If we are about to write a minimal ConTeXt primer, what to cover?

Question

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?

Less than that. I thought something that would generate this very good book, the very basic ideas. — Frederico Lopes, Jul 08 '11 at 23:00
If you want something as short as possible, you have to ask yourself what these people you are targeting really need to know. Then, start with the excursion and delete everything you do not need... — Taco Hoekwater, Jul 09 '11 at 09:40
This is kind of a subjective question which might easily leads to discussions and is not very suitable for the question & answer scheme of this site. This should better discussed on a ConTeXt forum of mailing-list. Feel free to open a new chat room for this here. — Martin Scharrer, Jul 09 '11 at 10:06
I understand your point of view, but let me respectfully disagree. I think it's not subjective, because I'm asking for the very "typographic axioms" of ConTeXt, if it exists, the ones with which someone can walk on his own feet. And the strategy of deleting from "Excursion" is a hard one: maybe someone is in the same need I am, and can provide the clues I'm asking for. — Frederico Lopes, Jul 09 '11 at 18:54
Orbis: I however this that it should be at least a Community Wiki then. Any objections I turn it into one? (Note that up-votes no longer give your reputation then) — Martin Scharrer, Jul 12 '11 at 08:00

Frederico Lopes · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-23T18:38:12.760

5

Browsing through the "Excursion", I found the top ten commands list:

\starttext, stoptext
\chapter, \section, \title, \subject, \setuphead, \compl
\em, \bf, \cap
\startitemize, \stopitemize, \item, \head
\abbreviation, \infull, \completelistofabbreviations
\placefigure, \externalfigure, \useexternalfigures
\placetable, \starttable, \stoptable
\definedescription, \defineenumeration
\index, \completeindex
\setuplayout, \setupfootertexts, \setupheadertexts

I think it's a good starting point to a minimal primer.

edited Jul 23 '11 at 18:38

answered Jul 10 '11 at 16:52

Frederico Lopes

407

Please use back-ticks ``` to format inline code (or mark the commands and press CTRL+K). – Martin Scharrer Jul 10 '11 at 16:55
2

Have you seen ConTeXt Macro Top Ten – Aditya Jul 11 '11 at 00:05
@Aditya: Perhaps you could make that an answer, so we can remove this question from the 'unanswered' list. – Joseph Wright Jul 16 '11 at 05:13
@Joseph: I was waiting for a reply from Orbis. @ Orbis: If my link answers your question, please add in your reply (and accept your answer). – Aditya Jul 19 '11 at 15:29
@Aditya Thank you. ConTeXt Macro Top Ten is quite what I needed. – Frederico Lopes Jul 23 '11 at 18:35
@Orbis: Please add the link to ConTeXt Top Ten in your answer – Aditya Jul 24 '11 at 00:09

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited May 02 '12 at 12:20

1

List of Top Ten ConteXt commands from Hans Hagen's manual "ConTeXt an Excursion" is a starting point, but for me it can never be less than eleven.

\setuppagenumbering

is a must.

P.S.

Twelve actually, add to it \setuppapersize.

P.P.S.

Also:

\page
\startlinecorrection
\setuppagenumber for ultimate control of page numbering.

edited May 02 '12 at 12:20

Keks Dose

30,892

answered Aug 02 '11 at 09:21

helcim

1,548

I'd even suggest replace #5 with \setuppagenumbering. What about rewrite that list? – Frederico Lopes Aug 03 '11 at 09:18
Perhaps. I, personally, do not use abbreviations at all, mainly because I almost never deal with source files other than in xml format. – helcim Aug 04 '11 at 10:58
Couple more absolutely indispensable commands: – helcim May 02 '12 at 10:29

If we are about to write a minimal ConTeXt primer, what to cover?

2 Answers2