From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Msuck: nntp://news.gmane.io/gmane.comp.tex.context/20420 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Paul Tremblay Newsgroups: gmane.comp.tex.context Subject: Re: Context, LaTeX, or an XML for academic writing? Date: Tue, 17 May 2005 22:10:47 -0400 Message-ID: <20050518021046.GB1123@localhost.localdomain> References: <98D0564335EC4848A87BEDEFF4EA056B55C6@posti.kpatents.com> Reply-To: mailing list for ConTeXt users NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1116382209 24074 80.91.229.2 (18 May 2005 02:10:09 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 18 May 2005 02:10:09 +0000 (UTC) Original-X-From: ntg-context-bounces@ntg.nl Wed May 18 04:10:01 2005 Return-path: Original-Received: from ronja.vet.uu.nl ([131.211.172.88] helo=ronja.ntg.nl) by ciao.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1DYE04-00005r-8v for gctc-ntg-context-518@m.gmane.org; Wed, 18 May 2005 04:09:32 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]) by ronja.ntg.nl (Postfix) with ESMTP id 654231280D; Wed, 18 May 2005 04:10:11 +0200 (CEST) Original-Received: from ronja.ntg.nl ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (smtp.ntg.nl [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with LMTP id 22534-02-6; Wed, 18 May 2005 04:10:06 +0200 (CEST) Original-Received: from ronja.vet.uu.nl (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]) by ronja.ntg.nl (Postfix) with ESMTP id 62D2812805; Wed, 18 May 2005 04:10:06 +0200 (CEST) Original-Received: from localhost (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]) by ronja.ntg.nl (Postfix) with ESMTP id D1E1B12805 for ; Wed, 18 May 2005 04:10:04 +0200 (CEST) Original-Received: from ronja.ntg.nl ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (smtp.ntg.nl [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with LMTP id 22534-02-5 for ; Wed, 18 May 2005 04:10:03 +0200 (CEST) Original-Received: from rdsmtp.iglou.com (rdsmtp.iglou.com [192.107.41.63]) by ronja.ntg.nl (Postfix) with ESMTP id 94D6912802 for ; Wed, 18 May 2005 04:10:03 +0200 (CEST) Original-Received: from [192.107.41.6] (helo=iglou3.iglou.com) by rdsmtp.iglou.com with esmtp (8.12.5/8.12.5) id 1DYE0Y-0000F4-PG for ntg-context@ntg.nl; Tue, 17 May 2005 22:10:02 -0400 Original-Received: from [64.253.97.143] (helo=localhost.localdomain) by iglou3.iglou.com with esmtp (8.12.5/8.12.5) id 1DYE0Y-0004yW-KW for ntg-context@ntg.nl; Tue, 17 May 2005 22:10:02 -0400 Original-Received: by localhost.localdomain (Postfix, from userid 501) id 49A933EADA; Tue, 17 May 2005 22:10:47 -0400 (EDT) Original-To: ntg-context@ntg.nl Mail-Followup-To: ntg-context@ntg.nl Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <98D0564335EC4848A87BEDEFF4EA056B55C6@posti.kpatents.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.9i X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at ntg.nl X-BeenThere: ntg-context@ntg.nl X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: mailing list for ConTeXt users List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: ntg-context-bounces@ntg.nl Errors-To: ntg-context-bounces@ntg.nl X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.3 (2005-04-27) on smtp.ntg.nl X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at ntg.nl Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.comp.tex.context:20420 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.comp.tex.context:20420 On Wed, May 18, 2005 at 01:41:00AM +0300, Ville Voipio wrote: > > > One of the mixed blessings (=curses) brought about by computers > is that now you need to be an academic writer, a typesetter, and > a graphic artist at the same time. At this point the number > of should-knows explodes. > [snip] > --- > > What I am trying to say is that choosing the tool is only > one part of the project. Whichever tool you choose, you'll > end up in trouble at some point. With some tools (WYSIWYG) > you'll end up in worse trouble, but even with *TeX the road > is bumpy at best, unless you really have a tested and proven > templates which you can use. > Yes, this is exactly the problem. I am laying out my girlfriend's thesis in historic preservation, and it is taking me forever. What a waste of time! The thesis is actually written in XML. Or rather, she has written it in MS Word, which I have converted to XML using a very sophisticated script (http://rtf2xml.sourceforge.net/). I then convert the file to ConTexT, and then to PDF. There are a million stupid details, like making sure the title on the cover page is exactly 3 inches from the top and so fourth. This is a waste of time. Why should we be forced to layout pages when we don't want to? Therefore I think a good argument can be made for universities eventually accepting a thesis in XML format. If they want to be so picky about layout, they should do it; the student should only be required to submit the basic information in a structured form. The assumption of the University is that everyone uses Word. This is a bad assumption. Paul -- ************************ *Paul Tremblay * *phthenry@iglou.com * ************************