Re: Font question

[Marcin Borkowski <mbork@atos.wmid.amu.edu.pl>]

Dnia Fri, Feb 29, 2008 at 09:54:46PM +0100, Hans Hagen napisał(a):
> Marcin Borkowski wrote:
> > Hi all!
> > 
> > I'm going to start using ConTeXt; I've been planning to do so for a few
> > years, but now I finally have Internet access at home, so it's easier
> > for me to look things up in the wiki (or ask here;)).
> > 
> > I have two questions.  The first one is connected with fonts.  I can't
> > understand ConTeXt's font mechanism, which seems way too complicated for
> > me; could anyone just tell me how I can switch to, e.g., Antykwa
> > Poltawskiego (I'm Polish, so I'd like to use it;)) or, say, Pagella?  Of
> > course, I'd also like to be able to typeset Polish texts with them; will
> 
> \usetypescriptfile[type-gyr]
> \usetypescript[palatino][qx]
> 
> \setupbodyfont[palatino,10pt]
> 

Thanks a lot - it works!

But...

1) when I substituted pagella for palatino, it stopped working;

2) and I still don't understand what's going on...

I assume that \usetypescriptfile takes one argument, the name of the
file with definitions.  I assume that \usetypescript somehow defines a
typescript - but the syntax is unclear to me...  Finally, \setupbodyfont
seems clear - it actually "chooses" given font.  Am I right?

(Sorry for being a nuisance - I just want to understand what's
happening, at least approximately, so that I can switch to whatever
fonts I'd like to, assuming they are quite "standard" and hence
pre-configured in ConTeXt.)

> > \enableregime[utf-8]
> > \mainlanguage[pl]
> 
> > be enough (apart, of course, from adapting ConTeXt to Polish typography
> > customs, like dots after chapter numbers etc.)?
> 
> that should be set up already (\mainlanguage does that)
> 

Well, dots after chapter numbers didn't appear (this should be easy to
do with \setuphead etc., however).  I'd have to experiment a bit to see
what exactly is done by \mainlanguage.  Or is there some place I could
read about it?

> > I think that that's what the wiki lacks: a beginner's guide on _using_
> > fonts (not _installing_ them or _messing_;) with them).  If someone
> > enlightens me on this, I could write something on the wiki about it.
> 
> most free fonts that ship with tex live are already set up (and you can 
> make combinations of them, which is what typefaces is about)
> 
> it mostly bpild down to choosing a proper font encoding (qx in your case)
> 

I see.  Still, there are amost no clues in the wiki on how to use
them...  I hope to grasp it some day and explain on the wiki then;).
That makes my conscience more clear about asking you again;).

> > And the second, a bit "philosophical" question: the official manual is
> > not so new.  How do I learn ConTeXt best?  I mean, are changes to the
> > user interface since 2001 so big that I could run into troubles using
> > the manual?  Or are there some changes which make something
> > easier/possible which was difficult/impossible at the time or writing
> > the manual - how do I learn about these?
> 
> no changes to the user interface, only additional features (often 
> discussed in dedicated manuals)

OK.  That sounds good, especially that I'm planning to do some XML
typesetting using ConTeXt soon - I hope that example.pdf will be enough
for my purposes;).

You see, I'm a kind of guy who has nothing against being said "RTFM";
but I couldn't understand the documentation on fonts...  But I don't
want to give up, and when I know what's going on I'll be happy to
explain it somewhere in the wiki, partially for others and partially for
myself, in case I forget something;)...

> 
> Hans
> 

Thanks a lot for your help!

-- 
Marcin Borkowski (http://mbork.faculty.fmcs.amu.edu.pl)

Jezus żyje NAPRAWDĘ.
A Ty?
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