Re: PhD Thesis in ConTeXt

Re: PhD Thesis in ConTeXt

[Piotr]

Hello,

thank You (!) for the many responses - I am surprised about
how many people answered with suggestions, opinions, useful
information and templates.

I think I will give context a try - if it will run on my Vista-64
System. I will check that out in the next day(s). It sounds as a good
alternative to Latex if it is really superior when it comes to
image inclusion with descriptive text.

Jeff, would it be allright for You to publish the source of Your very
useful python Endnote-Bibtex conversion program?

Marcin, it seems the link to the polish article is defunct. But the
summary was very good, thanks for it :)

Regards,
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___________________________________________________________________________________

Re: PhD Thesis in ConTeXt

[Marcin Borkowski]

Dnia Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 03:05:31PM +0200, Piotr napisał(a):
> Hello,
> 
> thank You (!) for the many responses - I am surprised about
> how many people answered with suggestions, opinions, useful
> information and templates.

So you get the feeling of the ConTeXt community;).

Well, sometimes it looks worse, but usually not.

> 
> I think I will give context a try - if it will run on my Vista-64
> System. I will check that out in the next day(s). It sounds as a good
> alternative to Latex if it is really superior when it comes to
> image inclusion with descriptive text.
> 
> Jeff, would it be allright for You to publish the source of Your very
> useful python Endnote-Bibtex conversion program?
> 
> Marcin, it seems the link to the polish article is defunct. But the
> summary was very good, thanks for it :)

Ooops, I guess that this has something to do with non-ascii characters
in the url.  Try this one:
http://mbork.pl/2008-08-26_Dlaczego_nie_lubi%c4%99_LaTeXa

> 
> Regards,

Greets

-- 
Marcin Borkowski (http://mbork.pl)

Ty okryłeś śmierć wstydem!
Wtrąciłeś piekło w żałobę!
Uderzyłeś niegodziwość,
Niesprawiedliwość pozbawiłeś potomstwa!
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___________________________________________________________________________________

Re: PhD Thesis in ConTeXt

[Jeff Smith]

On Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 09:05, Piotr <wuscheln@googlemail.com> wrote:
> Jeff, would it be allright for You to publish the source of Your very
> useful python Endnote-Bibtex conversion program?

I don't mind, but I will have to have a look at it again first, if you
do not mind the little delay. I actually made it to learn Python, and
at the time I struggled with UTF-8 outputs, so it remained incomplete
on this and I just manually re-saved my file as such. I'll correct
that.

Also, now that I remember, my code creates entry keys based on author
name and publication year. If I remember well, I also believe the keys
didn't work when they were not pure ASCII, so I had this small
function getting rid of all accented characters in keys, as my native
language is actually French. I will recode it to make it "universal".

Jeff
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Re: PhD Thesis in ConTeXt

[Aditya Mahajan]

On Tue, 28 Oct 2008, Mohamed Bana wrote:

> Hi Aditya,
>
> I've tried compiling your thesis. It failed with;

There were a few modules which were missings from the zip file. I have 
created a new zip file with these files. I hope that everything should 
compile now.

http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~adityam/publications/thesis/thesis.tar.gz

> texmfstart texexec "thesis.tex"

> system         : module abr-aditya not found

I have added this

> system         : module ctags not found

This is harmless. A module that I wrote to write tag files for vim, but it 
does not work with MKIV.

> system         : module mathsets not found

I have added this. You can also download it from 
modules.contextgarden.net/mathsets.

Aditya

>
> Aditya Mahajan wrote:
>> On Tue, 21 Oct 2008, Piotr wrote:
>>
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>> I have spent some time with google in order to find an answer to the
>>> following questions. Unfortunatly, I was not satisfied with the
>>> answers, which I now hope to find here.
>>>
>>> It is my plan not to use the MS Office suite for the production of my
>>> PhD thesis (in chemistry). I have used Miktex some years ago during my
>>> studies for some project reports, and I remember beeing quite
>>> satisfied with the results. My Master thesis, on the other hand, I
>>> wrote in word.. and although I remember not having too many
>>> difficulties, there were some nasty obstacles to be overcome.
>>> Obstacles which I simply do not want to risk having repeated a second
>>> time on a much bigger scale.
>>> I this mailing list I read several reports of people who either had
>>> written their thesis in Latex or ConTeXt. There was a mention of Latex
>>> beeing designed for mathematic purposes, while ConTeXt was said to be
>>> better suited for the intergration of graphics or larger/more complex
>>> layout changes.
>>>
>>> 1) Finding the right context
>>> For now I had quite some difficulties to find that proper Latex
>>> distribution - a problem that actually led me to the existence of
>>> ConTeXt. I am wondering which latex distribution I should choose in
>>> order to work with ConTeXt? I am running Windows Vista (64-bit). Or is
>>> there a ConTeXt stand alone package that will absolutely satisfy my me
>>> in my needs? In principle, all I need is
>>>
>>> 2) The right editor
>>> What is the preferred editor for ConTeXt? for such a project? Is there
>>> any loss in functionality when using Texniccenter with ConTeXt than
>>> with MikTex instead?
>>
>> Depends on what functions you need. There are a few editors which have
>> basic support for ConTeXt (compile document, view pdf, jump to error,
>> etc.). Hans uses Scite and includes a context enabled scite in the
>> windows distribution available on prama-ade.com. Irdis has written support
>> for Notepad++. Vim and emacs have some basic support. I do not know what
>> features texniccenter and winedit provide for context.
>>
>>> 3) I have seen some thesis templates/examples in this mailinglist. Can
>>> anyone point me to additional sources regarding the creation of a PhD
>>> Thesis with ConTeXt?
>>
>> Each institute has different requirements for phd thesis, so one template
>> is not going to fit the bill. I did my thesis in context, and you can have
>> a look at the sources and the output:
>>
>> http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~adityam/publications/thesis/thesis.pdf
>> http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~adityam/publications/thesis/thesis.tar.gz
>>
>> The easier way to go about this will be to look at the formatting
>> specifications of the thesis, and try to understand how to implement them
>> in context one by one.
>>
>>> What is the advantage over Latex, what are the
>>> disadvantages? Is there a win-win distribution somewhere on the table?
>>
>> Advantage: In most cases, others have written a style for what you want,
>> so you don't have to create a style on your own.
>>
>> Disadvantage: When you do have to create a style on your own, it can be
>> difficult, even in packages which are supposed to be easy to configure
>>
>>> 4) Has anyone used a typesetting suite like ContTeXt with CVS?
>>
>> As others have said, the source files are simply text files. So you can
>> use any version control that you want.
>>
>>> 5) Is the ConTeXt reference system compatible with Endnote?
>>
>> I have no experience with endnote. I have seen endnote to bibtex
>> converters. If you can convert to bibtex, then using the references with
>> context is relatively easy.
>>
>>> Is there any point to have latex installed, when context can do the
>>> trick?
>>
>> As Mojca said, you may want to submit something to a journal which accepts
>> latex files.
>>
>>> Or lets ask the devils advocate the other way around: What is
>>> the point of installing context, when latex could do the trick?
>>
>> Again I agree with what Mojca said. If latex can do the job, use it. If
>> you are happy with one of the defaul latex styles, do not use too many
>> figures in your document, do not want text wrapping around figures, use
>> latex.
>>
>>> Apart
>>> that I have to re-learn latex anyway.. what is better with Context?
>>
>> Context has a more consistent interface to all the commands. This makes it
>> easier to remember how to configure things.
>>
>> Aditya
>> ___________________________________________________________________________________
>> If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the Wiki!
>>
>> maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
>> webpage  : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net
>> archive  : https://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/
>> wiki     : http://contextgarden.net
>> ___________________________________________________________________________________
>>
>
> ___________________________________________________________________________________
> If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the Wiki!
>
> maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
> webpage  : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net
> archive  : https://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/
> wiki     : http://contextgarden.net
> ___________________________________________________________________________________
>
>
>
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___________________________________________________________________________________

Re: PhD Thesis in ConTeXt

[Mohamed Bana]

Hi Aditya,

I've tried compiling your thesis. It failed with;

texmfstart texexec "thesis.tex"
TeXExec | processing document 'thesis.tex'
TeXExec | no ctx file found
TeXExec | tex processing method: context
TeXExec | TeX run 1
TeXExec | writing option file thesis.top
TeXExec | using randomseed 104
TeXExec | tex engine: luatex
TeXExec | tex format: cont-en
(thesis.tex

ConTeXt  ver: 2008.09.16 15:06 MKIV  fmt: 2008.9.16  int: english/english

language       : language en is active
system         : cont-new loaded
(C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/cont-new.tex
systems         : beware: some patches loaded from cont-new.tex
(C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/cont-new.mkiv
lua            : used config path - C:/context/tex/texmf/web2c/texmf.cnf
lua            : used cache path - 
C:/context/tex/texmf-cache/luatex-cache/context/2fea56f92e5267d7cc9662e4d5f52e1e
) (C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/cont-mtx.tex))
system         : cont-old loaded
(C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/cont-old.tex
loading        : Context Old Macros
)
system         : cont-fil loaded
(C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/cont-fil.tex
loading        : Context File Synonyms
)
system         : cont-sys loaded
(C:/context/tex/texmf-context/tex/context/user/cont-sys.tex 
(C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/type-tmf.tex) 
(C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/type-siz.tex) 
(C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/type-otf.tex))
bodyfont       : 12pt rm is loaded
specials       : tex loaded
system         : thesis.top loaded
(thesis.top
specials       : loading definition file tpd
(C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/spec-tpd.tex
specials       : loading definition file fdf
(C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/spec-fdf.tex 
(C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/spec-fdf.mkiv))
specials       : fdf loaded
(C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/spec-tpd.mkiv))
specials       : fdf loaded
) (thesis.tuo) (thesis.tuo)
systems        : begin file thesis at line 2
systems        : begin file env-thesis at line 4
(env-thesis.tex
system         : module abr-aditya not found
system         : module bib loaded
(t-bib.tex
publications   : loading formatting style from bibl-apa
(C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/bib/bibl-apa.tex)
publications   : loading database from thesis.bbl
(thesis.bbl))
system         : module ctags not found
publications   : loading formatting style from bibl-ssa
(bibl-ssa.tex) 
(C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/type-tmf.tex) 
(C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/type-siz.tex) 
(C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/type-otf.tex) 
(C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/type-tmf.tex) 
(C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/type-siz.tex) 
(C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/type-otf.tex) 
(delicious.tex 
(C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/type-tmf.tex) 
(C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/type-siz.tex) 
(C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/type-otf.tex) 
(delicious.tex) 
(C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/type-tmf.tex) 
(C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/type-siz.tex) 
(C:/context/tex/texmf-local/tex/context/base/type-otf.tex) (delicious.tex))
system         : module mathsets not found
! Undefined control sequence.
<recently read> \definemathset

l.377 \definemathset
                     [EXP] [text={\doublestroke{E}}]
?




I removed the following from env-thesis.tex;

\definetypeface [mainface] [rm] [serif] [palatino] [default] 
[features=default]
\definetypeface [mainface] [ss] [sans]  [delicious] [default] 
[features=default,
rscale=1.1]
\definetypeface [mainface] [tt] [mono]  [modern] [default] 
[features=default,
rscale=1.1]
\definetypeface [mainface] [mm] [math]  [palatino] [default] 
[encoding=texnansi]
%\definetypeface [mainface] [mm] [math]  [euler] [euler] 
[encoding=texnansi, rscale=1.03]

\setupbodyfont[mainface,12pt]


Thanks
Mohamed

Aditya Mahajan wrote:
> On Tue, 21 Oct 2008, Piotr wrote:
> 
>> Hello,
>>
>> I have spent some time with google in order to find an answer to the
>> following questions. Unfortunatly, I was not satisfied with the
>> answers, which I now hope to find here.
>>
>> It is my plan not to use the MS Office suite for the production of my
>> PhD thesis (in chemistry). I have used Miktex some years ago during my
>> studies for some project reports, and I remember beeing quite
>> satisfied with the results. My Master thesis, on the other hand, I
>> wrote in word.. and although I remember not having too many
>> difficulties, there were some nasty obstacles to be overcome.
>> Obstacles which I simply do not want to risk having repeated a second
>> time on a much bigger scale.
>> I this mailing list I read several reports of people who either had
>> written their thesis in Latex or ConTeXt. There was a mention of Latex
>> beeing designed for mathematic purposes, while ConTeXt was said to be
>> better suited for the intergration of graphics or larger/more complex
>> layout changes.
>>
>> 1) Finding the right context
>> For now I had quite some difficulties to find that proper Latex
>> distribution - a problem that actually led me to the existence of
>> ConTeXt. I am wondering which latex distribution I should choose in
>> order to work with ConTeXt? I am running Windows Vista (64-bit). Or is
>> there a ConTeXt stand alone package that will absolutely satisfy my me
>> in my needs? In principle, all I need is
>>
>> 2) The right editor
>> What is the preferred editor for ConTeXt? for such a project? Is there
>> any loss in functionality when using Texniccenter with ConTeXt than
>> with MikTex instead?
> 
> Depends on what functions you need. There are a few editors which have 
> basic support for ConTeXt (compile document, view pdf, jump to error, 
> etc.). Hans uses Scite and includes a context enabled scite in the 
> windows distribution available on prama-ade.com. Irdis has written support 
> for Notepad++. Vim and emacs have some basic support. I do not know what 
> features texniccenter and winedit provide for context.
> 
>> 3) I have seen some thesis templates/examples in this mailinglist. Can
>> anyone point me to additional sources regarding the creation of a PhD
>> Thesis with ConTeXt?
> 
> Each institute has different requirements for phd thesis, so one template 
> is not going to fit the bill. I did my thesis in context, and you can have 
> a look at the sources and the output:
> 
> http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~adityam/publications/thesis/thesis.pdf
> http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~adityam/publications/thesis/thesis.tar.gz
> 
> The easier way to go about this will be to look at the formatting 
> specifications of the thesis, and try to understand how to implement them 
> in context one by one.
> 
>> What is the advantage over Latex, what are the
>> disadvantages? Is there a win-win distribution somewhere on the table?
> 
> Advantage: In most cases, others have written a style for what you want, 
> so you don't have to create a style on your own.
> 
> Disadvantage: When you do have to create a style on your own, it can be 
> difficult, even in packages which are supposed to be easy to configure
> 
>> 4) Has anyone used a typesetting suite like ContTeXt with CVS?
> 
> As others have said, the source files are simply text files. So you can 
> use any version control that you want.
> 
>> 5) Is the ConTeXt reference system compatible with Endnote?
> 
> I have no experience with endnote. I have seen endnote to bibtex 
> converters. If you can convert to bibtex, then using the references with 
> context is relatively easy.
> 
>> Is there any point to have latex installed, when context can do the
>> trick?
> 
> As Mojca said, you may want to submit something to a journal which accepts 
> latex files.
> 
>> Or lets ask the devils advocate the other way around: What is
>> the point of installing context, when latex could do the trick?
> 
> Again I agree with what Mojca said. If latex can do the job, use it. If 
> you are happy with one of the defaul latex styles, do not use too many 
> figures in your document, do not want text wrapping around figures, use 
> latex.
> 
>> Apart
>> that I have to re-learn latex anyway.. what is better with Context?
> 
> Context has a more consistent interface to all the commands. This makes it 
> easier to remember how to configure things.
> 
> Aditya
> ___________________________________________________________________________________
> If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the Wiki!
> 
> maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
> webpage  : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net
> archive  : https://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/
> wiki     : http://contextgarden.net
> ___________________________________________________________________________________
> 

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___________________________________________________________________________________

Re: PhD Thesis in ConTeXt

[Marcin Borkowski]

Dnia Thu, Oct 23, 2008 at 04:37:23PM +0200, Taco Hoekwater napisał(a):
> 
> Hi,
> 
> Aditya Mahajan wrote:
> > On Wed, 22 Oct 2008, Alan BRASLAU wrote:
> > 
> >> My question to the mailing list: is this task structured? Is this being
> >> managed by anyone?
> > 
> > Unfortunately, not. 
> 
> Aditya's reply sums it up pretty well. I just want to add a quick note.
> 
> After at least half a dozen reiterations of this discussion (and it
> is indeed always exactly the same discussion), I have now reached the
> point where I no longer feel the slightest need to take any action any
> more. From where I stand, it seems that the unhappy people just want
> to complain about, but are not willing to help improve the existing
> documentation, and that the happy people just want to post pointers
> but fail to see a real need to improve anything.

I'm (relatively) new here (I've been subscribed to the list for a few
years, but only recently started to use ConTeXt more seriously), but I'd
like to take the risk and add my point of view.

I miss a good documentation *a lot*.  OTOH, if I were to choose among
the uber-community and uber-manual, I'd prefer the first one (maybe
that's why people prefer the status quo;)).

I would love to help improve the existing docs, though.  Having
uber-manuals *and* uber-community would smash this poor LaTeX-thing out
of the market;P.

The question is: what do I do?  I post something to the wiki from time
to time, but I don't want to engage myself too much - I'm currently
involved in at least one *big* project (which is, btw, connected with
writing some LaTeX document classes); together with my work (doing and
teaching mathematics) this takes *a lot* of time...  What's more, I
can't really help writing manuals for something I don't completely
understand...

> I myself would be much more willing to spend time on (managing|writing)
> the manual if there were any people showing an active interest in it.

Assume that I finally learn how to use that SVN thing and that I try (in
some indefinite time, though) post my remarks on the existing docs, my
examples of files so that they could be either introduced into the
manuals or deemed non-ConTeXt-esque enough;) or my suggestions of
rewriting something: would this help?

And a general remark: of course, my point is not to wipe out LaTeX.  It
has its place.  But popularizing ConTeXt would be great (and I'm doing
it all the time among my friends!).  And good manuals are a *must*
then...  Obviously, writing a good manual takes really much time (and
from some point of view is harder than actually writing code, I guess -
it's very similar in maths, when it's way easier to jot down some notes
for yourself than to prepare some proof for actual publication...)  As I
said before (in another post), it's completely obvious for me that
neither Hans nor you, Taco, have time for writing a good
documentation...

> Best wishes,
> Taco

Best,

-- 
Marcin Borkowski (http://mbork.pl)

<><
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___________________________________________________________________________________

Re: PhD Thesis in ConTeXt

[John Devereux]

Taco Hoekwater <taco@elvenkind.com> writes:

> Hi,
>
> Aditya Mahajan wrote:
>> On Wed, 22 Oct 2008, Alan BRASLAU wrote:
>> 
>>> My question to the mailing list: is this task structured? Is this being
>>> managed by anyone?
>> 
>> Unfortunately, not. 
>
> Aditya's reply sums it up pretty well. I just want to add a quick note.
>
> After at least half a dozen reiterations of this discussion (and it
> is indeed always exactly the same discussion), I have now reached the
> point where I no longer feel the slightest need to take any action any
> more. From where I stand, it seems that the unhappy people just want
> to complain about, but are not willing to help improve the existing
> documentation, and that the happy people just want to post pointers
> but fail to see a real need to improve anything.
>
> I myself would be much more willing to spend time on (managing|writing)
> the manual if there were any people showing an active interest in it.

I myself am very interested in *reading* it - I was delighted to see
the new fonts chapter and the new documention project in general. But
I am not sure I can contribute much. I am much more of a "consumer"
than a "producer", of accurate information. Partly due to lack of time,
but also lack of knowledge :)

-- 

John Devereux
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___________________________________________________________________________________

Re: PhD Thesis in ConTeXt

[Taco Hoekwater]

Hi,

Aditya Mahajan wrote:
> On Wed, 22 Oct 2008, Alan BRASLAU wrote:
> 
>> My question to the mailing list: is this task structured? Is this being
>> managed by anyone?
> 
> Unfortunately, not. 

Aditya's reply sums it up pretty well. I just want to add a quick note.

After at least half a dozen reiterations of this discussion (and it
is indeed always exactly the same discussion), I have now reached the
point where I no longer feel the slightest need to take any action any
more. From where I stand, it seems that the unhappy people just want
to complain about, but are not willing to help improve the existing
documentation, and that the happy people just want to post pointers
but fail to see a real need to improve anything.

I myself would be much more willing to spend time on (managing|writing)
the manual if there were any people showing an active interest in it.

Best wishes,
Taco





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___________________________________________________________________________________

Re: PhD Thesis in ConTeXt

[Aditya Mahajan]

On Wed, 22 Oct 2008, Alan BRASLAU wrote:

> My question to the mailing list: is this task structured? Is this being
> managed by anyone?

Unfortunately, not. Taco started working on the documentation and spent 
more than a month rewriting the font documentation. Most of the old manual 
is now under svn with a open documentation license, so anyone can 
contribute. See http://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextman/ for 
details. But, Taco is busy with luatex, and no one else has contributed 
much (note to self: look at the documentation again).

I had decided to work on the wiki, but only thing that I have done so far 
is reorganize the front page. I have been thinking about working on the 
installation page, but ... (insert favorite excuse)

> Perhaps this was discussed at the User Meeting last August. I would have liked
> to participate (had I been available)...

It was discussed extensively. From what I understood, the conclusion was 
that someone from the community needs to take the initiative to *maintain* 
the manuals. Take the big manual for example. It is fairly complete, but 
some of the documentation is outdated (e.g., it recommends 
\setupindenting[big] instead of \setupindenting[big,yes], there are a few 
more options that have been added to itemize, descriptions, enumerations, 
etc.). So, in most cases, only minor corrections are needed to bring it up 
to date.

We need someone to go through the manual, point out which parts are not 
clear and check if all the commands work as presented. And try to correct 
things if possible, or ask on the mailing list for someone else to correct 
certain sections. Someone needs to manage the whole process. Hans and Taco 
do not have the time to maintain the documentation. So far, no one has 
taken this responsibility. One does not have to be a context expert to do 
this. Just be able to devote some time to the documentation every other 
week or so.

I feel that one area where context documentation is lacking is that most 
of the documentation is by Hans. In Latex, there are many introductory 
documentations by different authors. This is useful, because everyone has 
a different style of presentation, and different users may find some 
styles easier to understand than others. Right now, if someone does not 
like Hans's style of writing, he/she is stuck. We need more people to 
write about ConTeXt.

Aditya
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Re: PhD Thesis in ConTeXt

[Alan BRASLAU]

On Wednesday 22 October 2008 09:13:20 Stephen A. Tjemkes wrote:
> The single frustrating element of context is the documentation. I use
> context now for many years (not on a daily basis though) for writing
> journal papers, posters, presentations etc. I think it is a great package.
> and the community is very active in helping solving problems. But
> documentation is scattered in differnt pdf files, in  different places. I
> am aware that writing good documentation (complete and self consistent) is
> time consuming and on first sight not rewarding.

The context manuals need to be updated and completed. The wiki is a good
(dynamic) source of information, but this lacks the structuring of written 
manuals. I believe that people are working on this, both trying to structure
the wiki as well as to revise the manuals, unless I am mistaken. Good 
documentation is a lot of work, but I believe that it is (almost) as important 
as good programming...

My question to the mailing list: is this task structured? Is this being 
managed by anyone?

Perhaps this was discussed at the User Meeting last August. I would have liked 
to participate (had I been available)...
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Re: PhD Thesis in ConTeXt

[Peter Münster]

On Wed, Oct 22 2008, John Devereux wrote:

> But one thing I still find is that the documentation for a command
> (when it exists at all) can list 20 parameters, of which only a couple
> are explained. I often still have no idea what the others do. The
> meaning may be obvious to typography or tex professionals, but not to
> me unfortunately. If they have standard meanings perhaps they could be
> hyperlinked to an explanation page?

Indeed. One thing is still missing: the complete ConTeXt reference manual,
in other words "texshow" in form of a book and complete. Complete means:
- description of every command
- description of every parameter
- description of every possible value for a parameter
- examples

This is work in progress: http://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextman

Cheers, Peter

-- 
http://pmrb.free.fr/contact/

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Re: PhD Thesis in ConTeXt

[John Devereux]

Steffen Wolfrum <context@st.estfiles.de> writes:

> Am 22.10.2008 um 09:13 schrieb Stephen A. Tjemkes:
>
>> As all the experts have answered your question, let a non-expert  
>> join in.
>>
>> The single frustrating element of context is the documentation. I  
>> use context now for many years (not on a daily basis though) for  
>> writing journal papers, posters, presentations etc. I think it is a  
>> great package. and the community is very active in helping solving  
>> problems. But documentation is scattered in differnt pdf files, in   
>> different places.
>
>
>
> Either there are secret goodies that I don't know or you are just wrong!
>
> You can have it all by using one adress (how can this be more  
> comfortable with LaTeX?):
>
> http://contextgarden.net
>
> That's it.
>
>
>
> Here you can get further to ...
>
> - all manuals authored by PRAGMA: http://wiki.contextgarden.net/The_ConTeXt_Way 
>   -> http://www.pragma-ade.com/show-mag-1.htm
> - all docs written by Hans: http://wiki.contextgarden.net/This_Way
> - all doc written by users: http://wiki.contextgarden.net/My_Way
> - all the email ever written on this list: http://archive.contextgarden.net/splash/index.html
> - all the source ConTeXt is: http://source.contextgarden.net/
>
> Think of contextgarden being the documentation and these above being  
> chapters.
>
> You only have to turn the pages by yourself ... is this asked too much?!

I am a happy context user for several years and have read all the
documentation.

But one thing I still find is that the documentation for a command
(when it exists at all) can list 20 parameters, of which only a couple
are explained. I often still have no idea what the others do. The
meaning may be obvious to typography or tex professionals, but not to
me unfortunately. If they have standard meanings perhaps they could be
hyperlinked to an explanation page?

-- 

John Devereux
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Re: PhD Thesis in ConTeXt

[Steffen Wolfrum]

Am 22.10.2008 um 09:13 schrieb Stephen A. Tjemkes:

> As all the experts have answered your question, let a non-expert  
> join in.
>
> The single frustrating element of context is the documentation. I  
> use context now for many years (not on a daily basis though) for  
> writing journal papers, posters, presentations etc. I think it is a  
> great package. and the community is very active in helping solving  
> problems. But documentation is scattered in differnt pdf files, in   
> different places.



Either there are secret goodies that I don't know or you are just wrong!

You can have it all by using one adress (how can this be more  
comfortable with LaTeX?):

http://contextgarden.net

That's it.



Here you can get further to ...

- all manuals authored by PRAGMA: http://wiki.contextgarden.net/The_ConTeXt_Way 
  -> http://www.pragma-ade.com/show-mag-1.htm
- all docs written by Hans: http://wiki.contextgarden.net/This_Way
- all doc written by users: http://wiki.contextgarden.net/My_Way
- all the email ever written on this list: http://archive.contextgarden.net/splash/index.html
- all the source ConTeXt is: http://source.contextgarden.net/

Think of contextgarden being the documentation and these above being  
chapters.

You only have to turn the pages by yourself ... is this asked too much?!


Steffen

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Re: PhD Thesis in ConTeXt

[Stephen A. Tjemkes]

As all the experts have answered your question, let a non-expert join in.

The single frustrating element of context is the documentation. I use context now for many years (not on a daily basis though) for writing journal papers, posters, presentations etc. I think it is a great package. and the community is very active in helping solving problems. But documentation is scattered in differnt pdf files, in  different places. I am aware that writing good documentation (complete and self consistent) is time consuming and on first sight not rewarding. 

Still the power of easy access to simple examples, templates, documentation (books or otherwise) is over whelming. One reach out to people like me who has no interest in hacking. And just wants to start with a some simple  example that works and take it from there or have a book which explains.  I am a a little disappointed that not more effort is put in making this available. I understand that when there is a bug it needs to be fixed, but it looks sometimes as if the next release is more important than training the novice. Remember, the enemy of a good package is a perfect one.  

As I read yesterday in the list, if you as a dwarf can stand on the shoulders of giants you can look beyond what a giant can see. However, this assumes that you can look. And simple people like me needs to be guided by the giants first in order to be able to look. 

so the bottom line: for me availability of lots of documentation (package documentation, books, white papers etc on different subjects by different authors), templates etc etc  is the value of Latex over context. 

But I am hope that soon this observations is obsolete.

cheers

stephen

>>> Piotr <wuscheln@googlemail.com> 21/10/2008 19:56 >>>
Hello,

I have spent some time with google in order to find an answer to the
following questions. Unfortunatly, I was not satisfied with the
answers, which I now hope to find here.

It is my plan not to use the MS Office suite for the production of my
PhD thesis (in chemistry). I have used Miktex some years ago during my
studies for some project reports, and I remember beeing quite
satisfied with the results. My Master thesis, on the other hand, I
wrote in word.. and although I remember not having too many
difficulties, there were some nasty obstacles to be overcome.
Obstacles which I simply do not want to risk having repeated a second
time on a much bigger scale.
I this mailing list I read several reports of people who either had
written their thesis in Latex or ConTeXt. There was a mention of Latex
beeing designed for mathematic purposes, while ConTeXt was said to be
better suited for the intergration of graphics or larger/more complex
layout changes.

1) Finding the right context
For now I had quite some difficulties to find that proper Latex
distribution - a problem that actually led me to the existence of
ConTeXt. I am wondering which latex distribution I should choose in
order to work with ConTeXt? I am running Windows Vista (64-bit). Or is
there a ConTeXt stand alone package that will absolutely satisfy my me
in my needs? In principle, all I need is

2) The right editor
What is the preferred editor for ConTeXt? for such a project? Is there
any loss in functionality when using Texniccenter with ConTeXt than
with MikTex instead?

3) I have seen some thesis templates/examples in this mailinglist. Can
anyone point me to additional sources regarding the creation of a PhD
Thesis with ConTeXt? What is the advantage over Latex, what are the
disadvantages? Is there a win-win distribution somewhere on the table?

4) Has anyone used a typesetting suite like ContTeXt with CVS?

5) Is the ConTeXt reference system compatible with Endnote?

Is there any point to have latex installed, when context can do the
trick? Or lets ask the devils advocate the other way around: What is
the point of installing context, when latex could do the trick? Apart
that I have to re-learn latex anyway.. what is better with Context?

Regards,

  Piotr Jakubowicz
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Re: PhD Thesis in ConTeXt

[Alan BRASLAU]

I wrote my thesis using nroff... wouldn't want to do that again.
Good luck!
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Re: PhD Thesis in ConTeXt

[Aditya Mahajan]

On Tue, 21 Oct 2008, Piotr wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I have spent some time with google in order to find an answer to the
> following questions. Unfortunatly, I was not satisfied with the
> answers, which I now hope to find here.
>
> It is my plan not to use the MS Office suite for the production of my
> PhD thesis (in chemistry). I have used Miktex some years ago during my
> studies for some project reports, and I remember beeing quite
> satisfied with the results. My Master thesis, on the other hand, I
> wrote in word.. and although I remember not having too many
> difficulties, there were some nasty obstacles to be overcome.
> Obstacles which I simply do not want to risk having repeated a second
> time on a much bigger scale.
> I this mailing list I read several reports of people who either had
> written their thesis in Latex or ConTeXt. There was a mention of Latex
> beeing designed for mathematic purposes, while ConTeXt was said to be
> better suited for the intergration of graphics or larger/more complex
> layout changes.
>
> 1) Finding the right context
> For now I had quite some difficulties to find that proper Latex
> distribution - a problem that actually led me to the existence of
> ConTeXt. I am wondering which latex distribution I should choose in
> order to work with ConTeXt? I am running Windows Vista (64-bit). Or is
> there a ConTeXt stand alone package that will absolutely satisfy my me
> in my needs? In principle, all I need is
>
> 2) The right editor
> What is the preferred editor for ConTeXt? for such a project? Is there
> any loss in functionality when using Texniccenter with ConTeXt than
> with MikTex instead?

Depends on what functions you need. There are a few editors which have 
basic support for ConTeXt (compile document, view pdf, jump to error, 
etc.). Hans uses Scite and includes a context enabled scite in the 
windows distribution available on prama-ade.com. Irdis has written support 
for Notepad++. Vim and emacs have some basic support. I do not know what 
features texniccenter and winedit provide for context.

> 3) I have seen some thesis templates/examples in this mailinglist. Can
> anyone point me to additional sources regarding the creation of a PhD
> Thesis with ConTeXt?

Each institute has different requirements for phd thesis, so one template 
is not going to fit the bill. I did my thesis in context, and you can have 
a look at the sources and the output:

http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~adityam/publications/thesis/thesis.pdf
http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~adityam/publications/thesis/thesis.tar.gz

The easier way to go about this will be to look at the formatting 
specifications of the thesis, and try to understand how to implement them 
in context one by one.

> What is the advantage over Latex, what are the
> disadvantages? Is there a win-win distribution somewhere on the table?

Advantage: In most cases, others have written a style for what you want, 
so you don't have to create a style on your own.

Disadvantage: When you do have to create a style on your own, it can be 
difficult, even in packages which are supposed to be easy to configure

> 4) Has anyone used a typesetting suite like ContTeXt with CVS?

As others have said, the source files are simply text files. So you can 
use any version control that you want.

> 5) Is the ConTeXt reference system compatible with Endnote?

I have no experience with endnote. I have seen endnote to bibtex 
converters. If you can convert to bibtex, then using the references with 
context is relatively easy.

> Is there any point to have latex installed, when context can do the
> trick?

As Mojca said, you may want to submit something to a journal which accepts 
latex files.

> Or lets ask the devils advocate the other way around: What is
> the point of installing context, when latex could do the trick?

Again I agree with what Mojca said. If latex can do the job, use it. If 
you are happy with one of the defaul latex styles, do not use too many 
figures in your document, do not want text wrapping around figures, use 
latex.

> Apart
> that I have to re-learn latex anyway.. what is better with Context?

Context has a more consistent interface to all the commands. This makes it 
easier to remember how to configure things.

Aditya
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Re: PhD Thesis in ConTeXt

[Mojca Miklavec]

On Tue, Oct 21, 2008 at 7:56 PM, Piotr wrote:
>
> For now I had quite some difficulties to find that proper Latex
> distribution

You only have MikTeX and TeX Live. (I used to be a big MikTeX fan. Not
much difference, but MikTeX is more "user friendly" for my biased
taste; sadly lacking ConTeXt at the moment.)

> - a problem that actually led me to the existence of
> ConTeXt. I am wondering which latex distribution I should choose in
> order to work with ConTeXt?

I like the wording a lot (which *LaTeX* distribution to choose) :) :) :)

There are three options:
a) TeX Live
b) MikTeX, but you need quite some manual tweaking and non-trivial
settings to make ConTeXt run
c) ConTeXt minimals (you can have them installed in addition to the
other distribution), no LaTeX, but (almost) no GUI, frequent updates

> Is there any point to have latex installed, when context can do the
> trick?

If you plan to use ConTeXt exclusively, you don't need to have LaTeX
installed unless you compile other people's documents.

> Or lets ask the devils advocate the other way around:
> What is the point of installing context, when latex could do the trick?

If LaTeX can do what you need, none ;)
And I seriously mean it.

> Apart
> that I have to re-learn latex anyway.. what is better with Context?

(others have answered rather well)

> There was a mention of Latex
> beeing designed for mathematic purposes, while ConTeXt was said to be
> better suited for the intergration of graphics or larger/more complex
> layout changes.

Speaking with a bit of irony & highly biased:

In LaTeX you accept the fact that you cannot do any complex layout
modifications.
Consequently you don't even try to adapt anything, so you can devote
more time to contents and don't need to fight with bugs (unless you
start including > 5 packages :)

In ConTeXt it's easy to be more creative with layouts, easy to reach
the limits of what's possible, but also possible to ask for adding
some missing functionality and some bugs\footnote{also possible to ask
to remove them of course} :) :) :)
If you need some creative distraction while writing your thesis, you
have just arrived to the perfect place :)

Mojca
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Re: PhD Thesis in ConTeXt

[Marcin Borkowski]

Dnia Tue, Oct 21, 2008 at 07:56:27PM +0200, Piotr napisał(a):
> Hello,
> 
> I have spent some time with google in order to find an answer to the
> following questions. Unfortunatly, I was not satisfied with the
> answers, which I now hope to find here.
> 
> It is my plan not to use the MS Office suite for the production of my
> PhD thesis (in chemistry). I have used Miktex some years ago during my
> studies for some project reports, and I remember beeing quite
> satisfied with the results. My Master thesis, on the other hand, I
> wrote in word.. and although I remember not having too many
> difficulties, there were some nasty obstacles to be overcome.
> Obstacles which I simply do not want to risk having repeated a second
> time on a much bigger scale.
> I this mailing list I read several reports of people who either had
> written their thesis in Latex or ConTeXt. There was a mention of Latex
> beeing designed for mathematic purposes, while ConTeXt was said to be
> better suited for the intergration of graphics or larger/more complex
> layout changes.

I'm also rather a ConTeXt newbie (and I daresay that I am more of an
expert as far as plain TeX and LaTeX go), but I'll butt in with my
$3*10^{-2};).  I guess I have some right to say something here, too,
since I was first a long-time plain TeX user (about 6 years'
experience), then a LaTeX user (another 6 years or so) and now I've been
trying hard to use ConTeXt for some months.

> 1) Finding the right context
> For now I had quite some difficulties to find that proper Latex
> distribution - a problem that actually led me to the existence of
> ConTeXt. I am wondering which latex distribution I should choose in
> order to work with ConTeXt? I am running Windows Vista (64-bit). Or is
> there a ConTeXt stand alone package that will absolutely satisfy my me
> in my needs? In principle, all I need is

Well, *the* TeX distribution is texlive (AFAIK, it works under unices,
windows & mac).  MikTeX is a popular alternative for windows; it should
also contain ConTeXt, although not necessarily the state-of-the-art one.
Nowadays texlive has an automatic package update (much like MikTeX).
And if you want to use the latest-and-greatest ConTeXt, the so-called
"minimals" are for you.  (On a day to day basis, I use ConTeXt MkII
which came with texlive, and it's enough for me; I don't use all these
fancy things like xml, opentype fonts etc.  OTOH, I have some newer
version, too, just in case I need it some day.)

> 2) The right editor
> What is the preferred editor for ConTeXt? for such a project? Is there
> any loss in functionality when using Texniccenter with ConTeXt than
> with MikTex instead?

Well, my heart is breaking when I type this, but my beloved emacs;) has
rather poor ConTeXt support...  I use Emacs 22 with AUCTeX 11.84.  Well,
although it *works*, it is by no means convenient - at least not that
convenient as an emacs should be;).  Hans uses SciTE, which should
therefore be a good answer.

> 3) I have seen some thesis templates/examples in this mailinglist. Can
> anyone point me to additional sources regarding the creation of a PhD
> Thesis with ConTeXt? What is the advantage over Latex, what are the
> disadvantages? Is there a win-win distribution somewhere on the table?

Well, recently I'm starting to prefer ConTeXt over LaTeX very much.  The
are quite a few reasons.  (I blogged about some of them some time ago;
you may find this post here:
http://mbork.pl/2008-08-26_Dlaczego_nie_lubię_LaTeXa; notice it's in
Polish, so of no use to most people on this list;).  I plan to translate
this into English, but this not very high on my priority list...)

To sum it up (especially for non-Polish people here;) - I assume that my
answer *might* be of interest not only to the author of this thread;)),
the problems are as follows: while LaTeX is very nice when you write a
scientific paper, it's not that nice when you write a test for students
or a letter to Aunt Henrietta;).  Another thing is an always possible
package clash, which is highly improbable in a monolithic system like
ConTeXt.  And yet another is that many, many things in LaTeX have a
somehow "hacky" feeling about them, and in ConTeXt they are much more
natural (take the enumerate/enumitem packages, for instance, or text
floating around graphics, or multicolumn typestting...).  And last but
not least - in LaTeX, writing content is easy, changing the way things
look is difficult (I know, this is an oversimplification and need not
always be the case, but this is my general feeling); in ConTeXt, both
are easy.

There are some caveats, too.  More about them in a moment.

> 4) Has anyone used a typesetting suite like ContTeXt with CVS?

As it was pointed out, you write just plain text files, so it's not a
problem (and I would consider it highly recommended!).  Personally, I
use (another) ancient system (RCS); since I write my documencts mainly
by myself, it suffices for me.

> 5) Is the ConTeXt reference system compatible with Endnote?

That I have no idea of - but this question was (at least partially)
answered.  I have no experience (yet) with bibliographies in ConTeXt; in
LaTeX, I strongly recommend the amsrefs package over BibTeX, which I
dislike very much.  But this is off-topic a bit here;) and I include it
only in case you choose LaTeX.

> Is there any point to have latex installed, when context can do the
> trick? Or lets ask the devils advocate the other way around: What is
> the point of installing context, when latex could do the trick? Apart
> that I have to re-learn latex anyway.. what is better with Context?

For me, there *is* a point in installing LaTeX: most mathematical
journals accept LaTeX files and not ConTeXt ones.  I don't know what it
is like with chemistry.  OTOH, in case of simple documents (here
"simple" means not only "simple" in the usual meaning, but also: "not
messing with the presentation, but containing only content, and leaving
the look to the class authors"), automatic conversion in either way
should be rather easy.

Another disadvantage of ConTeXt is much smaller userbase; this might be
a problem when something does not work; OTOH, the ConTeXt userbase is so
active and helpful, that this should not be a serious problem...  (I'm
not saying that LaTeX userbase is worse, but being much, much bigger
seems not to translate into being much, much more active/helpful - the
level of activity and "helpfulness" is similar.  Well, in fact it is
difficult to imagine that the userbase of some tool could actually be
*more* helpful and active;).)

Yet another thing is that ConTeXt lacks good documentation - we all know
that 24h is 24h also for Hans, so no-one blames him for that, and there
is the great wiki - but sometimes it's a bit frustrating (at least for
me).  Don't expect that you will be easily able to learn everything in
ConTeXt by yourself; expect to be a frequent visitor of this mailing
list and the wiki.  If this is ok for you, no problem.  Also, be
prepared for a situation when something does not work and you have no
idea why.  (Well, this may happen with LaTeX, too, not to mention M$
Office;).)

OTOH, LaTeX documentation (I mean here documentation of different
packages) has a very, very wide spectrum - from the excellent docs for
pgf and beamer to the only thing being available being one page example
and some obscure source code...

I hope that fanatic ConTeXters won't kill me for what I've written above,
but in case they get angry let me stress now some other advantages of
ConTeXt.

* many more things are available "out of the box" - and they usually
  Just Work (TM).  (Well, not always - maybe some things work better in
  LaTeX - but still, you can always ask here, and if your question is
  well-defined, most probably sooner or later some wizard will help
  you.)

* the layout design is way more user-friendly - and if you are both the
  author and designer, this is important.

* it's much easier to do graphics, linked pdfs or colors in ConTeXt than
  in LaTeX; it is much more modern.  ConTeXt is also well-suited for
  preparing presentations, although now that we have the beamer LaTeX
  class, doing it in LaTeX is also a very pleasant experience.

Summing it up: use ConTeXt.  It will be frustrating from time to time,
but rewarding and fascinating most of the time.  The learning curve has
similar slope as for LaTeX (which will BTW also give you your share of
frustration), and you will get to know all these wonderful people on
this list:).  (Not that the LaTeX people are worse!)  And if you choose
ConTeXt, it will be not only you who will benefit, but also the society:
the more people use ConTeXt, the better it may become (I mean especially
documentation and wiki).

> Regards,
> 
>   Piotr Jakubowicz

Greets

-- 
Marcin Borkowski (http://mbork.pl)

This program is written in Perl.  While stronger people find reading
Perl code character-building, it should not be shown to people in their
formative years.  The author will not accept any responsibility for any
moral grief caused.

	    (The McKornik Jr. Public License)
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___________________________________________________________________________________

Re: PhD Thesis in ConTeXt

[Diego Depaoli]

2008/10/21 Henning Hraban Ramm <hraban@fiee.net>:
>> Or lets ask the devils advocate the other way around: What is
>> the point of installing context, when latex could do the trick? Apart
>> that I have to re-learn latex anyway.. what is better with Context?
>
> - ConTeXt's scripts know how often your sources need to be run
> - more freedom in design (but some prefer LaTeX's "fixed" document
> classes)
> - more coherent interface (key=value syntax)
> - better support for modern features, esp. with LuaTeX
> - integration of external packages like MetaPost, GNUplot etc., see http://modules.contextgarden.net/
> - easy font installation (or no installation at all with XeTeX or
> LuaTeX)
Please don't forget...
this wonderful and helpful mailing list :-)
Welcome.

-- 
Diego Depaoli
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Re: PhD Thesis in ConTeXt

[Henning Hraban Ramm]

Am 2008-10-21 um 19:56 schrieb Piotr:
> 1) Finding the right context
> For now I had quite some difficulties to find that proper Latex
> distribution - a problem that actually led me to the existence of
> ConTeXt. I am wondering which latex distribution I should choose in
> order to work with ConTeXt? I am running Windows Vista (64-bit). Or is
> there a ConTeXt stand alone package that will absolutely satisfy my me
> in my needs? In principle, all I need is

If you don't need LaTeX or PlainTeX and just ConTeXt, go for the  
minimals (see wiki).
I don't know about Win64 versions, though. (I'm on OSX)

> 2) The right editor
> What is the preferred editor for ConTeXt? for such a project? Is there
> any loss in functionality when using Texniccenter with ConTeXt than
> with MikTex instead?

Some ConTeXters use SciTE, others Emacs. I guess the ConTeXt modes of  
those are most evolved.

I mostly use TextWrangler (Mac only), that has only a rudimentary  
syntax highlighting, but it's enough for me.

see http://wiki.contextgarden.net/Text_Editors

Be sure to use an editor with proper Unicode abilities and (I'd  
suggest to) write in UTF-8 encoding.

> 3) I have seen some thesis templates/examples in this mailinglist. Can
> anyone point me to additional sources regarding the creation of a PhD
> Thesis with ConTeXt? What is the advantage over Latex, what are the
> disadvantages? Is there a win-win distribution somewhere on the table?

What you need depends on the requirements of your university...

I'm no academic, so don't know what would be special with a PhD thesis.

Did you look through http://wiki.contextgarden.net/Sample_documents ?

Did you find http://wiki.contextgarden.net/Chemistry ?


> 4) Has anyone used a typesetting suite like ContTeXt with CVS?

Do you mean your sources or ConTeXt itself?

Of course all TeX files are simple text files, so any versioning  
system is usable.

But I'd suggest to use SVN or another less ancient system than CVS.

> 5) Is the ConTeXt reference system compatible with Endnote?

Jeff answered that.

> Is there any point to have latex installed, when context can do the
> trick?

No.

> Or lets ask the devils advocate the other way around: What is
> the point of installing context, when latex could do the trick? Apart
> that I have to re-learn latex anyway.. what is better with Context?

- ConTeXt's scripts know how often your sources need to be run
- more freedom in design (but some prefer LaTeX's "fixed" document  
classes)
- more coherent interface (key=value syntax)
- better support for modern features, esp. with LuaTeX
- integration of external packages like MetaPost, GNUplot etc., see http://modules.contextgarden.net/
- easy font installation (or no installation at all with XeTeX or  
LuaTeX)
- ...


Greetlings from Lake Constance!
Hraban
---
http://www.fiee.net/texnique/
http://wiki.contextgarden.net
https://www.cacert.org (I'm an assurer)

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Re: PhD Thesis in ConTeXt

[Jeff Smith]

Hi,

I will let the other, more experienced posters answer the bulk of your
questions, as they will do better than I. But about Endnote, which I
happen to use, alongside my own own doctoral dissertation writing
under ConTeXt, I can share some of my experience.

Although Endnote can export into BibTeX format, the result seems not
to be directly usable by BibTeX. Not familiar at all with BibTeX and
stuff in the beginning, I had look hard to find my answer, and I
finally did with the following link, although it's in a different
context:

http://www.mackichan.com/index.html?techtalk/558.htm~mainFrame

So I wrote a small Python program converting the keys that Endnote
exports -- and now everything works like a charm. I have no idea what
are your options, and what you are willing to do, but the bottom line
is, there is a slight obstacle going from Endnote to BibTeX, despite
appearances.

Jeff


On Tue, Oct 21, 2008 at 13:56, Piotr <wuscheln@googlemail.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I have spent some time with google in order to find an answer to the
> following questions. Unfortunatly, I was not satisfied with the
> answers, which I now hope to find here.
>
> It is my plan not to use the MS Office suite for the production of my
> PhD thesis (in chemistry). I have used Miktex some years ago during my
> studies for some project reports, and I remember beeing quite
> satisfied with the results. My Master thesis, on the other hand, I
> wrote in word.. and although I remember not having too many
> difficulties, there were some nasty obstacles to be overcome.
> Obstacles which I simply do not want to risk having repeated a second
> time on a much bigger scale.
> I this mailing list I read several reports of people who either had
> written their thesis in Latex or ConTeXt. There was a mention of Latex
> beeing designed for mathematic purposes, while ConTeXt was said to be
> better suited for the intergration of graphics or larger/more complex
> layout changes.
>
> 1) Finding the right context
> For now I had quite some difficulties to find that proper Latex
> distribution - a problem that actually led me to the existence of
> ConTeXt. I am wondering which latex distribution I should choose in
> order to work with ConTeXt? I am running Windows Vista (64-bit). Or is
> there a ConTeXt stand alone package that will absolutely satisfy my me
> in my needs? In principle, all I need is
>
> 2) The right editor
> What is the preferred editor for ConTeXt? for such a project? Is there
> any loss in functionality when using Texniccenter with ConTeXt than
> with MikTex instead?
>
> 3) I have seen some thesis templates/examples in this mailinglist. Can
> anyone point me to additional sources regarding the creation of a PhD
> Thesis with ConTeXt? What is the advantage over Latex, what are the
> disadvantages? Is there a win-win distribution somewhere on the table?
>
> 4) Has anyone used a typesetting suite like ContTeXt with CVS?
>
> 5) Is the ConTeXt reference system compatible with Endnote?
>
> Is there any point to have latex installed, when context can do the
> trick? Or lets ask the devils advocate the other way around: What is
> the point of installing context, when latex could do the trick? Apart
> that I have to re-learn latex anyway.. what is better with Context?
>
> Regards,
>
>  Piotr Jakubowicz
> ___________________________________________________________________________________
> If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the Wiki!
>
> maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
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> ___________________________________________________________________________________
>
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___________________________________________________________________________________

PhD Thesis in ConTeXt

[Piotr]

Hello,

I have spent some time with google in order to find an answer to the
following questions. Unfortunatly, I was not satisfied with the
answers, which I now hope to find here.

It is my plan not to use the MS Office suite for the production of my
PhD thesis (in chemistry). I have used Miktex some years ago during my
studies for some project reports, and I remember beeing quite
satisfied with the results. My Master thesis, on the other hand, I
wrote in word.. and although I remember not having too many
difficulties, there were some nasty obstacles to be overcome.
Obstacles which I simply do not want to risk having repeated a second
time on a much bigger scale.
I this mailing list I read several reports of people who either had
written their thesis in Latex or ConTeXt. There was a mention of Latex
beeing designed for mathematic purposes, while ConTeXt was said to be
better suited for the intergration of graphics or larger/more complex
layout changes.

1) Finding the right context
For now I had quite some difficulties to find that proper Latex
distribution - a problem that actually led me to the existence of
ConTeXt. I am wondering which latex distribution I should choose in
order to work with ConTeXt? I am running Windows Vista (64-bit). Or is
there a ConTeXt stand alone package that will absolutely satisfy my me
in my needs? In principle, all I need is

2) The right editor
What is the preferred editor for ConTeXt? for such a project? Is there
any loss in functionality when using Texniccenter with ConTeXt than
with MikTex instead?

3) I have seen some thesis templates/examples in this mailinglist. Can
anyone point me to additional sources regarding the creation of a PhD
Thesis with ConTeXt? What is the advantage over Latex, what are the
disadvantages? Is there a win-win distribution somewhere on the table?

4) Has anyone used a typesetting suite like ContTeXt with CVS?

5) Is the ConTeXt reference system compatible with Endnote?

Is there any point to have latex installed, when context can do the
trick? Or lets ask the devils advocate the other way around: What is
the point of installing context, when latex could do the trick? Apart
that I have to re-learn latex anyway.. what is better with Context?

Regards,

  Piotr Jakubowicz
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maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
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