Re: Ideas for restructuring the ConTeXt garden?

[Marco <netuse@lavabit.com>]

On 2011-03-12 Florian Wobbe <Florian.Wobbe@awi.de> wrote:

> Maybe we should start a discussion in a new thread to find out:
> 
> 1) why users are confused with mkiv/mkii?

Because the old manuals only mention mkii and many things have changed in mkiv
and don't work in mkii. It is not easy for beginners to choose between mkii
and mkiv. And many are not aware of the two different (and incompatible)
versions and mix them up.

> 2) why they my be reluctant to install the minimals?

First:
Users like to install software using the package management system. Installing
software manually is considered evil. For software that is updated frequently
usually ppa links are provided for the repository.

Second:
You mentioned it already. Users tend to install »maximals«, not minimals, they
don't like rectricted versions if you can get the whole. ;)

> 3) how to restructure the garden to make things clearer for newcomers?

Make it clear that the minimals are the standard way of using ConTeXt, not
TeXlive when they want an up-to-date ConTeXt distribution. 

A clear advise for mkiv and contra mkii. mkiv is the way to go in the future.

> 4) how do users look for information and how to optimise the garden for
> search engine requests?

I don't see a problem there (but still, maybe other people have). Searching
the mailing list, the garden or google for context + pragma usually points to
the right direction.

> 5) how to better promote context to new/latex users?

Provide examples using the described features, so they have a point to start
from. This is solved in a good way in the pdf documents, not really on the
wiki.

> I understand the problem.
> 
> Having said that, pages like "Using Mark IV" or "Install Mark IV" should be
> renamed to "installing/using context".

ACK

> Then I am aware of many people who are reluctant to install the minimals. I
> now wonder why I (myself) was unwilling to install the minimals in the
> first place, having TeXLive installed already. For one it was because of
> the extra effort. But I recall it was also the name "The ConTeXt MINIMAL
> distribution" that kept me. The name "minimal" somehow suggested something
> incomplete or minor to me. It took me a while to figure out that the
> minimals is actually more than you get from TexLive. Therefore, I would
> suggest leaving out "minimal" and advertise the superior instead.

Very true. But it's an established name, I don't believe that it's likely to
be changed.


Marco


___________________________________________________________________________________
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  : http://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/
wiki     : http://contextgarden.net
___________________________________________________________________________________