Moving to ConTeXt

Moving to ConTeXt

[Gerben Wierda]

I am (again) considering moving to ConTeXt. A few years ago I investigated
the move because I have apositive impression of the quality of the ConTeXt
project and because I find the standard LaTeX layouts ugly. At that time I
decided against it because the first thing I tried (a list within a list)
did not work and because I was under the impression that I would have to
do alot of layout myself (and I have TeX for that, right?). I am thinking
of using LaTeX and the memoir class. Anyway, I am still tempted.

So I am investigating again. I would like to know if (and how) I can do
the following in ConTeXt. I did read the manual before writing this:
- Project structure for a book, chapters to be in separate files. Chapters
to be processed individually when required, or better: chapter +
index/toc/appendices, etc. How do you do that? I do not understand the
manual here entirely and my test from a few years ago failed.
- lettrine.sty (I have my own TeX code now, but lettrine is probably better)
- Page layout as in a book (no whitespace between pars and indentation).
Good readable.
- mfpic or another way to program drawings (vectors/functions)
- microtype.sty (protrusion,probably no stretching)
- Optional paragraph (not line) numbering, suppressable (as in some
philosophy books)
- 2 output options:
        - Final: Large paperback size (somewhat larger than pocket) pages
centered on A4 portrait paper
        - Draft: Two of those pages,slightly shrunk on A4 landscape paper.
No fancy ordering, just page 0-1, 2-3, 4-5, etc.

So, how do I do these things? I would like to try to recode a part ofmy
book-project in ConTeXt to see if it works for me.

Thanks,

G

Re: Moving to ConTeXt

[Hans Hagen]

Gerben Wierda wrote:
> I am (again) considering moving to ConTeXt. A few years ago I investigated
> the move because I have apositive impression of the quality of the ConTeXt
> project and because I find the standard LaTeX layouts ugly. At that time I
> decided against it because the first thing I tried (a list within a list)
> did not work and because I was under the impression that I would have to
> do alot of layout myself (and I have TeX for that, right?). I am thinking
> of using LaTeX and the memoir class. Anyway, I am still tempted.
> 
> So I am investigating again. I would like to know if (and how) I can do
> the following in ConTeXt. I did read the manual before writing this:
> - Project structure for a book, chapters to be in separate files. Chapters
> to be processed individually when required, or better: chapter +
> index/toc/appendices, etc. How do you do that? I do not understand the
> manual here entirely and my test from a few years ago failed.

you can use something

=== thisbook.tex

\startproject book

   \environment mystyle.tex
   ....

\stopproject

=== book.tex

\startproduct book

    \project thisbook

    \component whatever
    \component onemore

\stopproduct

=== whatever.tex

\startcomponent whatever

    \project thisbook

   ....

\stopcomponent

you can then run product and component files independently

> - lettrine.sty (I have my own TeX code now, but lettrine is probably better)

your own code should not be a problem as long as you don;t overload low level 
commands

> - Page layout as in a book (no whitespace between pars and indentation).

\setupindenting and \setupwhitespace etc (probably samples in the wiki)

> Good readable.
> - mfpic or another way to program drawings (vectors/functions)

metapost; or just mfpic and converted to pdf

> - microtype.sty (protrusion,probably no stretching)

no problem, (adam lindsay can probably best help you with that in relation to 
the fonts that you have on th emac)

> - Optional paragraph (not line) numbering, suppressable (as in some
> philosophy books)

supported

> - 2 output options:
>         - Final: Large paperback size (somewhat larger than pocket) pages
> centered on A4 portrait paper
>         - Draft: Two of those pages,slightly shrunk on A4 landscape paper.
> No fancy ordering, just page 0-1, 2-3, 4-5, etc.

\startmode[final]
   ... settings ...
\stopmode

and then

   texexec --mode=final ....

or just in your file \endablemode[final] at the top

> So, how do I do these things? I would like to try to recode a part ofmy
> book-project in ConTeXt to see if it works for me.

Hans

-----------------------------------------------------------------
                                           Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE
               Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands
      tel: 038 477 53 69 | fax: 038 477 53 74 | www.pragma-ade.com
                                              | www.pragma-pod.nl
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Re: Moving to ConTeXt

[Adam Lindsay]

Hans Hagen said this at Wed, 23 Feb 2005 15:46:54 +0100:

>> - lettrine.sty (I have my own TeX code now, but lettrine is probably
better)
>
>your own code should not be a problem as long as you don;t overload low
level 
>commands

Most of the lettrine basics are exposed in the DroppedCaps macros in
supp-fun, and in some higher-level macros
{setupinitial,placeinitial,checkinitial} in core-fnt. I only noticed the
latter recently, with this message:
<http://archive.contextgarden.net/message/20050219.150656.64318a18.html>

>> - microtype.sty (protrusion,probably no stretching)
>
>no problem, (adam lindsay can probably best help you with that in
relation to 
>the fonts that you have on th emac)

Who, me?
As you probably know, protrusion doesn't work with XeTeX, only pdf(e)TeX.
Glad you don't need stretching, cos I haven't worked with that one, yet!

But yeah, I know a few Mac OS X/ConTeXt font tricks.
- 
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
 Adam T. Lindsay, Computing Dept.     atl@comp.lancs.ac.uk
 Lancaster University, InfoLab21        +44(0)1524/510.514
 Lancaster, LA1 4WA, UK             Fax:+44(0)1524/510.492
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Re: Moving to ConTeXt

[Gerben Wierda]

> Gerben Wierda wrote:
>> I am (again) considering moving to ConTeXt. A few years ago I
>> investigated
>> the move because I have apositive impression of the quality of the
>> ConTeXt
>> project and because I find the standard LaTeX layouts ugly. At that time
>> I
>> decided against it because the first thing I tried (a list within a
>> list)
>> did not work and because I was under the impression that I would have to
>> do alot of layout myself (and I have TeX for that, right?). I am
>> thinking
>> of using LaTeX and the memoir class. Anyway, I am still tempted.
>>
>> So I am investigating again. I would like to know if (and how) I can do
>> the following in ConTeXt. I did read the manual before writing this:
>> - Project structure for a book, chapters to be in separate files.
>> Chapters
>> to be processed individually when required, or better: chapter +
>> index/toc/appendices, etc. How do you do that? I do not understand the
>> manual here entirely and my test from a few years ago failed.
>
> you can use something
>
> === thisbook.tex
>
> \startproject book
>
>    \environment mystyle.tex
>    ....
>
> \stopproject
>
> === book.tex
>
> \startproduct book
>
>     \project thisbook
>
>     \component whatever
>     \component onemore
>
> \stopproduct
>
> === whatever.tex
>
> \startcomponent whatever
>
>     \project thisbook
>
>    ....
>
> \stopcomponent
>
> you can then run product and component files independently

What I do not understand is how these components end up in a directory
hierarchy.

What would be very nice is some sort of downloadable archive with some
sample basic project structures.

Reading the stuff above I still have no idea how to build a directory
hierarchy for my project such that it can do all that the project
management part of ConTeXt promises.

G

Re: Moving to ConTeXt

[Henning Hraban Ramm]

Am 10.03.2005 um 10:59 schrieb Gerben Wierda:
> What I do not understand is how these components end up in a directory
> hierarchy.
>
> What would be very nice is some sort of downloadable archive with some
> sample basic project structures.
>
> Reading the stuff above I still have no idea how to build a directory
> hierarchy for my project such that it can do all that the project
> management part of ConTeXt promises.

Do you *need* different directories? Perhaps it's sufficient to name 
your components so that you can easily see what belongs where.

AFAIK ConTeXt looks always into the parent directories, but not in 
parallel/child directories if not explicitly specified. (E.g. you can 
define a figures path.)

Did you have a look at the wiki: 
http://contextgarden.net/Project_structure


Grüßlis vom Hraban!
---
http://www.fiee.net/texnique/
http://contextgarden.net

Re: Moving to ConTeXt

[Gerben Wierda]

On 11 Mar 2005, at 18:02, Henning Hraban Ramm wrote:

> Am 10.03.2005 um 10:59 schrieb Gerben Wierda:
>> What I do not understand is how these components end up in a directory
>> hierarchy.
>>
>> What would be very nice is some sort of downloadable archive with some
>> sample basic project structures.
>>
>> Reading the stuff above I still have no idea how to build a directory
>> hierarchy for my project such that it can do all that the project
>> management part of ConTeXt promises.
>
> Do you *need* different directories? Perhaps it's sufficient to name  
> your components so that you can easily see what belongs where.
>
> AFAIK ConTeXt looks always into the parent directories, but not in  
> parallel/child directories if not explicitly specified. (E.g. you can  
> define a figures path.)
>
> Did you have a look at the wiki:  
> http://contextgarden.net/Project_structure

Certainly I did, and I used the scripts that were linked there. But  
none of the explanations give examples of directory hierarchy. Take for  
instance images. I've set up a directory for images. But the only way I  
can get ConTeXt to find the images is to have an absolute path in the  
directory

\setupexternalfigures[directory=/Volumes/Data/Users/gerben/Documents/ 
Prive/book-context/images,
         maxwidth=\textwidth]

I have my chapters (components) in book-context and my product file in  
book-context/products

But I would like some directory structure *without* this absolute path,  
if only because it does not work when mirrored to my laptop where the  
home directory is quite somewhere else.

G

Re: Moving to ConTeXt

[Matthias Weber]

Relative paths work fine for me as long as they point to subdirectories.

However, I could never get something like  ../figures to work on Mac Os  
X,
but that might be my ignorance.

Matthias

but I might be wrong
On Mar 11, 2005, at 3:49 PM, Gerben Wierda wrote:

> On 11 Mar 2005, at 18:02, Henning Hraban Ramm wrote:
>
>> Am 10.03.2005 um 10:59 schrieb Gerben Wierda:
>>> What I do not understand is how these components end up in a  
>>> directory
>>> hierarchy.
>>>
>>> What would be very nice is some sort of downloadable archive with  
>>> some
>>> sample basic project structures.
>>>
>>> Reading the stuff above I still have no idea how to build a directory
>>> hierarchy for my project such that it can do all that the project
>>> management part of ConTeXt promises.
>>
>> Do you *need* different directories? Perhaps it's sufficient to name  
>> your components so that you can easily see what belongs where.
>>
>> AFAIK ConTeXt looks always into the parent directories, but not in  
>> parallel/child directories if not explicitly specified. (E.g. you can  
>> define a figures path.)
>>
>> Did you have a look at the wiki:  
>> http://contextgarden.net/Project_structure
>
> Certainly I did, and I used the scripts that were linked there. But  
> none of the explanations give examples of directory hierarchy. Take  
> for instance images. I've set up a directory for images. But the only  
> way I can get ConTeXt to find the images is to have an absolute path  
> in the directory
>
> \setupexternalfigures[directory=/Volumes/Data/Users/gerben/Documents/ 
> Prive/book-context/images,
>         maxwidth=\textwidth]
>
> I have my chapters (components) in book-context and my product file in  
> book-context/products
>
> But I would like some directory structure *without* this absolute  
> path, if only because it does not work when mirrored to my laptop  
> where the home directory is quite somewhere else.
>
> G
>
> _______________________________________________
> ntg-context mailing list
> ntg-context@ntg.nl
> http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
>
>

Re: Moving to ConTeXt

[Gerben Wierda]

On 11 Mar 2005, at 21:58, Matthias Weber wrote:

> Relative paths work fine for me as long as they point to 
> subdirectories.
>
> However, I could never get something like  ../figures to work on Mac 
> Os X,
> but that might be my ignorance.

I just got ../images to work but thenmy product file is in a 
subdirectory.

book-context/images/
book-context/products/prd_book.tex (I am running from this directory)
book-context/chapter1.tex etc.

G

Re: Moving to ConTeXt

[h h extern]

Henning Hraban Ramm wrote:
> Am 10.03.2005 um 10:59 schrieb Gerben Wierda:
> 
>> What I do not understand is how these components end up in a directory
>> hierarchy.
>>
>> What would be very nice is some sort of downloadable archive with some
>> sample basic project structures.
>>
>> Reading the stuff above I still have no idea how to build a directory
>> hierarchy for my project such that it can do all that the project
>> management part of ConTeXt promises.
> 
> 
> Do you *need* different directories? Perhaps it's sufficient to name 
> your components so that you can easily see what belongs where.
> 
> AFAIK ConTeXt looks always into the parent directories, but not in 
> parallel/child directories if not explicitly specified. (E.g. you can 
> define a figures path.)

you can say

\usepath[somepath]
\usesubpath[one]
\usesubpath[two]

etc



-----------------------------------------------------------------
                                           Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE
               Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands
      tel: 038 477 53 69 | fax: 038 477 53 74 | www.pragma-ade.com
                                              | www.pragma-pod.nl
-----------------------------------------------------------------