need defaults for \definehighlight

["Idris Samawi Hamid ادريس سماوي حامد" <ishamid@colostate.edu>]

Dear gang,

Thinking of present and future documents (maximum flexibility in  
converting from format to format), I'm moving from the standard {\em text}  
to something like \definehighlight[emph][style=italic]. Here's the  
question:

Does ConTeXt contain some default highlights that need not be defined by  
the user? It seems that some of the basic ones should have presets. This  
helps with at least two things:

1. Document portability (independent of a given style or env file);
2. Editor setups.

As an example of the latter: If I select text in Notepad++ I can do

Right-Click -> ConTeXt Typography -> Emphasize

where Emphasize is defined as {\em }

Right now, whenever I release an update to the N++ editor package (now  
years overdue, I know) any user can depend upon this right-click feature.  
But if I define

\definehighlight[emph][style=italic]

and set up the editor to implement it; then there is no guarantee that  
other users will use the same definition.

As issues of conversion from one format to another become ever more urgent  
and common, it makes more sense to use tagged and exportable versions of  
the common typographical functions and to standardize a few. So my  
suggestion is that we develop a set of default or "official" highlights  
for commonly used cases, with a list made available somewhere such as the  
wiki. Perhaps redefine some existing 1-parameter typography commands  
(\emph, \bold, \scap, etc.) as highlights. Some of these should be kept  
short (such as \emph, \bold) given their very frequent use.

Best wishes
Idris
-- 
Idris Samawi Hamid
Professor of Philosophy
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523
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