Re: Ideas for improving documentation of ConTeXt

[Jonas Baggett <jonasb@tranquille.ch>]

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Le 10. 10. 16 à 09:24, Hans Hagen a écrit :
> What context installation do you use? The reference is the one on the 
> context garden. Each year tex lives has a snapshot of that one. So, 
> first make sure you run the latest version.

I am using version 2016.05.17 19:20. I saw that context live is using 
version 2016.05.19 13:43, so I have fast the latest version.

> Concerning old manuals: they often refer to mkii but with mkiv we have 
> different (often better) solutions. The examplap code and examples are 
> mkii and also relate to pdf trickery and as pdf evolved it became more 
> clear what was bound to acrobat i.e. not picked up (ignored) by open 
> source alternatives and therefore less relevant.

Ok, I didn't know that about the pdf format. Thanks for the information.

> An important source are the setup-*.pdf files as these describe the 
> interface which is described in the interface definition files (in xml 
> format). These have recently be updated by Wolfgang and are very accurate.

Yes, that was one of the thinks I was looking for, thanks !

> You mentioned that keys (functionality) that disappears should be 
> somehow documented but normally no functionality disappears. What 
> happened was that mkiv has some more (because it's possible) and less 
> (because it was no longer needed) than mkii and has been made more 
> consistent.

I was more thinking about commands or commands option becoming 
deprecated and replaced by another way of making thinks. But it is also 
true that I tried to make the moderncv interface work from the letter 
module but its interface is now gone. I didn't notice at first that the 
letter module is still under development which means its interfaces 
aren't stable. So it seems now that what I was saying doesn't really 
apply to ConTeXt's core.

>>> The wiki has a page for examples and you’re free to update the
>>> existing examples or add new ones.
>>
>> Do you mean http://wiki.contextgarden.net/Sample_documents ? Yes, that's
>> a good idea, since I believe that it is a way to improve documentation
>> with little efforts. Then I plan to add the cover letter style I made
>> since I am happy with the results, although 1 or 2 things could have
>> some improvement. There are also some letter styles there, then I will
>> have a look on them too. I don't know if people are intimidated about
>> writing contents in the wiki because it is the official wiki and feel
>> that only programmers are supposed to update it, but it will be really
>> helpfull if the users have more the habit of posting there the document
>> styles they made.
>
> Indeed.

My cover letter template is now maturing, since it is only the beginning 
I am using it, but I believe it will be ready soon to be posted in the 
wiki :-).

>>> Sounds interesting and the best thing you can do is to start with it.
>>
>> Thanks for your encouragement ! Yes that looks like an interesting
>> challenge for me, but it is not something I am wanting to do alone
>> because of my lack of experience, at least I would need someone to coach
>> me. Actually I don't have really experience with web developpment and I
>> would at least need help for the technological choices. Having someone
>> that tells me that if I use technology X, there are module Y and Z that
>> will be a good fit is a good start.
>
> This will only work when someone takes the lead. If you do that you 
> then others will help you. If you need something special on the wiki, 
> just discuss it with Taco and Mojca who deal with the technicalities.

OK, it is still an idea that needs maturation. I know I tend to be 
quickly enthusiastic about an idea and overly optimistic about my 
abilities to implement it which means that I eventually end giving up. 
So now I need some thinking about the idea, about if I am ready to 
invest the needed time. Maybe the task is to big for me but there could 
be a less time consuming solution that can be OK although not as great. 
Or I could still go for the original idea with being clear about what I 
can do and how much time I can invest to and how much help I need to 
complete what I couldn't reasonably do.

Cheers,
Jonas

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