Wei-Wei Guo wrote:
Hi everyone,
After fighting with ConTeXt one month, I find it's too difficult. I
have two years
experience of LaTeX. I never thought ConTeXt could be so difficult.
Using ConTeXt
is like climbing a steep mountain, every step need extensive
searching, reading,
and asking.
Sorry for the useless complain. I'm stuck by so many problems. I might
be lack of
the basic knowledge of ConTeXt. Could someone tell me where I can find
manuals or
papers that describe the logic of ConTeXt design and basics of ConTeXt
programming.
Thanks in advance.
Best wishes,
Wei-Wei
Many have voiced the same complaint. I understand that Hans and every
one are occupied with building MKIV (aka LuaTeX), and that documentation
is not their highest priority. There's the wiki, the wonderfully active
mailing list, and what used to be decent docs from 2001/2002 timeframe.
But yes, it's a steep hill to climb, made worth it only by the relative
awesomeness of ConTeXt.
If there is an existing strategy for creating documentation, I'd love to
hear it.
My feeling is it's it's time to pay someone to write some good docs.
Someone who's not on the development team, who has experience writing
technical documentation, and who can shepard list members into crowd
sourcing some real documentation. MKIV is stabilizing into usefulness,
and now is a good time to start. I suspect list members would donate to
such a project, plus we could get some grant money (if that's not all
dried up due to the global economy), and maybe some contribution from
Pragma itself, and other orgs that depend on ConTeXt. A patchwork quilt
of financing, and a project coordinator/writer who sees their work as a
labor of love, and a side job, could make this happen. Even if we could
only afford 10 hours of work a week, that could get a lot done.
In terms of process, I think someone to comb the list archives for
common problems and solutions, and wikify them would get the most bang
for the buck initially. These wiki entries could later be ConTeXtified
into printed (and screen) docs, like Hans' awesome old manuals.
Honestly, we've got smart people wasting time answering the same
questions in different ways on the list, when they could be plugging in
some of that time into writing docs for everyone. And as useful as the
list is, it's no substitute for manuals.
If I understood ConTeXt I'd volunteer, but I'm a noob, so I'm feeling
the same frustration as Wei-Wei. I feel bad having to bug developers
and advanced users every time I have a basic question. It's inefficient
and inelegant, though I much appreciate the access to great minds and
the window into the development process this has given me.
Pile on to this thread, if this is a burning issue for you, or you have
some strategy or expertise to offer.
Cheers,
Corin
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