On 2/2/2026 9:00 PM, Jim wrote:
On Mon, Feb 2, 2026 at 20:51 (+0100), Wolfgang Schuster wrote:
Am 02.02.2026 um 20:46 schrieb Jim:
Wolfgang,
thanks for your answer, although it doesn't explain (to me, anyway) the
12.06137pt number.
The default value for \setupinterlinespace[line=...] is 2.8ex:
\setupbodyfont[10pt]
\starttext
\the\dimexpression{2.8ex}
\stoptext
Wolfgang,
well, that explains the actual value perfectly, thanks.
Ok, here's something to make Canadian Jim feel proud and comfortable.
When we started with tex, we first tried latex and that didn't work out:
hard coded labels, patterns etc. The need to tweak for new users
incomprehensable sty files, kind of bad inconstent spacing, etc.
(Interestingly, when we showed the (math heavy) chapter to the involved
author / teacher they were offenced that we replaced their labour
intense ibm typewriter math that the activities were stopped; from then
on we never mentioned using tex.)
So, after first starting to write some layer around latex (e.g. key
value driven itemize) I quickly decided to quit and look further. So we
looked at lamstex (a more configurable latex), with spiral bounded book,
then paid a lot of money to get more floppies with some dutch patterns,
more fonts and ... the canadian inrstex .. which can now (when i
searched) seen at ctan:
https://ftp.snt.utwente.nl/pub/software/tex/obsolete/macros/inrstex/inrstex/linespac.tex
https://ftp.snt.utwente.nl/pub/software/tex/obsolete/macros/inrstex/inrstex/inrsdef.tex
So, that's actually how context started. Wrapping some of inrstex (as it
was multilingual and more configurable) and gradually writing mechanisms
from scratch (fonts, sectioning, indices, itemize, all kind of
educational things). The output routine was for a whiel similar to
inrstex. For tables we used TaBLe (from which we derived / extended the
probably seldom used \starttable mechanism).
So there you have it: blame canadians for the 2.8ex and .72 / .28 ratio
which is a much better choice when accented characters are used (french
of course but also dutch also has them). You can find these numbers in
the mentioned files.
Hans
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