[NTG-context] Re: https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Command/blank

[Wolfgang Schuster <wolfgang.schuster.lists@gmail.com>]

Jim schrieb am 04.06.2024 um 19:48:

> I did not realize the wiki software did that.  On reflection I suppose that
> is useful in many (most?) cases.  But I'd argue that it is not always a good
> thing, such as in this case.  (If nothing else, it might mislead a n00b
> into thinking that you should get output for text preceding \starttext.)

The reason why you get no text isn't that you wrote it before \starttext 
but that no font was loaded yet. By default ConTeXt postpones the 
loading of the default fonts until \starttext because when you use a 
different font on your document this is normally before \starttext and 
with the postponing there is no need to load a unused font.

At the point where you load a font with \setupbodyfont text even if it 
appears before \starttext is shown as expected but this isn't recommended.

> If you (or some other knowledgeable person reading this) don't (doesn't)
> mind another question,...
> Is the bullet symbol not from some font?  If so, why is that font loaded in
> time to see the bullet?

When no font has been loaded yet with \setupbodyfont ConTeXt prints text 
which is put in a \hbox in a monospaced font as shown in the example below.

%%%% begin example
This is before \tex{starttext}.

\hbox{This is also before \tex{starttext}}

\starttext
This is after \tex{starttext}.
\stoptext
%%%% end example

Wolfgang
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