Re: Seeking a Deeper ConTeXt: Questions for Initializing

[Henning Hraban Ramm <hraban@fiee.net>]

Am 2009-05-24 um 19:17 schrieb John Haltiwanger:

> 1) Can environment files be used across documents, or is it  
> generally understood that every ConTeXt document requires its own  
> environment formatting? (The latter is the view of someone on c.t.t,  
> who said his perception of ConTeXt was that it was for typesetting  
> individual documents and had less application beyond that domain.)

Normally you use environment files for coherent projects (magazines,  
books) or sets of similar documents (letters, presentations).

The difference in usage between a LaTeX document class and a ConTeXt  
environment is neglectable IMO. The real difference is that most LaTeX  
users just *use* some document class unchanged, because LaTeX doesn't  
encourage defining your own, while there are nearly no ready-to-use  
ConTeXt environments available and most ConTeXt users want write their  
own anyway.

For one-off documents I put everything in one file (and perhaps copy  
setup bits from other one-off files or environments).

If *I* require a special layout for a single document, I normally use  
InDesign. The effort of "programming" a setup or an environment pays  
off only if you use it more often IMO.


> 2) What is the state of XML output for ConTeXt files? I have to say  
> I will find it hard to justify using TeX for documents if it means  
> they are not translatable to XML easily. I'm also interested in any  
> RDF support ConTeXt might have.

XML is no target format for any TeX implementation.
XML is a source format, and a good one if you want to process  
(typeset) it with ConTeXt (and perhaps make HTML from the same source).

What do you mean with RDF? This one?: http://www.w3.org/RDF/
Or did you mean RTF?

ConTeXt, like every flavour of TeX, is a "text compiler" to PDF (and  
DVI, if that's really important for you). Professional, printable,  
presentable output. No more, no less.


Greetlings from Lake Constance!
Hraban
---
http://www.fiee.net/texnique/
http://wiki.contextgarden.net
https://www.cacert.org (I'm an assurer)

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