Re: spacing before items

[Mike Cooper <mike@murchisondrillingschools.com>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: ntg-context [mailto:ntg-context-bounces@ntg.nl] On Behalf Of Henning
> Hraban Ramm
> Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 2020 2:20 PM
> To: mailing list for ConTeXt users
> Subject: Re: [NTG-context] spacing before items
> 
> 
> 
> Most of you know I’m writing at this German ConTeXt book since years...
> I use the incomplete version myself a lot, and I very much hope that at least every
> second German TeX user will buy it ;)

Awesome!  Keep at it!
Maybe when there's an English version, I'll still need it!  :-)


> 
> Googling is necessary and helpful for LaTeX, but there aren’t so many blog or
> forum entries about ConTeXt.

Yes, this has been kind of frustrating too.  It's certainly challenged my searching skills to find and separate ConTeXt from LaTeX.


> 
> With TeX, footnotes, ToCs and indexes are beginner stuff, while they’re quite
> advanced with InDesign or Word. Styling your work is much easier in a visual
> programm – while you do it manually.

Hmmm...  I don't find those things to be at all advanced in Word.   ???


> 
> There is more beginner level documentation for ConTeXt than for ObjC, but we still
> assume a basic familiarity with TeX and principles of design and typography.

Yes, this is exactly what I've found in just about everything labeled "beginner" or "basic" for ConTeXt documentation.  Maybe it would be "beginner" for someone who already knows some other typesetting code...  The best beginner thing I found was Willi Egger's "ConTeXt for Beginners" (TUGboat, Volume 38 (2017), No. 3).  Only it's too short!  And I think my own background in HTML/CSS made it easier than it would be for someone who comes from an average-Word-user background.


> 
> >>    I spent my whole day yesterday figuring out how to do some very basic
> >> formatting/layout that would have taken 5-10 minutes in Word or HTML/CSS.
> 
> But I’m quite sure if you figured it out on your own, you know how to do it next
> time. Or if you forget, you can look for your own solution (I recur to my old
> environments all the time).

Yes, that at least is a consolation!


> 
> May I ask what kind of job requires you to learn ConTeXt? That’s rare.

Haha!  I now work with Jan Willem Flamma (who is on this list) in the training industry.  He tells me that using ConTeXt with XML will give us a modularity to our training content such that a modification in one place is more or less automatically taken care of for every course manual that uses that content.  (At least that's my current understanding.)  So I've been trying to learn ConTeXt and now slowly chipping away at coding one of our smaller homework chapters.


> 
> > I've always found w3chools.com to be especially helpful with HTML/CSS
> because they give plenty of examples and explanation.
> 
> Please don’t use w3fools! It’s full of errors and bad practice. (At least it was some
> years before; I can’t imagine it got fundamentally better.)

Oh interesting!  I've always found it very helpful.  Probably, I haven't attempted the more advanced features/coding.  ??


> 
> > ....
>   I spent *days* trying to figure out how to add more whitespace
> around a floated graphic (the default is too cramped in my opinion).  I finally just
> threw up my hands and decided that no one else has this opinion but me so
> nobody has ever "fixed" it and thus, no solution exists.
> 
> Hm, did you try the margin options of
> https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Command/setupfloat ?

I don't remember what all I tried at this point.  I think it's been over two months since I just gave up on that one.  I'll take another look.  Thanks!


> 
> The learning curve *is* steep and stays steep for a long while, depending on your
> requirements.
> 
> 
> Good luck!
> Hraban

THANKS HRABAN!!


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