Hi Hraban
Here are my thoughts on your ConTeXt Book.
[TOC] Definitely only show Chapters and Appendices. A list of sections
could go under the Chapter Title, it would more useful there. I don't
think there is also a need include sub-sections, (if you have them) it
could make the list inordinately long.
[Registers] My own preference would be a command and a topic index if
only for convenience sake.
[Glossary] I don't think an index of abbreviations is necessary if they
are already in the index.
[Other Lists] I don't think a list of colours is necessary, you could
just point them to the wiki.
Just my thoughts, and I look forward to read the English version of your
book. (smiling)
Best Wishes
Keith McKay
p.s. It's been so long since I worked with technical books that I would
have to blow the dust off them.
On 10/08/2023 14:21, Henning Hraban Ramm wrote:
Hi, this is about my ConTeXt book again…
[ToC]
At the moment, my table of contents has chapters and sections and is 8
pages long. I would probably hardly use it.
Maybe it would be better to show only chapters (29 content + 12
appendix = 2 pages) and include a list of sections after the chapter
title (or not at all).
[Registers]
I split between command and topic index (9 pages each), because I find
it annoying to have the commands between the topics.
I also include the topics that are mentioned in titles in the index,
because I hate it if I must look in two places.
(Otherwise I wouldn’t think about omitting the sections from the ToC.)
At the moment there‘s also an index of todo items, but that will
disappear before print.
[Glossary]
There’s a short dictionary of technical terms in the appendix (8.5
p.). Each lemma is also included in the index.
Should I add a list of abbreviations? (TDS, TEI, OCG, RAL, PDF, SVG…?)
They’re in the index and explained where they matter – I don’t think
the meaning of many abbreviations like file types is important.
[Other lists]
Should I include a list of colors, like the output of
\showcolor[crayola]? (I think it would only bloat the book, and
everyone can create the list themselves.)
I have lists of supported languages (should get checked), fonts in the
distribution and all math fonts, because these are not easily
reproducible (AFAIK).
So, what do you think, and how do you like to work with technical books?
What kind of information (about ConTeXt or documents/printing in
general) do you find hard to find?
Hraban
___________________________________________________________________________________
If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry
to the Wiki!
maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl /
https://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
webpage : https://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://context.aanhet.net
archive : https://bitbucket.org/phg/context-mirror/commits/
wiki : https://contextgarden.net
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the
Wiki!
maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / https://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
webpage : https://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://context.aanhet.net
archive : https://bitbucket.org/phg/context-mirror/commits/
wiki : https://contextgarden.net
___________________________________________________________________________________