2011/7/15 John Haltiwanger <john.haltiwanger@gmail.com>

> Cecil, I don't think its fair to constrain yourself from ever using Context
> again.


That was not what I mend. When making my own stuff where I do not have the
need off interoperability I will keep using it. But in other case I should
evaluate the situation correctly. Between a rock an a hard place is not a
nice position. ;-}



> What does 'competely independent' mean?
>

Properly that anybody that knows how to write a document in Microsoft Office
can change the document. So standard software, with a low learning curve. I
had some problems getting them to accept to use Adobe. And now that turns
out to be not a real option. Learning all the time as Benny Hill said.



> If you have been asked to hand over layout decisions, the best is to
> reproduce your document in XHTML, copy it into a word processor, and let
> them proceed with their own desing in their proprietary WYSIWYG software.
>

No the problem is not the layout. They are satisfied with that. They just do
not want to be dependent on our company.



> Even if they just want to make textual changes, this is probably still be
> your best bet. You can then relatively easily convert them back to Context
> (a matter of re-mapping text into Context).
>

That sounds like a good plan. Converting back is properly not necessary. But
it would not hurt if it is possible.



> There is a plan I have to produce an easier-for-point-and-clickers
> interface to collaborate on high quality Context based layouts, but the time
> hasn't appeared to materialize it yet.
>

Sounds good. If I could be of help …



> If you search through the archives for 'pandoc' you will see that many of
> us have chosen to abstract ourselves from direct dependence on Context for
> our document 'coding'. There is a tangible flexibility provided by writing
> in a visually semantic preformat like Markdown. It helps during the editing
> stages because it is easy to generate other formats that people are more
> familiar with (OpenOffice can be converted to Word---then it is a matter of
> 'backporting' changes to the Context source).
>

I'll do that.



> If they weren't clear about planning to take on this design
> responsibility--which they should have long before the deadline--than I feel
> it is the fault of the editors and not the fault of Context. Under such
> conditions I would have written text for these people in something they
> understand, like an word processor document (LibreOffice can save as MS Word
> easily enough).
>

That is what I mend that in hindsight I should not have used ConTeXt. ;-}



> Sorry to hear you are having trouble with this. I know what it is like to
> face the edge of a deadline.
>

I'll survive, I always did. :-D

I have to thank this list for the help and support.

-- 
Cecil Westerhof