notation, manual

[siepo@client44-3.kabelA.oprit.rug.nl]

(sorry Berend, het vorige bericht aan jou was voor de lijst bedoeld;
dit is een uitgebreidere versie ervan)

Berend de Boer writes:
 > siepo@client44-3.kabelA.oprit.rug.nl wrote:
 > 
 > > So the number of brackets doesn't necessarily mean anything?
 > 
 > Some brackets are optional (they're in italics).
 > 
 > 
 >  
 > > Another obscure point is when you want to apply more than one
 > > `value-keyword', e.g. if you want a small bold sectionhead. I tried
 > > the following constructs:
 > > 
 > > \setuphead[mysection][style=bold]
 > > \setuphead[mysection][style=small]
 > > 
 > > This produces small headers. Apparently, values for a single keyword
 > > are not accumulated. Well, this is more or less what Berend was
 > > saying.
 > > 
 > > \setuphead[mysection[style={bold,small}]
 > 
 > The style is really a single macro and really is an alias for a font
 > switch. What you want it to do is:
 > 
 > \def\style{\bold\small}
 > 
 > But it doesn't work that way. Say something like:
 > 
 > \setuphead
 > 	[mysection]
 > 	[style={\switchtobodyfont[small]\bf}]
 > 
 > Groetjes,
 > 
 > Berend. (-:
 > 
 > 
 > 
 > > 
 > > Doesn't work either; it puts the text `bold,smallbold,small' before
 > > both the section number and the section title. I seem to remember that
 > > in some other cases such a construct DOES produce the desired
 > > effect. Am I missing something? (Of course, in this particular case
 > > there are other ways to do it.)
 > > 
 > > Siep

So this is the TeX command as value. Other alternatives: {\bfx} or
\bfx or bfx.

Are you meaning that in general you can't combine `value keywords', or
that in some cases you can and in others you can't?

Also some remarks about the manual: since it is intended as reference
manual, it should facilitate quick lookup and not require close
reading of an entire chapter.

For quickly locating examples, the side-by-side display of code and
their output as in the LaTeX books (Lamport and the LaTeX companion)
could be very effective.

Different settings for some typographic parameters would also help:

-> Reserving vertical space only for displayed material and for
sectioning.  Using it to separate paragraphs detracts too much from
its effectiveness in making displayed material stand out.

-> Indenting of displayed material. The measure of the manual is wide
enough for it. In general, indenting is overused in TeX manuscripts,
and in a multicolumn layout indenting it can look very awful very
quickly but that is no reason not to use it at all.

Siep