ConTeXt resembles LaTeX in being a system of TeX macro packages and helper scripts. ConTeXt has a fairly centralised development model, when compared to LaTeX's bazaar model, with much popular functionality provided by user-contributed packages. ConTeXt targets small publishers, aiming to provide ...
153
votes
5answers
23k views
Differences between LuaTeX, ConTeXt and XeTeX
I’m interested in the differences and commonalities between the “new” (La)TeX processors:
LuaTeX,
XeTeX, and
ConTeXt.
Personally, I’ve only used XeTeX so far and without having the time to try out ...
68
votes
8answers
5k views
Simulating hand-drawn lines
I am working on a project that will have some vector graphics, perhaps using TikZ (or a similar tool). All of the graphics consists of lines, in shades of gray. However, the lines from TikZ appear too ...
67
votes
3answers
5k views
Why should I be interested in ConTeXt?
In the spirit of a free-form Friday on StackOverflow, I'd like to know if I should consider learning ConTeXt. What got me into LaTeX way back in 1994 was having structural markup that made longer ...
38
votes
6answers
1k views
Where can I find good ConTeXt documentation
Where would be a good place to start learning ConTeXt if you haven't got a lot of experience under your belt yet? Any place online or in a bookstore is welcome, provided that the reading is ...
35
votes
4answers
810 views
Separation of content structure and style in LaTeX?
In HTML, over the last decade or so, there has been a strong push toward complete separation of content structure and style. Most websites are now built using HTML for structural mark-up, and CSS for ...
33
votes
2answers
937 views
Can one (more or less) automatically suppress ligatures for certain words?
One of the major attractions -- for me at least -- of typesetting my papers in (La)TeX is its automated and fully transparent use of typographic ligatures. However, as Knuth pointed out in the ...
31
votes
8answers
4k views
Is anybody using TeX for business reporting?
Would TeX (LaTeX, ConTeXt, etc) be a good solution for PDF business reports that require dynamically generated graphs and tables?
I need to create financial reports that must look top-notch in their ...
26
votes
7answers
2k views
File extensions of LaTeX-related files
In addition to the .tex and .dvi or .pdf files, TeX/LaTeX/ConTeXt produces and uses lots of other files. What do they do? Which ones are used to create the document and which ones are automatically ...
23
votes
2answers
1k views
How do LaTeX3 and ConTeXt compare?
As I understand it, LaTeX3 is a rewrite of LaTeX to fix the shortcomings of LaTeX2e, and ConTeXt is another TeX-based language (set of macros like LaTeX?) that solves quite a few problems that are ...
23
votes
2answers
504 views
Porting the luatex/ConTeXt module “translate” to lualatex
In this question, which I posted a few weeks ago to TeX Stack Exchange, I asked how one should go about disabling specific ligatures (such as ff, fi, fl, and ffl) automatically for a list of ...
21
votes
3answers
534 views
Managing hundreds of separate components in a large document
I am making a workbook containing hundreds activities. Each activity appears as its own section and generally contains instructions, spaces to write or draw, and sometimes illustrations or diagrams to ...
18
votes
6answers
1k views
Persuade me to write my thesis in ConTeXt, or not
I'm going to write my master thesis in Computer Science, regarding Operation Research, (in Italian). I have about a month and a half to collect the results and write everything down.
I have had a ...
18
votes
2answers
315 views
How to search for information about ConTeXt in search engines?
I have a kind of strange question but I think it is a real problem: How do I find information about context in search engines? You can find some, but I think it is by far not all the information you ...
17
votes
1answer
214 views
What is the ConTeXt equivalent of LaTeX “\@.”
In English text, TeX follows the convention of putting extra space after a period by default, which I like. However, in the case of abbreviations it causes a problem. To suppress the extra space, ...
15
votes
7answers
1k views
ConTeXt editors
There is a very active question about LaTeX editors and IDEs. I personally use Vim with LaTeX-suite for any latex editing, and I am very happy with it. Lately I began to use ConTeXt more and more. ...
13
votes
3answers
562 views
LaTeX equivalent of ConTeXt buffers
While creating a series of graphics (using TikZ) in ConTeXt, I frequently use ConTeXt's buffer to "copy-paste" code. Is there a LaTeX package that implements this feature?
Since most LaTeX users may ...
13
votes
1answer
636 views
Converting ConTeXt document to HTML
For LaTeX, I used to rely on htlatex, latex2html, or more rarely tth. I know that we can use XML with ConTeXt, although I have no experience with this, and that Pandoc let us use Markdown syntax and ...
13
votes
2answers
432 views
If we are about to write a minimal ConTeXt primer, what to cover?
I need to write a ConText primer for those who never used ConTeXt, and have no LaTeX background. What should I cover in order to give a precise overview of this system?
12
votes
1answer
647 views
Using ConTeXt Commercially …
This webpage, http://tex.loria.fr/formats/context/base/readme.pdf, and many others explicitly state that ConTeXt must not be used for some purposes; e.g. competing with Pragma ADE. However, the ...
12
votes
3answers
383 views
Can I make a command not gobble spaces?
(I'm using ConTeXt, but I suspect the answer will lie in plain TeX.)
I've created an environment that takes one argument myBufferName, and stores its contents in a buffer of that name. Unfortunately, ...
12
votes
1answer
166 views
Is there a “smoking gun” to distinguish between ConTeXt and plain TeX
I'm writing a tool to streamline some typesetting jobs, and I am having trouble distinguishing between plain Tex and ConTeXt.
LaTeX is straightforward to recognise by the \documentclass command (or ...
11
votes
3answers
899 views
What typesetting system should I use?
I have no experience with TeX or any other typesetting system.
I am going to university soon and have been told that I should learn LaTeX as it will help with bibliographies and essay writing. I am ...
11
votes
3answers
284 views
Updated documentation of ConTeXt
I'm trying to decide which set of macros/typesetting system to learn. I tried Latex2e for a while, but I was very disappointed that it didn't work nicely with Unicode and that in my tryout I had many ...
11
votes
2answers
394 views
Status of TiKz with ConTeXt MkIV
Whats the recent status of TiKz support in ConTeXt MkIV? I'm asking because
in pgfmanual 2.10 on page 25 it says:
Note that pgf/TikZ is not supported by recent ConTEXt versions (like mark IV, the ...
11
votes
1answer
286 views
How to prevent extra spaces between two specific words when justification occurs?
My document contains many short, justified lines, so the lines often appear with many spaces between words, e.g.:
These words have a space
so that they can fit nicely into the
available ...
10
votes
2answers
288 views
Does ConTeXt ever require multiple passes to compile?
When I compile my ConTeXt document with context file.tex, it seems that the compiler compiles the code several times. I have never noticed any messages, common in pdflatex, asking me to compile the ...
10
votes
2answers
189 views
How to put signature number in footer (derived from page number)?
To make my book easier to bind I'd like to automatically put the signature number with small type in the footer of the first page of each octavo signature (except the first one which is given since it ...
10
votes
5answers
1k views
centering a ragged right text block in ConTeXt
I am trying to typeset a book of poems that I wrote in ConTeXt.
Consider the following:
\definehead[PoemTitle][section]
\setuphead[PoemTitle][number=no, page=yes, style=\sc]
\starttext
...
10
votes
1answer
212 views
ConTeXt (core) command definitions: what do \installcorenamespace, \?? and \installcommandhandler, do?
I have the very strong impression that there is a Current and Standard way to define new (core) commands in ConTeXt; see, for example, this quote from an e-mail by Wolfgang.
Many of the \define... ...
10
votes
2answers
170 views
Ampersand in math in ConTeXt
I'm afraid this is fairly obvious and has been asked many times, but I could not find the answer. I am having trouble getting an ampersand in a displayed formula in ConTeXt. I tried the obvious ...
9
votes
3answers
258 views
Which symbols need to be escaped in ConTeXt?
When writing "$" or "%" in a document, one must used \$ and \% so that they will be interpreted as symbols which should be displayed along with the text.
What other symbols need to be escaped in ...
9
votes
2answers
235 views
Create a font table for all available characters for a particular font
Similar to the question:
Lualatex: Font table with examples
I have several ornamental fonts and I'd like to create key maps. That is, I want to know what symbol the letter a maps to by having a nice ...
9
votes
1answer
218 views
Porting LaTeX packages to ConTeXt modules
From seeing quite a few questions here, it seems ConTeXt is often able to easily address problems that LaTeX has a hard time with. I'd be willing to give it a try, but there is one package that I ...
9
votes
1answer
174 views
Accessing font ornaments from ConTeXt
I'm having difficulty accessing font ornaments from ConTeXt. I'm using mkiv. I have a font and I know it has fancy ornaments in it because I see them in the spec sheet. I don't understand what to do ...
9
votes
1answer
123 views
How to debug METAPOST inlined in ConTeXt? (Or “message” primitive and “loggingall;” in inlined METAPOST)
I have a METAPOST program that works fine with mpost, but fails when I try to run it inline in ConTeXt. In order to debug it, I would like to see the usual METAPOST logging and/or to use the METAPOST ...
9
votes
1answer
550 views
Getting started with Chinese in ConTeXt
I am trying to setup a basic document with ConTeXt, but I am having difficulty even getting started.
First, I tried the documentation at ConTeXt wiki: Chinese. I tried the sample code on that page:
...
9
votes
2answers
375 views
How, in ConTeXt, can I get body text to align flush to the outside?
I'm using ConTeXt Mk IV, and I'd like the text in a two-page document to line up like so:
+--------+--------+
+ + +
+ xxx + xx +
+ xxxx + xxx +
+ xx + +
+ ...
9
votes
1answer
163 views
Making a centrefold figure
I'm laying out a 16-page booklet that has a two-page MetaPost figure spanning the centrefold. The intention is that the centrefold is "outside" the flow of the text: the image is always on pages 8–9, ...
9
votes
1answer
241 views
Discontinuous table rules in ConTeXt
How to set up a table with discontinuous horizontal rules?
As an example I used a table from another answer:
My table still lacks the interrupted rules. Another thing is the rule above
“Total”. ...
9
votes
1answer
244 views
Storing and retrieving data in tuc file
I want to store some data in the .tuc file, which is being picked up in the next run. I suceeded in storing some values but I failed in retrieving them afterwards.
Here is my attempt:
\starttext
...
9
votes
0answers
101 views
How to renumber and redisplay additional references to a previous footnote if the previous appearance was several pages prior in ConTeXt?
I am using \setnotetext[footnote][0001]{This is a footnote.} to set a footnote's text and \note[footnote][0001] to create multiple references to it. When the footnote's first appearance, and later ...
8
votes
5answers
685 views
ConTeXt / e-TeX Real Numbers?
I've been using LaTeX for about 6 years and the calc package for a long time. Therefore, not being able to use real / floating point numbers was never really a problem. Thanks, \real!
I've been ...
8
votes
2answers
376 views
ConTeXt using LaTeX style files
I've just discovered ConTeXt for the first time, and it looks pretty sweet. However, it is near-useless to me if I cannot use LaTeX style files for formatting (i.e. for journal/conference papers).
...
8
votes
2answers
178 views
How to let text flow around irregular-shaped graphics in ConTeXt?
I have some illustrations which I need to scan and place within a document. The illustrations come in various shapes, with no straight edges, and are bound by lots empty white space, e.g.:
...
8
votes
2answers
295 views
Which TeX should one start out with? [closed]
Ever since learning Vim, I've felt slow going in anything else. Lately I've been writing my notes and other small documents in Markdown using Vim. I've decided to to take it a step further by ...
8
votes
2answers
261 views
How to make a macro which displays different text the last time it appears within a paragraph in ConTeXt?
I have a simple macro which displays the letter “A” in the document:
\define\displayletter{A}
This is some text. \displayletter
This is some more text. \displayletter This is other text.
This is ...
8
votes
1answer
191 views
How to fix this fancy heading in ConTeXT
I don't know if this is a duplicate or not but we can close it if it is.
I have been trying to learn ConTeXt. I specially love the heading and page number formattings that I see in the documentations ...
8
votes
1answer
144 views
What is the difference between \startlua and \startluacode?
Is there any difference between \startlua and \startluacode? The commands seem to have a similar purpose, but I have found some code does compile properly if the wrong one is chosen. When is one used? ...
8
votes
1answer
454 views
What is the correct syntax for subfootnote?
After upgrading from ConTeXt stable to beta, any code containing subfootnote does not compile. E.g.:
\definestructureconversionset [footnote] [numbers, Characters] [numbers]
\setupenumerations ...
8
votes
1answer
279 views
Defining word space dimensions in ConTeXt
I am pretty much a noob concerning TeX, and currently writing a project in ConTeXt.
My problem is that I don’t know how to manually define the length of a common word space. The word space length ...
