Re: Context, Latex, or an XML for acaddemic writing?

Re: Context, Latex, or an XML for acaddemic writing?

[David Waller]

Just to add a slightly different flavour, I have been using PdfLatex
for several years to produce technical manuals for various pieces of
software, which have included a lot of graphics and tables.
I have recently changed to ConText mainly because it is far easier to
set up how you want the text to be displayed and you don't need to
include lots of additional packages which often have side effects with
each other and need to be included in the correct order.
I have also found it very easy to modify Latex input to Context input
and particularly like the separation possible with graphics (whereby
you can have a separate file that points to the graphics file and not
have to embed the file name in the middle of the document)

It would be nice if this list could produce some "good" layouts for
others to use to provide us all with some defaults and a starting
point rather than everyone reinventing the wheel.

Dave Waller

Re: Re: Context, Latex, or an XML for acaddemic writing?

[Hans Hagen]

David Waller wrote:
> Just to add a slightly different flavour, I have been using PdfLatex
> for several years to produce technical manuals for various pieces of
> software, which have included a lot of graphics and tables.
> I have recently changed to ConText mainly because it is far easier to
> set up how you want the text to be displayed and you don't need to
> include lots of additional packages which often have side effects with
> each other and need to be included in the correct order.
> I have also found it very easy to modify Latex input to Context input
> and particularly like the separation possible with graphics (whereby
> you can have a separate file that points to the graphics file and not
> have to embed the file name in the middle of the document)
> 
> It would be nice if this list could produce some "good" layouts for
> others to use to provide us all with some defaults and a starting
> point rather than everyone reinventing the wheel.

well, one approach to this is that some folks on the list provide

   'i want this, what is the best way'

kind of questions and collect the answers in a manual / style

Hans


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Re: Re: Context, Latex, or an XML for acaddemic writing?

[Mojca Miklavec]

Hans Hagen wrote:
>> It would be nice if this list could produce some "good" layouts for
>> others to use to provide us all with some defaults and a starting
>> point rather than everyone reinventing the wheel.
> 
> well, one approach to this is that some folks on the list provide
> 
>   'i want this, what is the best way'
> 
> kind of questions and collect the answers in a manual / style
> 
> Hans

Perhaps one of them would be cloning the default LaTeX style and include 
it into standard ConTeXt distribution. I guess this would be one reason 
more for LaTeX people to switch.
(I sometimes still use LaTeX if I have absolutely no time and need to 
think about layout.)

Mojca

LaTeX emulation (was: Context, Latex, or an XML for acaddemic writing?)

[Maurice Diamantini]

Le 18 mai 05 à 00:13, Mojca Miklavec a écrit :

> Perhaps one of them would be cloning the default LaTeX style and  
> include it into standard ConTeXt distribution. I guess this would  
> be one reason more for LaTeX people to switch.
> (I sometimes still use LaTeX if I have absolutely no time and need  
> to think about layout.)

I agree I would be a very nice thing to have!
The main LaTeX "classes" to emulate would be:
- article
- rapport
- book

But this is much work for somebody who is more interested by the content
of its document than by the envelope.
So this thing (context template) will take much time in collaborating.

What kind of stuff do we need for, say, an "article" LaTeX class?

    \usemodule[latex]
    \usemodule[latexarticle]

This should modify the behavior of all the \section like command,
the \startitemize, add some \newtheorem emulation,
a decent defaut table of content listing ...

Where to start
- define a name for the module (e.g. [latexarticle]),
- begin an empty template module,
- perhaps there should be a common module for all LaTeX emulation
   which would be called by all "laTeX classes" emulation ?
- start the "to ask for / fill request point" cycle ?


Maurice

Re: LaTeX emulation

[Taco Hoekwater]

Maurice Diamantini wrote:
> 
> Le 18 mai 05 à 00:13, Mojca Miklavec a écrit :
> 
>> Perhaps one of them would be cloning the default LaTeX style and  
>> include it into standard ConTeXt distribution. I guess this would  be 
>> one reason more for LaTeX people to switch.
>> (I sometimes still use LaTeX if I have absolutely no time and need  to 
>> think about layout.)
> 
> 
> I agree I would be a very nice thing to have!
> The main LaTeX "classes" to emulate would be:
> - article
> - rapport
> - book

> But this is much work for somebody who is more interested by the content
> of its document than by the envelope.
> So this thing (context template) will take much time in collaborating.
> 
> What kind of stuff do we need for, say, an "article" LaTeX class?
> 
>    \usemodule[latex]
>    \usemodule[latexarticle]

It would look like this:

   % be like a standard latex class
   \setuplayout[margins=verywide]
   \setuphead[font=too_large,before=enormous_gap,after=big_gap]
   \setupalign[never]
   \setupfloats[location=trailing]
   % uncomment next line for report.cls headline
   % \setupheader[style=obnoxious]
   \endinput

:-)

There must be at least some decent LaTeX layouts out there,
surely there is no need to emulate the default classes?

Greetings,

Taco

Re: LaTeX emulation

[Brooks Moses]

At 07:10 AM 5/18/2005, you wrote:
>Maurice Diamantini wrote:
>>But this is much work for somebody who is more interested by the content
>>of its document than by the envelope.
>>So this thing (context template) will take much time in collaborating.
>>What kind of stuff do we need for, say, an "article" LaTeX class?
>>    \usemodule[latex]
>>    \usemodule[latexarticle]
>
>It would look like this:
>
>   % be like a standard latex class
>   \setuplayout[margins=verywide]
[...]

>:-)
>
>There must be at least some decent LaTeX layouts out there,
>surely there is no need to emulate the default classes?

In my opinion, the primary utility of this would be an ability to emulate 
the large quantity of classes that are based on the default classes, but 
with the margins and stuff adjusted to fit a given journal style (or 
such).  One hopes that this could be done automatically, too, by feeding 
the appropriate arbitrary style file into ConTeXt, but that may be a bit 
much to ask at least at first.

- Brooks

Re: LaTeX emulation

[Adam Lindsay]

Brooks Moses said this at Wed, 18 May 2005 09:23:01 -0700:

>>:-)
>>
>>There must be at least some decent LaTeX layouts out there,
>>surely there is no need to emulate the default classes?
>
>In my opinion, the primary utility of this would be an ability to emulate 
>the large quantity of classes that are based on the default classes, but 
>with the margins and stuff adjusted to fit a given journal style (or 
>such).  One hopes that this could be done automatically, too, by feeding 
>the appropriate arbitrary style file into ConTeXt, but that may be a bit 
>much to ask at least at first.

Okay, I'd agree there's a need for some no-brains default styles.
I'd also agree with Taco's point that LaTeX's defaults are pretty ugly.
On the other hand, they're *familiar* and widespread. To many with an
engineering viewpoint, that can be more important than "attractive".

I suspect that going through and emulating individual journal styles is
going to be a futile exercise, but we can work through some specific
requests of classes with a limited number of options. I suspect that
with the "emulation mode" taken care of, some of us will want to give a
"ConTeXt remix" slant on it, to show how things can be done better.

So: any requests?
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Re: LaTeX emulation

[Peter Münster]

On Wed, 18 May 2005, Maurice Diamantini wrote:

> What kind of stuff do we need for, say, an "article" LaTeX class?

Hello,
I like the LaTeX-KOMA-classes. Here some setups, that I used for my
brother's thesis:

\doifmodeelse{A4}{%
  \setuppapersize[A4]\setupbodyfont[12pt]}{%
  \setuppapersize[A5]\setupbodyfont[9pt]}
\setupheader[style=\it]
\setuphead[chapter,title][header=nomarking]
\setupindenting[small]
\define[1]\LeftAligned{\startalignment[right,broad]#1\stopalignment}
\setuphead[title,chapter,section,subsection,subsubsection][%
  textcommand=\LeftAligned,textstyle=bold,numberstyle=bold]
\setuplist[chapter][style=bold,before=\blank]
\setupcombinedlist[content][alternative=c]
\setuppagenumbering[location=footer]
\definemakeup[title][standard,align=middle]
\setupbodyfontenvironment[default][em=italic]
\doifmodeelse{oneside}{\setupheadertexts[chapter]}{%
  \setupheadertexts[][section][chapter][]
  \setuppagenumbering[alternative=doublesided]}

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%% This is an emulation of \usepackage[DIVcalc]{typearea} in LaTeX.
\def\BCOR{3mm}% eventual binding correction
 newdimen\PageWidth \PageWidth=\paperwidth
\doifmode{BCOR}{\PageWidth=\dimexpr(\PageWidth-\BCOR)}
\edef\Ratio{\withoutpt{\the\dimexpr(2\paperheight/(\PageWidth/32768))}}
\setbox\scratchbox\hbox{\dorecurse{26}{\character\recurselevel}}
\newdimen\Width \newdimen\Height \newdimen\Back
\Width=\dimexpr(2.6\wd\scratchbox) \Height=\dimexpr(\Ratio\Width)
\doifmodeelse{oneside}{\Back=\dimexpr((\PageWidth - \Width) / 2)}%
  {\Back=\dimexpr((\PageWidth - \Width) / 3)}
\doifmode{BCOR}{\Back=\dimexpr(\Back + \BCOR)}
\edef\Top{\the\dimexpr((\paperheight - \Height) / 3 - 3\lineheight)}
\Height=\dimexpr(\Height + 8\lineheight)
\setuplayout[backspace=\the\Back,height=\the\Height,width=\the\Width,
  header=2\lineheight,headerdistance=\lineheight,
  footer=2\lineheight,footerdistance=3\lineheight,topspace=\Top]
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

\setupalign[line]
\def\upperrightdoublesixquote{\kern-.125em``}% german quotes
\def\emph#1{{\em#1}}
\def\texttwosuperior{$^2$}
\setupcaptions[width=\makeupwidth,
  style={\switchtobodyfont[small]\setupinterlinespace}]

Cheers, Peter

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