Italic in ConTeXt

Question

What is the equivalent of the LaTeX-code \textit{} in ConTeX? It sets the text in the brackets italic. There is \it but I am searching for something like \startit...\stopit.

Answer 1

You can use \italic{some text}. However it's better to not directly apply formatting to your text, use a logical markup instead.

\definehighlight
  [emphasis]
  [style=italic]

\emphasis{some text}
{\emphasis some text}

You should have a look at the user manual.

Answer 2

Define an environment as usual (\definestartstop) and set the style key:

%% environment:
\definestartstop[important][style=italic]
%% monadic macro:
\definehighlight[dontmiss] [style=italic]

\starttext
  foo
  \startimportant bar \stopimportant
  baz
  \dontmiss{xyzzy}
\stoptext

Btw. it is recommended to name you macros semantically, e.g. \important or \keyword instead of \italic. This way you can adapt the style later by changing one parameter in the setup without having to mess with the content.

EDIT: In ConTeXt, the generic emphasis command is \emph. With vanilla settings it defaults to slanted like the TeXbook. You can override the default via \setupbodyfontenvironment[default][em=italic]. Now \emph{foo} will be set in italics as well.