Re: define vs setup

[Bill Meahan <wmeahan94@gmail.com>]

[-- Attachment #1.1: Type: text/plain, Size: 2908 bytes --]

On 07/26/2012 04:13 AM, Hans Hagen wrote:
> On 26-7-2012 05:21, S Barmeier wrote:
>> You can \setup what you \define|d yourself and \setup what is
>> pre\define|d, but not \setup something that is not \define|d.
>>
>> Maybe ;)
>
> it depends .. often it's:
>
> \definexx[whatever]
> \definexx[whatever][settings]
> \definexx[another][parent]
> \definexx[another][parent][settings]
>
> \setupxx[settings]
> \setupxx[another][settings]
> \setupxx[whatever][settings]
>
> sometimes there are no defines because a feature is generic or global in
> nature. often a define generates a command (\whatever, \startwhatever), etc
>
> btw, a redefine does not reset already set parameters (in mkii that is
> often the case but not in mkiv)
>
> it all depends on what kind of functionality you're dealing with
>
> Hans
>

OK, let's deal with a specific use case.

I'm publisher/editor/reporter/photographer/mailer/janitor/coffeemaker 
for an organizational newsletter. I've done lots of other newsletters 
before but using DTP programs. I really want to use ConTeXt for this one
because the layout is (required to be) absolutely identical from one 
issue to the next.

Like a traditional newspaper, the front page will contain the masthead, 
headline and (for this one) a mandatory Privacy Act Notification. I'm 
virtually certain I can handle the three "special" bits using layers and
which will leave the margins and text area the same as the rest of the 
pages albeit with no header or footer. Hence, by definition, the front 
page is a makeup page for which the examples on the wiki are a bit, 
shall we say, sparse.

Without the makeup page, a \setuplayout [settings] works just 
wonderfully - I have a dummy with which I'm doing testing so I actually 
tried it. :)

Would I correctly, then, do the following:

% Global layout
\setuplayout
     [settings]

\definelayout
     [frontpage]
     [settings]   % Only those things that are different from the global

\definemakeup
     [frontpage]

% other definitions, fonts yadda, yadda, yadda

\starttext

\startmakeup [frontpage]
% place the layers

% content

\stopmakup

% continue content as required

\stoptext

Sorry for the length of this note but I thought it better to explain the 
whole thing upfront than in bits and pieces.

Thanks for all the help. I'm really loving ConTeXt but switching after
<mumble> years of using LaTeX and DTP programs is proving a little more 
of a challenge than I expected. Old dogs *can* learn new tricks but it 
takes a bit more work. :)

-- 
Bill Meahan, Westland, Michigan USA

“Writing is a combination of intangible
   creative fantasy and appallingly
   hard work.”

           —Anthony Powell


This message is digitally signed with an X.509 certificate
to prove it is from me and has not been altered since it was sent.


[-- Attachment #1.2: S/MIME Cryptographic Signature --]
[-- Type: application/pkcs7-signature, Size: 4933 bytes --]

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/plain, Size: 485 bytes --]

___________________________________________________________________________________
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
___________________________________________________________________________________