Re: Feedback wanted on a ConTeXt tutorial

[Mari Voipio <mari.voipio@iki.fi>]

On Sun, Sep 29, 2013 at 8:05 PM, Marco Patzer <lists@homerow.info> wrote:
> Then there is a medium sized manual aimed at beginners, “ConTeXt, an
> excursion” (which is rather outdated, I agree)

I was actually aiming at one step lower and in doing things in the
order a word processor user would approach ConTeXt. My copy of
excursion is fairly thumbed at this stage, but I still sometimes need
to use find to actually get at the things I need. So I wrote this new
one "my way".


> As I said, I didn't take part in the mentioned discussion, so I
> might be missing out relevant information.

It wasn't anything major, just some off-hand sentences. I've just
written something similar for MetaPost, so this approach felt natural
and kept me amused during the travel home (including 4 hrs spent
sitting at the airport).


> I never installed ConTeXt on Windows, but if this is true this
> should definitely be fixed. According to
>
>   http://wiki.contextgarden.net/ConTeXt_Standalone#Command_line_method
>
> it should be sufficient to run
>
> 1) download the installer: http://minimals.contextgarden.net/setup/context-setup-mswin.zip
> 2) install: first-setup.bat
> 3) add ConTeXt to path: http://wiki.contextgarden.net/Windows_Installation:_ConTeXt_Suite_with_SciTe#Step_3:_Add_ConTeXt_to_Windows_search_path
>    (Maybe adding the exact command or a screenshot for step 3 would
>    be helpful.)

The problem is here: Windows users in general aren't used to command
line and even fewer have ever touched a path (or even know such a
thing exists). The only almost one-click approach is TeXLive - and
unfortunately I can't currently test that on my Windows as it might
mess up with my vital ConTeXt installation. Thus there is no real
"Windows way" of installing ConTeXt and this may hold some potential
users back.


>   5 Formatting text
>
> Since you explicitly mention “The basic idea is to separate layout
> from content” in sections 2.1 and 3.1 I think it's not very
> educational to tell beginners to use font switches in the code:
>
>   This is a {\ss test}. % sans serif
>   This is a {\tt test}. % typewriter
>
> Rather teach logical markup from the very beginning.

True. Not that I follow this advice myself, but probably should (some
of my earlier ConTeXt files are - umm - not beautiful because I have
some Word baggage).


>
>   \definehighlight
>     [important]
>     [style=bold]
>
>   \important{This} is logical markup.

I'd say this approach is too complicated for somebody who just wants
to do documents on ConTeXt (more typing, too, and we people are lazy).
However, I was thinking about trashing both \bf and \it and just
talking about \em for marking emphasis. I think the big manual
includes information on how to adjust \em to one's preferences (I'm
sure I saw it *somewhere* while digging stuff up for this).


> This is arguable, but I personally would drop the (not deprecated
> and still supported) MkII syntax for floats

Interestingly, this was the only syntax I know of and the only one I
can find in the manuals and on the wiki.


>
>   \placefigure
>     [here,force] % really try to put the float just here
>     {This is a cow} % Caption
>     {\externalfigure[cow][width=2cm]}
>
> and replace it with the more intuitive MkIV syntax:
>
>   \startplacefigure [title=A cow, reference=fig:acow]
>     \externalfigure [cow]
>   \stopplacefigure

Nice. I'll try to get around to wikifying this asap.


> And refrain from using the [here, force] setting, otherwise
> beginners will never grasp the concept of floats.

True. And otherwise I'm not happy about what I said about floats - I
just barely understand them myself and gaining that knowledge was hard
work - so I'll rewrite that section and will come up with something
else to put there. (Although floats with "here,force" still float,
just less so. Been there, done that; now I know it is a feature, not a
bug. Useful for a thesis, not so in my work.)


>   6.4 Combinations
>
> Also arguable, but you might consider using the newer
>
>   \startcombination [nx=3, ny=1]
>   …
>
> syntax. It's more contextish and easier to understand, in my
> opinion. Furthermore, it's not covered in any of the manuals, as far
> as I know.

Nor the wiki, I'd never seen it before, although I've understood that
more and more ConTeXt commands move towards the start ... stop syntax.
Again, I'll try to get around to wikify this soonish (first I want to
try it out, though).


I've found before that I learn best by teaching others, for I will not
teach anything I don't properly understand my way. Now I've already
learned three new things, not bad. :-)


Thanks for the comments!


Mari
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