Toward an errata sheet.

Toward an errata sheet.

[John R. Culleton]

I mentioned on comp.text.tex that my copy of _Context The Mamual_
was 
a) tattered from use
b) annotated here and there with corrections based on posts from
this list. 

Another party wanted to borrow my manual! I sent him my two
marginal annotations and redirected his attention to pragma-ade
but his request gave me an idea. Perhaps we all should exchange
annotations where there is a typo or other error we have
uncovered. It would be a kind of group errata sheet. To start
the ball rolling here are my two annotations:
------------------------------------------------------------
p 148:change "head=nomarking" to "header=nomarking"

p 242: Modify example by adding opening brace prior to 
\startcombination and closing brace after \stopombination:
...
{\startcombination
...
\stopcombination}

------------------------------------------------------------
Obviously there are features that are covered elsewhere 
or covered better elsewhere. That is not my immediate concern. 
If we can just pool our marginal corrections it would be of mutual
benefit. 

I use the English language manual in letter size format. 
-- 
John Culleton
Books with answers to marketing and publishing questions:
http://wexfordpress.com/tex/shortlist.pdf

Book coaches, consultants and packagers:
http://wexfordpress.com/tex/packagers.pdf

Re: Re: Toward an errata sheet.

[John R. Culleton]

On Thursday 01 September 2005 03:28 pm, Patrick Gundlach wrote:
> Hi John,
>
> > uncovered. It would be a kind of group errata sheet. To start
> > the ball rolling here are my two annotations:
>
> Please put them on the wiki. This would be an ideal place to collect
> these things.
>
> Patrick
In theory, yes. as practical matter one must first learn the
wiki conventions, then establish a page or something for errata,
and then let people know where to look/post, and then...

I use a brute force method. On my computer I have all the
Context mailing list posts in a folder starting with February 2,
2004. I can search on a keyword. If the subject in every case
contains "errata" then it is easy to assemble a listing of the
pertinent posts. 

Looking to the future, if I see a post with "errata" in the subject
line I can inspect it and mark up my manual. At that point I
don't need the particular post any more. 

If instead we are to use the wiki, then someone (not me) needs to
explain the ins and outs of wikidom, create a page etc. 
 as outlined in my first paragraph. 

-- 
John Culleton
Books with answers to marketing and publishing questions:
http://wexfordpress.com/tex/shortlist.pdf

Book coaches, consultants and packagers:
http://wexfordpress.com/tex/packagers.pdf

Re: Toward an errata sheet.

[Patrick Gundlach]

Hi John,

> uncovered. It would be a kind of group errata sheet. To start
> the ball rolling here are my two annotations:

Please put them on the wiki. This would be an ideal place to collect
these things.

Patrick

-- 
ConTeXt wiki and more: http://contextgarden.net

Re: Toward an errata sheet.

[Mari Voipio]

John R. Culleton wrote:
> Perhaps we all should exchange annotations where there is a typo or
> other error we have uncovered. It would be a kind of group errata
> sheet.

Yes, this would be a very good idea - for example I bumped into the 
combination 'bug' so long ago that I'd already forgotten about it; but 
at a time I both knew that it existed and how to fix it, so it's kind of 
stupid that you had to stumble on the same problem.


Here's a stupid one from the big manual in English; doesn't bother me, 
but would confuse a newcomer (and yes, I checked this one with the 
online version, it still exists):

-------
on p. 241 every single example says
\exernalfigure[blaa] instead of \externalfigure
   ^^^
--------


I think contextgarden/wiki seems like an ideal place where to put these 
(that way we also avoid duplicates). I'm not very familiar with the 
system and find it somewhat hard to navigate, but if somebody points me 
to the correct direction, I'll enter anything I find in the manuals...

The beginner's manual has some 'interesting' errors, too, and I assume 
the Dutch versions have their problems too, so maybe a separate 
entry/page for each manual and language?


Sometimes a simple typo causes lots of frustration, so I'm all for this 
suggestion!


mari
(...using ConteXt to write manuals, guaranteed to come with typos, 
sometimes in awkward places...)

Re: Re: Toward an errata sheet.

[Brooks Moses]

At 06:20 AM 9/1/2005, John R. Culleton wrote:
>Looking to the future, if I see a post with "errata" in the subject
>line I can inspect it and mark up my manual. At that point I
>don't need the particular post any more.
>
>If instead we are to use the wiki, then someone (not me) needs to
>explain the ins and outs of wikidom, create a page etc.
>  as outlined in my first paragraph.

I have created a page for errata in the ConTeXt-EN manual, here:
   http://wiki.contextgarden.net/ConTeXtEN_Errata

The relevant ins and outs of Wikidom should be fairly straightforward -- to 
add an erratum, click on the "edit" link at the top of the page, and then 
add your erratum in the edit window (at this point, you should be able to 
simply duplicate the formatting of an existing item, without needing to 
know anything else), and click submit.

As you note, it's useful to post here about the errata one discovers, so 
that people know of them (and also so that they can be discussed -- perhaps 
an erratum is itself in error!).  My suggestion would be to post everything 
here, and include a note as to whether it has or has not been added to the 
Wiki page.  If it hasn't been added, someone will surely add it.

The three errata mentioned in this thread are on the page; I'll go back and 
see what else I find in the archives.

- Brooks

P.S. I think there should be a page for Errata in general, linked from the 
front page of the Wiki.  (Or, else, the "Bugs and Workarounds" page should 
be changed to be "Bugs, Workarounds, and Errata")  However, I don't have 
access to the front page of the Wiki to change that; can someone who has 
access do that?