Re: beginner's questions

["Frans Goddijn" <frans@iaf.nl>]

Hi Wouter,

welcome to the world of ConTeXt!

>   can avoid language conflicts.  Do the Dutch people agree or
is it
>   normal to use the dutch words.

I don't think it matters much. I started in Dutch and I'm
confident that any new feature will be available in Dutch as well
as in other languages. I do not exchange source texts with
english language people at present so I don't need the english
option. And if I get an english source file I can still run it.

> - Most of the work I plan to make with context are small
(<20pages)
>   reports. Mostly text with some tables and pictures, and a few
>   graphs. Is context the program to handle this, or should I
choose
>   latex? After a quick look at the docs, it seems context is
easier to
>   do most things. Is this correct?

Especially if you start out, ConTeXt is the way to go today, I
think.

Even if you produce relatively simple documents today, eventually
you will want to add some new subtleties or complications to make
your docs just that bit better looking, or more portable, or
interactive. With LaTeX that makes you dependent on a series of
style-file-authors who don't usually communicate to keep their
joint maze of new commands non-conflicting.

This didn't bother me in the past but if I could do it all over
gain, and ConteXt was where it is now in say 1993, I'd have been
a ConTeXt user all along. LaTeX and its myriad clever plug-in
styles was way ahead of the rest some years back, but I think
that has changed now.

If you use ConTeXt and keep yourself updated, you are almost
automatically right there at the cutting edge of TeX typesetting.

That's fun and thrilling, plus you create fine documents, which
is what we all started out to do.

Enjoy!

Frans

frans@goddijn.com   www.goddijn.com
tel NL 0621-815 881   fax: 026-3211759
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