file with 10.000 simple frames.

Unmodified \framed:

Output written on rul-test-5.pdf (1250 pages, 730030 bytes). Transcript written on rul-test-5.log. TeXExec | runtime: 10.023787

Modified \framed:

Output written on rul-test-5.pdf (1250 pages, 730030 bytes). Transcript written on rul-test-5.log. TeXExec | runtime: 10.524815

If you won't change the MkII version I can live with this but what speaks against a modification of the MkIV version. Don't say performance, MkIV is in many parts slower than MkII (e.g. buffers) but people who use don't care about this.

And here are the times for MkIV. Original core-rul: mkiv lua stats : runtime - 20.242 seconds, 1250 processed pages, 1250 shipped pages, 61.753 pages/second Modified core-rul: mkiv lua stats : runtime - 22.108 seconds, 1250 processed pages, 1250 shipped pages, 56.541 pages/second Wolfgang

On Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 7:26 PM, Hans Hagen wrote:

...

...

If you won't change the MkII version I can live with this but what speaks against a modification of the MkIV version. Don't say performance, MkIV is in many parts slower than MkII (e.g. buffers) but people who use don't care about this.

are you sure that it's slower with buffer? after all, we don't use files  for buffers in mkiv

Not really, I can't find my old test files and it can be a side effect of my test method. Wolfgang

On Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 7:29 PM, Hans Hagen wrote:

how did your test file + core-rul patch look (keep in mind that in official mkiv we use a different core-rul)

Take a look at my files. - rul-test-1 is used to show the different offset/rulethickness parameters - rul-test-5 calls just 10000 frames I adapted my code slightly to work with MkIV. Wolfgang

Mojca Miklavec schrieb:

On Thu, Feb 26, 2009 at 20:28, Albrecht Kauffmann wrote:

...

Hi all,

I have a question regarding natural tables: Would it be able to set the rulethickness parameter for one (e.g. the right) side of selected columns separately (e.g. "rulethickness_right=2pt")?

You may try the attachment. It's a bit suboptimal, but kind-of-works. I don't know why the borders are not finished properly on edges.

Just give the TABLE macro a chance to calculate the right total sizes.... :) \setupTABLE[c][1,6][width=2pt,offset=overlay,rulethickness=2pt] \setupTABLE[r][1,3,6][height=2pt,offset=overlay,rulethickness=2pt] Best wishes, Peter

Mojca

------------------------------------------------------------------------

___________________________________________________________________________________ If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the Wiki!

maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context webpage : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net archive : https://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/ wiki : http://contextgarden.net ___________________________________________________________________________________

Hi Aditya, I've tried compiling your thesis. It failed with; texmfstart texexec "thesis.tex" TeXExec | processing document 'thesis.tex' TeXExec | no ctx file found TeXExec | tex processing method: context TeXExec | TeX run 1 TeXExec | writing option file thesis.top TeXExec | using randomseed 104 TeXExec | tex engine: luatex TeXExec | tex format: cont-en (thesis.tex ConTeXt ver: 2008.09.16 15:06 MKIV fmt: 2008.9.16 int: english/english language : language en is active system : cont-new loaded (C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/cont-new.tex systems : beware: some patches loaded from cont-new.tex (C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/cont-new.mkiv lua : used config path - C:/context/tex/texmf/web2c/texmf.cnf lua : used cache path - C:/context/tex/texmf-cache/luatex-cache/context/2fea56f92e5267d7cc9662e4d5f52e1e ) (C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/cont-mtx.tex)) system : cont-old loaded (C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/cont-old.tex loading : Context Old Macros ) system : cont-fil loaded (C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/cont-fil.tex loading : Context File Synonyms ) system : cont-sys loaded (C:/context/tex/texmf-context/tex/context/user/cont-sys.tex (C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/type-tmf.tex) (C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/type-siz.tex) (C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/type-otf.tex)) bodyfont : 12pt rm is loaded specials : tex loaded system : thesis.top loaded (thesis.top specials : loading definition file tpd (C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/spec-tpd.tex specials : loading definition file fdf (C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/spec-fdf.tex (C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/spec-fdf.mkiv)) specials : fdf loaded (C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/spec-tpd.mkiv)) specials : fdf loaded ) (thesis.tuo) (thesis.tuo) systems : begin file thesis at line 2 systems : begin file env-thesis at line 4 (env-thesis.tex system : module abr-aditya not found system : module bib loaded (t-bib.tex publications : loading formatting style from bibl-apa (C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/bib/bibl-apa.tex) publications : loading database from thesis.bbl (thesis.bbl)) system : module ctags not found publications : loading formatting style from bibl-ssa (bibl-ssa.tex) (C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/type-tmf.tex) (C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/type-siz.tex) (C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/type-otf.tex) (C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/type-tmf.tex) (C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/type-siz.tex) (C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/type-otf.tex) (delicious.tex (C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/type-tmf.tex) (C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/type-siz.tex) (C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/type-otf.tex) (delicious.tex) (C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/type-tmf.tex) (C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/type-siz.tex) (C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/type-otf.tex) (delicious.tex)) system : module mathsets not found ! Undefined control sequence. <recently read> \definemathset l.377 \definemathset [EXP] [text={\doublestroke{E}}] ? I removed the following from env-thesis.tex; \definetypeface [mainface] [rm] [serif] [palatino] [default] [features=default] \definetypeface [mainface] [ss] [sans] [delicious] [default] [features=default, rscale=1.1] \definetypeface [mainface] [tt] [mono] [modern] [default] [features=default, rscale=1.1] \definetypeface [mainface] [mm] [math] [palatino] [default] [encoding=texnansi] %\definetypeface [mainface] [mm] [math] [euler] [euler] [encoding=texnansi, rscale=1.03] \setupbodyfont[mainface,12pt] Thanks Mohamed Aditya Mahajan wrote:

On Tue, 21 Oct 2008, Piotr wrote:

...

Hello,

I have spent some time with google in order to find an answer to the following questions. Unfortunatly, I was not satisfied with the answers, which I now hope to find here.

It is my plan not to use the MS Office suite for the production of my PhD thesis (in chemistry). I have used Miktex some years ago during my studies for some project reports, and I remember beeing quite satisfied with the results. My Master thesis, on the other hand, I wrote in word.. and although I remember not having too many difficulties, there were some nasty obstacles to be overcome. Obstacles which I simply do not want to risk having repeated a second time on a much bigger scale. I this mailing list I read several reports of people who either had written their thesis in Latex or ConTeXt. There was a mention of Latex beeing designed for mathematic purposes, while ConTeXt was said to be better suited for the intergration of graphics or larger/more complex layout changes.

1) Finding the right context For now I had quite some difficulties to find that proper Latex distribution - a problem that actually led me to the existence of ConTeXt. I am wondering which latex distribution I should choose in order to work with ConTeXt? I am running Windows Vista (64-bit). Or is there a ConTeXt stand alone package that will absolutely satisfy my me in my needs? In principle, all I need is

2) The right editor What is the preferred editor for ConTeXt? for such a project? Is there any loss in functionality when using Texniccenter with ConTeXt than with MikTex instead?

Depends on what functions you need. There are a few editors which have basic support for ConTeXt (compile document, view pdf, jump to error, etc.). Hans uses Scite and includes a context enabled scite in the windows distribution available on prama-ade.com. Irdis has written support for Notepad++. Vim and emacs have some basic support. I do not know what features texniccenter and winedit provide for context.

...

3) I have seen some thesis templates/examples in this mailinglist. Can anyone point me to additional sources regarding the creation of a PhD Thesis with ConTeXt?

Each institute has different requirements for phd thesis, so one template is not going to fit the bill. I did my thesis in context, and you can have a look at the sources and the output:

http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~adityam/publications/thesis/thesis.pdf http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~adityam/publications/thesis/thesis.tar.gz

The easier way to go about this will be to look at the formatting specifications of the thesis, and try to understand how to implement them in context one by one.

...

What is the advantage over Latex, what are the disadvantages? Is there a win-win distribution somewhere on the table?

Advantage: In most cases, others have written a style for what you want, so you don't have to create a style on your own.

Disadvantage: When you do have to create a style on your own, it can be difficult, even in packages which are supposed to be easy to configure

...

4) Has anyone used a typesetting suite like ContTeXt with CVS?

As others have said, the source files are simply text files. So you can use any version control that you want.

...

5) Is the ConTeXt reference system compatible with Endnote?

I have no experience with endnote. I have seen endnote to bibtex converters. If you can convert to bibtex, then using the references with context is relatively easy.

...

Is there any point to have latex installed, when context can do the trick?

As Mojca said, you may want to submit something to a journal which accepts latex files.

...

Or lets ask the devils advocate the other way around: What is the point of installing context, when latex could do the trick?

Again I agree with what Mojca said. If latex can do the job, use it. If you are happy with one of the defaul latex styles, do not use too many figures in your document, do not want text wrapping around figures, use latex.

...

Apart that I have to re-learn latex anyway.. what is better with Context?

Context has a more consistent interface to all the commands. This makes it easier to remember how to configure things.

Aditya ___________________________________________________________________________________ If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the Wiki!

maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context webpage : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net archive : https://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/ wiki : http://contextgarden.net ___________________________________________________________________________________

Steffen Wolfrum writes:

Am 22.10.2008 um 09:13 schrieb Stephen A. Tjemkes:

...

As all the experts have answered your question, let a non-expert join in.

The single frustrating element of context is the documentation. I use context now for many years (not on a daily basis though) for writing journal papers, posters, presentations etc. I think it is a great package. and the community is very active in helping solving problems. But documentation is scattered in differnt pdf files, in different places.

Either there are secret goodies that I don't know or you are just wrong!

You can have it all by using one adress (how can this be more comfortable with LaTeX?):

http://contextgarden.net

That's it.

Here you can get further to ...

- all manuals authored by PRAGMA: http://wiki.contextgarden.net/The_ConTeXt_Way -> http://www.pragma-ade.com/show-mag-1.htm - all docs written by Hans: http://wiki.contextgarden.net/This_Way - all doc written by users: http://wiki.contextgarden.net/My_Way - all the email ever written on this list: http://archive.contextgarden.net/splash/index.html - all the source ConTeXt is: http://source.contextgarden.net/

Think of contextgarden being the documentation and these above being chapters.

You only have to turn the pages by yourself ... is this asked too much?!

I am a happy context user for several years and have read all the documentation. But one thing I still find is that the documentation for a command (when it exists at all) can list 20 parameters, of which only a couple are explained. I often still have no idea what the others do. The meaning may be obvious to typography or tex professionals, but not to me unfortunately. If they have standard meanings perhaps they could be hyperlinked to an explanation page? -- John Devereux

On Wednesday 22 October 2008 09:13:20 Stephen A. Tjemkes wrote:

The single frustrating element of context is the documentation. I use context now for many years (not on a daily basis though) for writing journal papers, posters, presentations etc. I think it is a great package. and the community is very active in helping solving problems. But documentation is scattered in differnt pdf files, in  different places. I am aware that writing good documentation (complete and self consistent) is time consuming and on first sight not rewarding.

The context manuals need to be updated and completed. The wiki is a good (dynamic) source of information, but this lacks the structuring of written manuals. I believe that people are working on this, both trying to structure the wiki as well as to revise the manuals, unless I am mistaken. Good documentation is a lot of work, but I believe that it is (almost) as important as good programming... My question to the mailing list: is this task structured? Is this being managed by anyone? Perhaps this was discussed at the User Meeting last August. I would have liked to participate (had I been available)...

Hi, Aditya Mahajan wrote:

On Wed, 22 Oct 2008, Alan BRASLAU wrote:

...

My question to the mailing list: is this task structured? Is this being managed by anyone?

Unfortunately, not.

Aditya's reply sums it up pretty well. I just want to add a quick note. After at least half a dozen reiterations of this discussion (and it is indeed always exactly the same discussion), I have now reached the point where I no longer feel the slightest need to take any action any more. From where I stand, it seems that the unhappy people just want to complain about, but are not willing to help improve the existing documentation, and that the happy people just want to post pointers but fail to see a real need to improve anything. I myself would be much more willing to spend time on (managing|writing) the manual if there were any people showing an active interest in it. Best wishes, Taco

Hi, John Devereux wrote:

I myself am very interested in *reading* it - I was delighted to see the new fonts chapter and the new documention project in general. But I am not sure I can contribute much. I am much more of a "consumer" than a "producer", of accurate information. Partly due to lack of time, but also lack of knowledge :)

There actually is something you (and everybody else) can do: provide feedback on the current version of the manual(s). For example, it would be nice to know whether there are errors or unclarities in it (or omissions, but that actually does require knowledge). For an easy start, the two pdfs of the "typography" and "fonts" chapters are on-line: http://context.aanhet.net/svn/contextman/context-reference/en/co-typography.... http://context.aanhet.net/svn/contextman/context-reference/en/co-fonts.pdf The other chapters are a bit harder to comment on because (currently) you have to be able to compile the manual yourself to read the pdfs. Anyway, in and below the same folder are all needed sources: http://context.aanhet.net/svn/contextman/context-reference/en (Maybe someone could put the current full pdf online somewhere?) There also is a mailing list specifically about the new manual: http://lists.foundry.supelec.fr/mailman/listinfo/contextman-reference Best wishes, Taco

Dnia Thu, Oct 23, 2008 at 05:38:44PM +0200, Taco Hoekwater napisał(a):

Hi,

John Devereux wrote:

...

I myself am very interested in *reading* it - I was delighted to see the new fonts chapter and the new documention project in general. But I am not sure I can contribute much. I am much more of a "consumer" than a "producer", of accurate information. Partly due to lack of time, but also lack of knowledge :)

There actually is something you (and everybody else) can do: provide feedback on the current version of the manual(s). For example, it would be nice to know whether there are errors or unclarities in it (or omissions, but that actually does require knowledge).

For an easy start, the two pdfs of the "typography" and "fonts" chapters are on-line:

http://context.aanhet.net/svn/contextman/context-reference/en/co-typography.... http://context.aanhet.net/svn/contextman/context-reference/en/co-fonts.pdf

The other chapters are a bit harder to comment on because (currently) you have to be able to compile the manual yourself to read the pdfs. Anyway, in and below the same folder are all needed sources:

http://context.aanhet.net/svn/contextman/context-reference/en

(Maybe someone could put the current full pdf online somewhere?)

There also is a mailing list specifically about the new manual:

http://lists.foundry.supelec.fr/mailman/listinfo/contextman-reference

Best wishes, Taco

Wow! You've answered my questions even before I asked them!!! //TeX hacking is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be, ekhm, unnatural.// (Not really a SW fan, but I just couldn't resist;).) -- Marcin Borkowski (http://mbork.pl)

I like the manuals very much (!), yet I have found that I must also turn to the wiki, google, browsing the source code or this mailing list to answer some of my questions. I have now reached a point on the learning curve were I really appreciate the careful design that has gone into context, and would really like to see the manuals updated. I did not contribute to this discussion to complain and would be willing to participate (modestly, with the little time available, as is the case for everyone!). Taco has gotten to the point that someone must manage the rewriting of the documentation, but other help is also needed. Once I learn how to download and compile the complete sources, I will then see where I feel that I might have enough knowledge to do (a little) something... Alan On Thursday 23 October 2008 16:37:23 Taco Hoekwater wrote:

Hi,

Aditya Mahajan wrote:

...

On Wed, 22 Oct 2008, Alan BRASLAU wrote:

...

My question to the mailing list: is this task structured? Is this being managed by anyone?

Unfortunately, not.

Aditya's reply sums it up pretty well. I just want to add a quick note.

After at least half a dozen reiterations of this discussion (and it is indeed always exactly the same discussion), I have now reached the point where I no longer feel the slightest need to take any action any more. From where I stand, it seems that the unhappy people just want to complain about, but are not willing to help improve the existing documentation, and that the happy people just want to post pointers but fail to see a real need to improve anything.

I myself would be much more willing to spend time on (managing|writing) the manual if there were any people showing an active interest in it.

Best wishes, Taco