Re: A few questions regarding ConTeXt

Re: A few questions regarding ConTeXt

[Hans Hagen Outside]

Broberg, Mats wrote:

>Dear Sir,
>
>For some time now, I have been looking for suitable software solutions
>for my publication projects. The projects are mainly books up to 500-750
>pages, with alot of figures, CMYK, solid PMS or lineart images, cross
>references, several series of margin notes and footnotes, drop caps,
>list of figures, indices, tables of contents etc.
>
>I have never used TeX or any of the wide array of macro packages, but I
>know from having read about it that it can solve many of my publication
>problems - and with a very high level of typographic quality too (which
>is important to me). Initially, I was looking closely at using LaTeX -
>mainly due to the fact that it is so widely used and has a vast number
>of packages for the functions I need - but when coming across your site,
>I think that ConTeXt may fit the bill better, since it seems to be
>designed in a more parameter-driven way.
>
>However, judging from the documentation on your site, some features that
>I have read about in LaTeX - such as drop caps, complex headers, cross
>references, several series of footnotes etc (i.e. the packages
>"lettrine", "fancyhdr", "varioref" and "ledmac") - don't seem to be
>available in ConTeXt.
>
>I assume packages like these can not be used "out of the box" when using
>ConTeXt, but that one needs to have someone create new packages?
>  
>
I'm a bit in a hurry (need to give a workshop at the practical tex 
conference).

The features you mentioned are present in the core system, often 
providing more features; opposite to latex, where you need packages, 
context has all things  built in.

More information can be get from the rather active context mailing list. 
I cc the mail to there, so that others can confirm this

Hans
 

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                                          Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE
              Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands
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Re: Re: A few questions regarding ConTeXt

[Willi Egger]

Hi,

I use ConTeXt sinds a couple of years now. In the meantime I made up 
different books and would like to stress, that there is hardly anything 
I can not achieve with this system. Most issues can be addressed with 
options(parameters). There is a very active mailing list available and 
there are plenty of knowlegeable and smart users out there. I would 
suggest that you indeed go for ConTeXt you will not regret this step.

Kind regards Willi Egger

Hans Hagen Outside wrote:

> Broberg, Mats wrote:
> 
>> Dear Sir,
>>
>> For some time now, I have been looking for suitable software solutions
>> for my publication projects. The projects are mainly books up to 500-750
>> pages, with alot of figures, CMYK, solid PMS or lineart images, cross
>> references, several series of margin notes and footnotes, drop caps,
>> list of figures, indices, tables of contents etc.
>>
>> I have never used TeX or any of the wide array of macro packages, but I
>> know from having read about it that it can solve many of my publication
>> problems - and with a very high level of typographic quality too (which
>> is important to me). Initially, I was looking closely at using LaTeX -
>> mainly due to the fact that it is so widely used and has a vast number
>> of packages for the functions I need - but when coming across your site,
>> I think that ConTeXt may fit the bill better, since it seems to be
>> designed in a more parameter-driven way.
>>
>> However, judging from the documentation on your site, some features that
>> I have read about in LaTeX - such as drop caps, complex headers, cross
>> references, several series of footnotes etc (i.e. the packages
>> "lettrine", "fancyhdr", "varioref" and "ledmac") - don't seem to be
>> available in ConTeXt.
>>
>> I assume packages like these can not be used "out of the box" when using
>> ConTeXt, but that one needs to have someone create new packages?
>>  
>>
> I'm a bit in a hurry (need to give a workshop at the practical tex 
> conference).
> 
> The features you mentioned are present in the core system, often 
> providing more features; opposite to latex, where you need packages, 
> context has all things  built in.
> 
> More information can be get from the rather active context mailing list. 
> I cc the mail to there, so that others can confirm this
> 
> Hans
> 
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>                                          Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE
>              Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands
>     tel: 038 477 53 69 | fax: 038 477 53 74 | www.pragma-ade.com
>                                             | www.pragma-pod.nl
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> _______________________________________________
> ntg-context mailing list
> ntg-context@ntg.nl
> http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context

Re: A few questions regarding ConTeXt

[Patrick Gundlach]

[...]

>>However, judging from the documentation on your site, some features that
>>I have read about in LaTeX - such as drop caps, complex headers, cross
>>references, several series of footnotes etc 

>>(i.e. the packages "lettrine", "fancyhdr", 

These two should be no problem. The dropped caps might need some fine
tuning. (Just looked in the The LaTeX Companion, lettrine has some
nice options for making the layout look 'right' - I don't think these
are in ConTeXt) 

>>"varioref" and "ledmac") - don't seem to be available in ConTeXt.

I haven't seen anything like varioref in ConTeXt. For those who don't
know LaTeX: it create a reference like "See fig. 3 on the following
page" from a single command (See fig.~\vref{fig:myfig}.).

I never looked into ledmac and alike, so I have no idea if this is
available in ConTeXt.

Patrick
-- 
(moving soon:)
texshow-web:  http://members.ping.de:8061
ConTeXt wiki: http://members.ping.de:8062

Re: Re: A few questions regarding ConTeXt

[Tobias Hilbricht]

> >However, judging from the documentation on your site, some features that
> >I have read about in LaTeX - such as drop caps, complex headers, cross
> >references, several series of footnotes etc (i.e. the packages
> >"lettrine", "fancyhdr", "varioref" and "ledmac") - don't seem to be
> >available in ConTeXt.

I use the packages lettrine, fancyhdr and ledmac, and from time to time
I have a look at the way ConTeXt does the things I need. 

Dropped caps (versals) is possible with ConTeXt, finetuneable and not
more difficult than with lettrine in LaTeX. Documentation for ConTeXt is
hidden in the file supp-fun.tex in the base system.

Creating complex running headers is easier in ConTeXt than in LaTeX,
because the ConTeXt marking mechanism allows more than just leftmark and
rightmark (and the two extramarks provided by the package extramarks),
as in LaTeX. Documentation is in the main manual. However, there was a
problem with the ConTeXt marking mechanism when using a two column
layout, which had to be overcome by an "email bug fix" by Hans Hagen.

I have not tried yet to create a complex critical edition with ConTeXt,
with more than one footnote apparatus, which is easy with ledmac.

Yours sincerely

Tobias Hilbricht

Re: Re: A few questions regarding ConTeXt

[Peter Münster]

> Broberg, Mats wrote:
> >
> >However, judging from the documentation on your site, some features that
> >I have read about in LaTeX - such as drop caps, complex headers, cross
> >references, several series of footnotes etc (i.e. the packages
> >"lettrine", "fancyhdr", "varioref" and "ledmac") - don't seem to be
> >available in ConTeXt.

Hello Mats,
I agree with you: ConTeXt is certainly superior to LaTeX, but sometimes, I
know how to do a special thing in LaTeX, but not in ConTeXt. Often I don't
know, if a special feature is already there but undocumented, or not.
Sometimes, I find a sort of "workaround" to get some LaTeX behaviour,
for example "\flushbottom".
For beginners there is the document
http://www.berenddeboer.net/tex/LaTeX2ConTeXt.pdf by Berend de Boer.
It would be nice, to have something like this for advanced topics, such as
varioref or lettrine. These special "LaTeX to ConTeXt" examples can then be
added to the ConTeXt-wiki: http://contextgarden.net/From_LaTeX_to_ConTeXt
Cheers, Peter

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RE: Re: A few questions regarding ConTeXt

[Mats Broberg]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: ntg-context-bounces@ntg.nl 
> [mailto:ntg-context-bounces@ntg.nl] On Behalf Of Peter Münster
> Sent: den 24 juli 2004 19:45

> Hello Mats,
> I agree with you: ConTeXt is certainly superior to LaTeX, but 
> sometimes, I know how to do a special thing in LaTeX, but not 
> in ConTeXt. Often I don't know, if a special feature is 
> already there but undocumented, or not. Sometimes, I find a 
> sort of "workaround" to get some LaTeX behaviour, for example 
> "\flushbottom". For beginners there is the document 
> http://www.berenddeboer.net/tex/LaTeX2ConTeXt.> pdf by Berend 
> de Boer. It would be nice, to have something 
> like this for advanced topics, such as varioref or lettrine. 
> These special "LaTeX to ConTeXt" examples can then be added 
> to the ConTeXt-wiki: http://contextgarden.net/From_LaTeX_to_ConTeXt
> Cheers, Peter

Thanks for the info.

Having looked more closely at this, I guess it now stands between
learning LaTeX and the memoir class, or learning ConTeXt. There are
things that talk in favour for both these roadmaps, but I have not
decided yet. 

One of the issues is how to solve a problem in ConTeXt if it suddenly
becomes clear this or that feature is not implemented. 

Best regards,
Mats Broberg

Re: Re: A few questions regarding ConTeXt

[Willi Egger]

Hi,

following this list for a couple of years now, I can not remember that 
Hans or other list members hinted how to solve arrising problems. - 
Specially if it concerns interesting / necessary features, Hans has 
always beeing prepared to cook them up!

Kind regards Willi

Mats Broberg wrote:

>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: ntg-context-bounces@ntg.nl 
>>[mailto:ntg-context-bounces@ntg.nl] On Behalf Of Peter Münster
>>Sent: den 24 juli 2004 19:45
> 
> 
>>Hello Mats,
>>I agree with you: ConTeXt is certainly superior to LaTeX, but 
>>sometimes, I know how to do a special thing in LaTeX, but not 
>>in ConTeXt. Often I don't know, if a special feature is 
>>already there but undocumented, or not. Sometimes, I find a 
>>sort of "workaround" to get some LaTeX behaviour, for example 
>>"\flushbottom". For beginners there is the document 
>>http://www.berenddeboer.net/tex/LaTeX2ConTeXt.> pdf by Berend 
>>de Boer. It would be nice, to have something 
>>like this for advanced topics, such as varioref or lettrine. 
>>These special "LaTeX to ConTeXt" examples can then be added 
>>to the ConTeXt-wiki: http://contextgarden.net/From_LaTeX_to_ConTeXt
>>Cheers, Peter
> 
> 
> Thanks for the info.
> 
> Having looked more closely at this, I guess it now stands between
> learning LaTeX and the memoir class, or learning ConTeXt. There are
> things that talk in favour for both these roadmaps, but I have not
> decided yet. 
> 
> One of the issues is how to solve a problem in ConTeXt if it suddenly
> becomes clear this or that feature is not implemented. 
> 
> Best regards,
> Mats Broberg
> 
> _______________________________________________
> ntg-context mailing list
> ntg-context@ntg.nl
> http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context

RE: Re: A few questions regarding ConTeXt

[Peter Münster]

On Sun, 25 Jul 2004, Mats Broberg wrote:

> One of the issues is how to solve a problem in ConTeXt if it suddenly
> becomes clear this or that feature is not implemented. 

You have the same problem with LaTeX. There are some features not present
in LaTeX (balanced columns with floats for example), that are so hard to
implement, that you have to wait for LaTeX 3.

The few ConTeXt features, that I'm still waiting for, are quite small and
could be even made perhaps by someone else than Hans, if necessary.
This should be also true for the features of varioref and lettrine.

Best regards, Peter

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Re: Re: A few questions regarding ConTeXt

[Peter Münster]

On Sun, 25 Jul 2004, Willi Egger wrote:

> following this list for a couple of years now, I can not remember that 
> Hans or other list members hinted how to solve arrising problems. - 
> Specially if it concerns interesting / necessary features, Hans has 
> always beeing prepared to cook them up!

Most times, I think, but not always. Some missing features are mentioned
for example on http://contextgarden.net/Bugs_and_workarounds and
http://contextgarden.net/From_LaTeX_to_ConTeXt
But you are right: in general, Hans does a very great work, Thanks!!
Greetings, Peter

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http://pmrb.free.fr/contact/
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