From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Msuck: nntp://news.gmane.io/gmane.comp.tex.context/68824 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: "George N. White III" Newsgroups: gmane.comp.tex.context Subject: Re: newbie questions Date: Tue, 31 May 2011 20:44:51 -0300 Message-ID: References: <605468.90694.qm@web24818.mail.ird.yahoo.com> Reply-To: mailing list for ConTeXt users NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Trace: dough.gmane.org 1306885528 30596 80.91.229.12 (31 May 2011 23:45:28 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@dough.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 31 May 2011 23:45:28 +0000 (UTC) To: mailing list for ConTeXt users Original-X-From: ntg-context-bounces@ntg.nl Wed Jun 01 01:45:19 2011 Return-path: Envelope-to: gctc-ntg-context-518@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from balder.ntg.nl ([195.12.62.10]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1QRYce-0006FS-6B for gctc-ntg-context-518@m.gmane.org; Wed, 01 Jun 2011 01:45:16 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by balder.ntg.nl (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7C621CAD3C; Wed, 1 Jun 2011 01:45:15 +0200 (CEST) X-Virus-Scanned: Debian amavisd-new at balder.ntg.nl Original-Received: from balder.ntg.nl ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (balder.ntg.nl [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with LMTP id 48x3MO3d2vQP; Wed, 1 Jun 2011 01:45:11 +0200 (CEST) Original-Received: from balder.ntg.nl (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by balder.ntg.nl (Postfix) with ESMTP id AEC4DCAD23; Wed, 1 Jun 2011 01:45:11 +0200 (CEST) Original-Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by balder.ntg.nl (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2D21FCAD23 for ; Wed, 1 Jun 2011 01:45:10 +0200 (CEST) X-Virus-Scanned: Debian amavisd-new at balder.ntg.nl Original-Received: from balder.ntg.nl ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (balder.ntg.nl [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with LMTP id bxWP3NvEQ+hu for ; Wed, 1 Jun 2011 01:44:55 +0200 (CEST) Original-Received: from filter2-nij.mf.surf.net (filter2-nij.mf.surf.net [195.169.124.153]) by balder.ntg.nl (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1B3E6CAD08 for ; Wed, 1 Jun 2011 01:44:55 +0200 (CEST) Original-Received: from mail-pw0-f41.google.com (mail-pw0-f41.google.com [209.85.160.41]) by filter2-nij.mf.surf.net (8.14.3/8.14.3/Debian-5+lenny1) with ESMTP id p4VN6fcf032543 for ; Wed, 1 Jun 2011 01:06:43 +0200 Original-Received: by pwi12 with SMTP id 12so2867300pwi.14 for ; Tue, 31 May 2011 16:44:51 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date :message-id:subject:from:to:content-type:content-transfer-encoding; bh=K578vX2Yh9hYuHSjhvshl2yrr0hrrjY9b+QfLV5z9go=; b=SeGyZXQUeXbduRQee1ng5N8NydEQrwP7dh7E/VFzp/tn+W6lDSDIMqCR9OIJGJa+m/ oGWlwhYhtkUOW4AodG8jjW26dN7RTkHua5KScBtKWbjETg8aizfg7eexIpgMj8rAm4gI fO7B5P/YKFR0BjUg9TRu0gnxwvMXRJ3b1NZTw= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id:subject:from:to :content-type:content-transfer-encoding; b=So7xbNE8qcvxMO1PFJzIIu61rHHyAlGHrTX4tDQbbflg4DlppqPVLAxIA+GqXT8AB3 6mk8wFBYE8v2CQACEjKYvdGURdinipixRZy5ZAaECFothna0i51Bsoq+Z6/her8XxaJB ZRf9qtFNb6J9rQzil4xmhTmzpGHvk0d+nTD+M= Original-Received: by 10.68.36.69 with SMTP id o5mr2552603pbj.74.1306885491419; Tue, 31 May 2011 16:44:51 -0700 (PDT) Original-Received: by 10.68.46.73 with HTTP; Tue, 31 May 2011 16:44:51 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <605468.90694.qm@web24818.mail.ird.yahoo.com> X-Bayes-Prob: 0.0001 (Score 0, tokens from: @@RPTN) X-CanIt-Geo: ip=209.85.160.41; country=US; region=CA; city=Mountain View; postalcode=94043; latitude=37.4192; longitude=-122.0574; metrocode=807; areacode=650; http://maps.google.com/maps?q=37.4192,-122.0574&z=6 X-CanItPRO-Stream: uu:ntg-context@ntg.nl (inherits from uu:default, base:default) X-Canit-Stats-ID: 0aEOn6GSI - 54c59881c778 - 20110601 X-Scanned-By: CanIt (www . roaringpenguin . com) on 195.169.124.153 X-BeenThere: ntg-context@ntg.nl X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.12 Precedence: list List-Id: mailing list for ConTeXt users List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: ntg-context-bounces@ntg.nl Errors-To: ntg-context-bounces@ntg.nl Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.comp.tex.context:68824 Archived-At: On Tue, May 31, 2011 at 12:38 PM, Sanja C. wrote: > Hi ConTeXt community. > > While looking for free (preferably open-source) tools which I could use f= or > typesetting a planned internal newsletter-booklet for a non-profit organi= zation > (to be released in printed form in regular intervals - each issue with new > content of course, but same/similar style), I came across ConTeXt. > > I usually use Inkscape and various WYSIWYG word processing software for > designing and layouting flyers/leaflets/etc., but in this case (many page= s, > varying and regularly updated content, consistent style) I'm afraid those= tools > simply don't cut in in terms of professional-quality typesetting capabili= ties > and content//style separation. > > So programmatic typesetting might be the answer. I thought of LaTeX first= , but I > read from various sources that using ConTeXt might be easier for typesett= ing > book-like things, especially if you want to design your own styles. > > Before I delve in deeper, though, I would like to ask you (the ConTeXt > community) some questions: > > a) Is the ConTeXt project alive? The newest PDF documentation I could fin= d seems > to be from 2007; most of it is dated 2003 or older. It is very active, as you will soon see from the list traffic. > b) Do you think that ConTeXt is an appropriate tool for the use case I de= scribed > (be honest please ;-)), and easy enough to learn for someone with almost = no TeX > experience? > The requirements are: > =A0- Support for elaborate, colorful, graphics-heavy design, which I would > preferably create in Inkscape and then export as vector graphics (or port= to > ConTeXt's own graphics language) as necessary. > > =A0- Ability to write a style *once* (with reasonable effort), and "outso= urce" it > to an external file (or files), so that for each new release of the newsl= etter, > only a simple content TeX file (or files) with minimal amount of markup is > required (which e.g. even a non-tech-savvy writer/editor could edit) > =A0- Ability to easily include pictures in the content, and let the types= etting > engine automatically position them (either in the main text area with text > floating around them, or in special margin areas). > > c) Are there any full-featured examples of design-heavy booklets/magazine= s/etc > created with ConTeXt., for which the full source code is publicly availab= le? > That would be *really* helpful in order to assess how much work would be > required, and also to learn how exactly it's done in practice. Have a look at . If you can find a sufficiently insecure system (the Windows XP system at my work qualifies) you will be able to browse into the sample documents. I think the Magazines entry deals with complex layouts. I'm involved with a scientific report series. We hired a professional who did the initial design in Pagemaker. We then implemented this in ConTeXt, mostly for the maths support, but the page layout was superior too. The implementation was a big job, but the professional did a lot of the work and was very pleased at the quality of the result. It was not as hard as writing the LaTeX style we now use (because authors already use LaTeX for journal articles but found it difficult to get context working). For projects that don't need maths we tend to use In Design or other commercial tools, partly because printers understandably don't like dealing with unknown software. It takes some time to train the printers to trust ConTeXt or LaTeX produced documents, and then the company goes under or is bought out by a bigger company and you have to start over. -- = George N. White III Head of St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia ___________________________________________________________________________= ________ If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to t= he Wiki! maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-cont= ext webpage : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net archive : http://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/ wiki : http://contextgarden.net ___________________________________________________________________________= ________