From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Msuck: nntp://news.gmane.io/gmane.comp.tex.context/8662 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: John Culleton Newsgroups: gmane.comp.tex.context Subject: Re: A modest proposal Date: Fri, 12 Jul 2002 08:30:39 -0400 Sender: owner-ntg-context@let.uu.nl Message-ID: <200207120830.39370.john@wexfordpress.com> References: <20020712032303.11730.qmail@web10006.mail.yahoo.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: coloc-standby.netfonds.no Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: main.gmane.org 1035399052 29487 80.91.224.250 (23 Oct 2002 18:50:52 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@main.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 23 Oct 2002 18:50:52 +0000 (UTC) Original-To: Christopher Cardinale , ntg-context@let.uu.nl In-Reply-To: <20020712032303.11730.qmail@web10006.mail.yahoo.com> Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.comp.tex.context:8662 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.comp.tex.context:8662 On Thursday 11 July 2002 11:23 pm, Christopher Cardinale wrote: > I don't know whether I represent the "typical" ConTeXt user, but I do > come from an area where ConTeXt has an opportunity to make serious > inroads. More on that later. > > As a cell biology graduate student, I don't get much choice with > respect to software. First of all, everyone uses Macs. Secondly, the > journals are quite rigid about which file formats are accepted for > electronic submission: > > http://www.jbc.org/misc/ifora.shtml > > Even the grant applications are in the form of a Microsoft Word > Template which you must fill out. Word is a fact of life in this field. > Moreover, there are add-ons to Word, such as EndNote > (http://www.endnote.com/), which are indispensable. If you are in the > biomedical research field you will appreciate the ability to access > Medline directly and the citation formats for every journal. Some of us > can't do without it. > > What we can use, however, are robust tools for the creation of figures, > class handouts, and other documents which will be self-published. > ConTeXt can fulfill this role as a DTP program, along the lines of > QuarkXPress (only better!) > > I propose the creation of a Microsoft Word Template which will make use > of Styles and Visual Basic Macros in order to aid in the conversion to > ConTeXt. This could consist of a one-step process using Visual Basic > macros, or a two-step process by which the Word document is output as a > "clean" XML or RTF file which can be easily converted to ConTeXt. > Ideally, this output could be compiled by ConTeXt on the first run, but > obviously manual tweaking in a text editor would be necessary to > achieve the desired layout. > > As I mentioned, as a mere biologist and medical student I do not have > the training to carry out such a project on my own. I would be more > than happy to collaborate with others in testing, debugging, > documentation, and any other task I could contribute to. Please contact > me if you are interested in working on this project. > > Thanks, > Chris Cardinale > Unfortunately you ask Context to play in Quark's (and MSword's) ballpark. Context (or any TeX) does best with journal articles, with true footnotes, and not the (IMHO) miserable substitute of endnotes, with a sophisticated bibliography system and so on. For some reason the Redmondites have taken over your journals, and dislodging them will be difficult indeed. OTOH class handouts can probably be cobbled up rather easily in MSWord (Quark would be overkill.) I convert MSWord etc. to TeX by a very simple mechanism. I take the .doc or .pdf form of the document, reduce it to ASCII text, and start from there. True, I lose all the formatting. But the formatting is crap anyhow. As an old programmer let me tell you, conversion seldom works. Just take the specs and write from scratch in the new language. The basic mechanisms of Context are too different for useful transliteration from all that other stuff. If you could reduce the MSWord stuff tho XML there might be some hope. But it would still be ugly Context at the end of the stream. Remember too that Context is bleeding edge stuff, basically an Alpha product. Development goes forth at a tremendous pace, but lots of things don't work yet, or aren't documented yet. It is the TeX of the future, but may not be your best choice as the TeX of the present. You might be better off introducing a more stable (if less attractive) flavor of TeX. Take a look at Texsis, a less well known but useful macro package that was written by and for physicists. It is like Context an integrated package without all the style-chasing that torments LaTeX users. Just my 2 Euros :-) John Culleton __________________________________________________ D O T E A S Y - "Join the web hosting revolution!" http://www.doteasy.com