At the very first moment I saw some manuals I was highly impressed of what ConTeXt was able to do and decided to switch from LaTeX to the new typesetting system. I've put (probably to much) effort to typeset my first presentation and a couple of other documents in ConTeXt after which I realised that it takes me far less time if I continue using LaTeX for some documents (no need to redefine styles for headings, simple tables easier to typeset there, ...). I'm not sure if these are only the problems at the beginning (since I have to look for almost any command I use) and would soon disappear or would the general advice be "don't use ConTeXt if LaTeX suits your needs". What are your opinions about that? I guess I could be missing something. \usemodule[pre-'something'] could be a quick solution for presentations (and I needed quite some time to realise that, but I've made up my own style anyway) - does anything similar exist also for "LaTeX-like" documents? I can write something for myself, but it still doesn't solve the problem if I want to convince someone to start using ConTeXt as a substitute for simple LaTeX documents as long he's unable to achive nice default formatting in one or two lines. Thanks a lot, Mojca Miklavec
On Wed, Aug 04, 2004 at 04:07:43PM +0200, Mojca Miklavec wrote:
I'm not sure if these are only the problems at the beginning (since I have to look for almost any command I use) and would soon disappear or would the general advice be "don't use ConTeXt if LaTeX suits your needs". What are your opinions about that?
Being a Context user, I also miss some of nice default formatting of LaTeX. However, the need for some specific formatting which is weakly handled in LaTeX made me use Context and I never regret it. For example, automatic layout of text floating around figures. Or the possibility of typesetting text in columns (see my document prepared in Context at http://oss.unist.hr/~zvrba/spa.zip there I typeset text next to C code..) The best thing I find about Context is that everything I ever thought of (e.g. in one document I rotated the table 90 degrees to be parallel with long side of A4 paper and text flowed around the table) is nicely integrated in Context and there is no need for extra packages like in Latex. Some things are undocumented in 'official' manuals (e.g. \hyphenatedurl) but I found them easily by grepping through the code.. I settled myself on a style that fits the kind of documents I write and I reuse it from a single environment.. Sure I miss nice formatting of Latex (I find my own design rather spartane) and some packages (e.g. for typesetting the code, like vgrind) but the consistency and easiness of doing typesetting the Context-way (defining your own enumerations, 'theorems', headers/footers, placing figures and tables within text, page layout, etc..) outweighs those drawbacks.. My advice (though, it may not be very popular here) is to stick to Latex while it suits your needs. And this advice I would give for any kind of tool - why change it if it isn't broken? I learned Context because Latex didn't suit my needs (concrete example: for my diploma work, my mentor required that there must not be "Chapter" heading for each chapter.. If I put \chapter*, then it didn't appear in the table of contents.. the solution was dirty - copy the report class file to local directory and edit it.. however if such a simple problem has such a dirty solution, how could I cope with tougher problems? So I switched to Context and never use Latex any more..) I must say that the beginners manual is excellent and is almost everything you need.. For harder stuff, Hans and other TeX hackers on this list have been an invaluable (and quick - I was in a real hurry writing my diploma) help - THANKS GUYS!
On Wed, Aug 04, 2004 at 06:58:48PM +0200, Zeljko Vrba wrote:
On Wed, Aug 04, 2004 at 04:07:43PM +0200, Mojca Miklavec wrote:
I'm not sure if these are only the problems at the beginning (since I have to look for almost any command I use) and would soon disappear or would the general advice be "don't use ConTeXt if LaTeX suits your needs". What are your opinions about that?
Try it for a bit and see whether you like it. Some people find that it makes things simpler and more logical. It is a different way of working, which may or may not suit you. For me personally, somehow Context is a bad match, and it has been fighting all the way. Therefore I use Context only when I have to.
I learned Context because Latex didn't suit my needs (concrete example: for my diploma work, my mentor required that there must not be "Chapter" heading for each chapter.. If I put \chapter*, then it didn't appear in the table of contents.. the solution was dirty - copy the report class file to local directory and edit it.. however if such a simple problem has such a dirty solution, how could I cope with tougher problems?
The right way to handle this would have been to copy just the relevant code fragment to a package or classfile of your own and modify it. The code would have looked a lot hackier than corresponding Context code, but as long as it sits neatly tucked away in a package of its own, you wouldn't have to let that bother you. LaTeX source code is generally well-documented, and much easier to find your way around in than Context code. For presentations there are pdfscreen and pdfslide, and David Storey has done nteractivestuff with pdf. So don't underestimate the possibilities of LaTeX. -- Siep Kroonenberg
On Wed, Aug 04, 2004 at 11:09:01PM +0200, Siep Kroonenberg wrote:
The right way to handle this would have been to copy just the relevant code fragment to a package or classfile of your own and modify it. The code would have looked a lot hackier than corresponding Context code, but as long as it sits neatly tucked away in a package of its own, you wouldn't have to let that bother you.
Ah, but I have only simplest experience in TeX programming (simple, non-recursive \defs and \lets are my greatest achievment) and what you are suggesting is still out of my reach.. 1. I know very little of plain TeX and LaTeX internals to be able to do anything significant programming for latex. 2. I don't like asking for help. Partly because I don't want to bother people, partly because I'm impatient waiting for an answer. When I ask for help, I'm really desperate. Context has enabled me to do typesetting the way I want without too much 'expert' advice and customization.. I had a few questions on Context a few years ago when reference manuals were non-existant.. But now I'm able to do everything I want on my own. Still with virtually no 'real' TeX programming.
participants (3)
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Mojca Miklavec -
Siep Kroonenberg -
Zeljko Vrba