Re: Re: Learning ConTeXt, typical hurdle

["Gerben Wierda" <Gerben.Wierda@rna.nl>]

> Gerben Wierda wrote:
>
>> Apart from adapting, the \startitemize \stopitemize does not require me
>> to have a \par at the end. That is also confusing.
>
> That's because it's a different construct (less variants in visualization
> and
> such);

I understand that, but for someone new to ConTeXt, the behaviour of
\whatever after a \definewhatever is unexpected. Especially so if one is
used to LaTeX.

The same is true for the non-implied start of a new column in \startable
after a new row has been declared.

My experience so far with ConTeXt is that it is probably possible to do
all the things I want to do (though I still have a couple of open issues,
see other posts) and I still have the feeling it is very powerful (I
already had that when I first read the manual years ago). But the error
messages I get or the behaviour I see when I make my beginner mistakes are
less illuminating than the LaTeX parts and the behaviour is also not
always friendly (e.g. the \NC needed after a new row in \starttable) or
intuitive or the same across diffferent parts of ConTeXt (\startitemize
versus \startwhatever). And it sometimes very difficult to find
documentation (directory structure, \starttable).

G