Re: [NTG-context] simpleslides help needed

2012-07-24 Thread Pavneet Arora

Ah, I got it now!

\quotation is quite different from \{start|stop}quotation.  I was attempting to 
affect the changes using just \quotation{}, which has no (or in my case 
asymmetrical and strange) effects on the margins, at least within simpleslides.


Now, I don't know whether there should be a difference in behaviour, but there 
definitely is.  When I simply integrated your \setupdelimitedtext and 
\{start|stop}narrower into my existing slide presentation, there was no change. 
 As I kept reducing the presentation there still was no change in behaviour 
until the only thing staring up at me was \quotation{}.


Glad I chased this down even though it might have been painful for others to 
read of my bumbling about.  It gives me another core piece for doing my 
presentations.


Cheers.


On 12-07-24 12:22 AM, Wolfgang Schuster wrote:


You’re doing to wrong, below you can see two different ways to have a quotation 
with margins. The first method uses the quotation environment where you can 
control the margin with the leftmargin and “rightmargin keys, the second method 
uses the quotation command which is put in a narrower environment to create the 
margins/offset.

\showframe[text][text]

\startbuffer
Pito Salas, a developer at ATG, decided to attack this problem.
After a few months of studying existing real-world examples,
it became clear that the data, views of that data, and the
formulas that acted on that data were very separate concepts.
Yet in every case, the existing spreadsheet programs required
the user to type all of these items into the same (typically
single) sheet’s cells.%
\stopbuffer

\starttext

\startquotation \getbuffer \stopquotation

\setupdelimitedtext[quotation][leftmargin=3cm]

\startquotation \getbuffer \stopquotation

\quotation{\getbuffer}

\startnarrower[3*middle]
\quotation{\getbuffer}
\stopnarrower

\stoptext

Wolfgang



--
-
- Pavneet Arora

Waroc Fine Audio + Custom Home Cinema
www.waroc.com  416.937.WAROC (9276)

___
If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the 
Wiki!

maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
webpage  : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net
archive  : http://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/
wiki : http://contextgarden.net
___


Re: [NTG-context] simpleslides help needed

2012-07-24 Thread Sietse Brouwer
On Tue, Jul 24, 2012 at 12:51 PM, Pavneet Arora pavneet_ar...@waroc.com wrote:
 Now, I don't know whether there should be a difference in behaviour,
 [between \quotation and \startquotation], but there definitely is.

This is deliberate: \quotation is for inline quotations, while
\startquotation is for block quotations. Compare \math and \startmath.

I completely understand that people have gotten into a habit of not
looking up commands on the wiki; there was So Much Blankness on the
command pages, so why bother? By now, though, we have reached the
stage that looking up a basic command, at least, has a good chance of
success. So perhaps people could slowly start looking at the wiki
command reference again? The answer to quotation/startquotation, at
least, was sitting right there. :-)

http://wiki.contextgarden.net/Command/startquotation
http://wiki.contextgarden.net/Command/quotation

Cheers,

Sietse
Sietse Brouwer
___
If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the 
Wiki!

maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
webpage  : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net
archive  : http://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/
wiki : http://contextgarden.net
___


Re: [NTG-context] simpleslides help needed

2012-07-24 Thread Pavneet Arora
Yes, indeed the information is there.  What makes the wiki sometime impenetrable 
is that doing a search, even a Google search, with keyword based or topic based 
queries rather than command based queries leads to varying results.  You know 
what you want to do; you just don't know which commands will lead you to the result.


Also just to clarify, as is my habit, I did search the wiki, and in this case I 
had even looked repeatedly at the hints.  I just didn't catch the distinction in 
my own coding.


I guess the trick is to know what commands one should hone in on ;).

Regards.

On 12-07-24 07:44 AM, Sietse Brouwer wrote:

On Tue, Jul 24, 2012 at 12:51 PM, Pavneet Arora pavneet_ar...@waroc.com wrote:

Now, I don't know whether there should be a difference in behaviour,
[between \quotation and \startquotation], but there definitely is.


This is deliberate: \quotation is for inline quotations, while
\startquotation is for block quotations. Compare \math and \startmath.

I completely understand that people have gotten into a habit of not
looking up commands on the wiki; there was So Much Blankness on the
command pages, so why bother? By now, though, we have reached the
stage that looking up a basic command, at least, has a good chance of
success. So perhaps people could slowly start looking at the wiki
command reference again? The answer to quotation/startquotation, at
least, was sitting right there. :-)

http://wiki.contextgarden.net/Command/startquotation
http://wiki.contextgarden.net/Command/quotation

Cheers,

Sietse
Sietse Brouwer



--
-
- Pavneet Arora

Waroc Fine Audio + Custom Home Cinema
www.waroc.com  416.937.WAROC (9276)

___
If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the 
Wiki!

maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
webpage  : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net
archive  : http://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/
wiki : http://contextgarden.net
___


Re: [NTG-context] simpleslides help needed

2012-07-23 Thread Pavneet Arora

Dear Wolfgang,

I have tried what I believe to be the two approaches you suggested for 
controlling the margins of a quotation:


1.  Using the switches offered via \setupdelimitedtext in the \setupquotation 
command:


\setupquotation[leftmargin=1.5in]
\quotation{Pito Salas, a developer at ATG, decided to attack this problem. 
After a few months of studying existing real-world examples, it became clear 
that the data, views of that data, and the formulas that acted on that data were 
very separate concepts. Yet in every case, the existing spreadsheet programs 
required the user to type all of these items into the same (typically single) 
sheet's cells.}


The result in this case is that neither margin is affected with any combination 
of leftmargin= and rightmargin=, either alone or in combination.


2.  Creating an environment file env-myquotation.tex, which has as its contents:

\startenvironment myquotation
\setuplayout[leftmargin=1.5in,backspace=1.5in,rightmargin=1.5in]
\stopenvironment

...and then the slide:

\SlideTitle{An exception: Lotus Improv, an exceptional spreadsheet}
\blank
%\setupquotation[leftmargin=1.5in]
{\environment env-myquotation.tex
\quotation{Pito Salas, a developer at ATG, decided to attack this problem. 
After a few months of studying existing real-world examples, it became clear 
that the data, views of that data, and the formulas that acted on that data were 
very separate concepts. Yet in every case, the existing spreadsheet programs 
required the user to type all of these items into the same (typically single) 
sheet's cells.}

}
\par
\startalignment[flushright]
\blank[2*big]
{\em Source:  Wikipedia/Lotus Improv}
\stopalignment

In this case, the margins seem to work for the quotation, but, unfortunately, 
the title is also shifted by the leftmargin (but not the right margin as title 
width appears to remain the same; this title is longer than a single line), and 
the credit which I did not need brought in was also shifted in to the right 
margin of the environment.


So am I limited in my control over margins within a slide do you think?  Or is 
there another approach?


Thanks.


On 12-07-17 11:33 PM, Wolfgang Schuster wrote:



2.  Margins

I have the following slide, where only the right margin is affected.  I
have tried variations on backspace, width and margin but haven't gotten
the left margin to move.





\definelayout[quotation][leftmargin=1.5in,rightmargin=1.5in]

\SlideTitle{An exception: Lotus Improv, an exceptional spreadsheet}
\blank
\setuplayout[quotation]
\quotation{Pito Salas, a developer at ATG, decided to attack this problem. 
After a few months of studying existing real-world examples, it became clear 
that the data, views of that data, and the formulas that acted on that data 
were very separate concepts. Yet in every case, the existing spreadsheet 
programs required the user to type all of these items into the same (typically 
single) sheet's cells.}
\par
\setuplayout[reset]
\startalignment[flushright]
\blank[2*big]
{\em Source:  Wikipedia:Lotus Improv}



I am sure that it is something simple that I am missing here, but any
guidance would be most appreciated.


You can’t use a customized layout to change the margins of a part of the page 
only,
use the quotation environment or put the quotation in a narrower environment.

Wolfgang



--
-
- Pavneet Arora

Waroc Fine Audio + Custom Home Cinema
www.waroc.com  416.937.WAROC (9276)



___
If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the 
Wiki!

maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
webpage  : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net
archive  : http://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/
wiki : http://contextgarden.net
___


Re: [NTG-context] simpleslides help needed

2012-07-23 Thread Wolfgang Schuster

Am 23.07.2012 um 23:21 schrieb Pavneet Arora:

 Dear Wolfgang,
 
 I have tried what I believe to be the two approaches you suggested for 
 controlling the margins of a quotation:
 
 1.  Using the switches offered via \setupdelimitedtext in the \setupquotation 
 command:
 
 \setupquotation[leftmargin=1.5in]
 \quotation{Pito Salas, a developer at ATG, decided to attack this problem. 
 After a few months of studying existing real-world examples, it became clear 
 that the data, views of that data, and the formulas that acted on that data 
 were very separate concepts. Yet in every case, the existing spreadsheet 
 programs required the user to type all of these items into the same 
 (typically single) sheet's cells.}
 
 The result in this case is that neither margin is affected with any 
 combination of leftmargin= and rightmargin=, either alone or in combination.
 
 2.  Creating an environment file env-myquotation.tex, which has as its 
 contents:
 
 \startenvironment myquotation
   \setuplayout[leftmargin=1.5in,backspace=1.5in,rightmargin=1.5in]
 \stopenvironment
 
 ...and then the slide:
 
 \SlideTitle{An exception: Lotus Improv, an exceptional spreadsheet}
 \blank
 %\setupquotation[leftmargin=1.5in]
 {\environment env-myquotation.tex
 \quotation{Pito Salas, a developer at ATG, decided to attack this problem. 
 After a few months of studying existing real-world examples, it became clear 
 that the data, views of that data, and the formulas that acted on that data 
 were very separate concepts. Yet in every case, the existing spreadsheet 
 programs required the user to type all of these items into the same 
 (typically single) sheet's cells.}
 }
 \par
 \startalignment[flushright]
 \blank[2*big]
 {\em Source:  Wikipedia/Lotus Improv}
 \stopalignment
 
 In this case, the margins seem to work for the quotation, but, unfortunately, 
 the title is also shifted by the leftmargin (but not the right margin as 
 title width appears to remain the same; this title is longer than a single 
 line), and the credit which I did not need brought in was also shifted in to 
 the right margin of the environment.
 
 So am I limited in my control over margins within a slide do you think?  Or 
 is there another approach?

You’re doing to wrong, below you can see two different ways to have a quotation 
with margins. The first method uses the quotation environment where you can 
control the margin with the leftmargin and “rightmargin keys, the second method 
uses the quotation command which is put in a narrower environment to create the 
margins/offset.

\showframe[text][text]

\startbuffer
Pito Salas, a developer at ATG, decided to attack this problem.
After a few months of studying existing real-world examples,
it became clear that the data, views of that data, and the
formulas that acted on that data were very separate concepts.
Yet in every case, the existing spreadsheet programs required
the user to type all of these items into the same (typically
single) sheet’s cells.%
\stopbuffer

\starttext

\startquotation \getbuffer \stopquotation

\setupdelimitedtext[quotation][leftmargin=3cm]

\startquotation \getbuffer \stopquotation

\quotation{\getbuffer}

\startnarrower[3*middle]
\quotation{\getbuffer}
\stopnarrower

\stoptext

Wolfgang
___
If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the 
Wiki!

maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
webpage  : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net
archive  : http://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/
wiki : http://contextgarden.net
___


Re: [NTG-context] simpleslides help needed

2012-07-21 Thread Aditya Mahajan

Hi Pavneet,

I am CCing the list as others might find this useful as well.

On Thu, 19 Jul 2012, Pavneet Arora wrote:

One more question, though:  if one wanted to design the slides with 
*different* title and body fonts, as I do, how would one do that?  This is 
why I tried \setupbodyfont and ran into my initial difficulties.


Use

\setupSlideTitle
   [style={ any font command }]

The default value of style is \switchtobodyfont[\SlideTitleSize]. The 
easiest way to switch fonts is to use \definefont or, if you are using the 
simplefonts module, \definesimplefont. For example:


\usemodule[simpleslides]
\usemodule[simplefonts][size=\NormalSize]

\definesimplefont[SlideTitleFont][Dejavu Sans][size=\SlideTitleSize]

\setupSlideTitle[style=\SlideTitleFont]

\starttext

\SlideTitle{Knuth}

\input knuth

\stoptext
___
If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the 
Wiki!

maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
webpage  : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net
archive  : http://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/
wiki : http://contextgarden.net
___


Re: [NTG-context] simpleslides help needed

2012-07-18 Thread Hans Hagen

On 18-7-2012 02:41, Pavneet Arora wrote:


also doesn't seem to work at all.  I get what I believe to be Latin
Modern Sans across the board.

I have resorted to using one of the default fonts via the module switch
for now, but would like to customize the font selection to my taste.


Just using (without any additional definitions):

  \setupbodyfont[dejavu,10pt]

works, as there is a type-imp-dejavu typescript.

Hans

-
  Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE
  Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands
tel: 038 477 53 69 | voip: 087 875 68 74 | www.pragma-ade.com
 | www.pragma-pod.nl
-


___
If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the 
Wiki!

maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
webpage  : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net
archive  : http://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/
wiki : http://contextgarden.net
___


Re: [NTG-context] simpleslides help needed

2012-07-18 Thread Pavneet Arora

Hans and Wolfgang,

Thanks, as always, for the prompt replies.  Does this mean that I need to focus 
on the typescript mechanism rather than simplefonts?  Wolfgang, that was also 
the point I wanted to clarify since from my earlier reading of the manual's 
section on Choosing on your own fonts, the example pointed to using 
typescripts. However, from the Aditya's posting I was encouraged that I could 
use (my) default method of relying on simplefonts.


One last question stemming from the Jean-Luc Dumont's article on effective 
communications:  is there a way to turn off the interaction bar in the slides. 
 I am using the simple 'Shaded' style where the interaction bars are displayed 
as small circles along the bottom.


Regards.

On 12-07-18 03:42 AM, Hans Hagen wrote:

On 18-7-2012 02:41, Pavneet Arora wrote:


also doesn't seem to work at all.  I get what I believe to be Latin
Modern Sans across the board.

I have resorted to using one of the default fonts via the module switch
for now, but would like to customize the font selection to my taste.


Just using (without any additional definitions):

   \setupbodyfont[dejavu,10pt]

works, as there is a type-imp-dejavu typescript.

Hans

-
   Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE
   Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands
 tel: 038 477 53 69 | voip: 087 875 68 74 | www.pragma-ade.com
  | www.pragma-pod.nl
-




--
-
- Pavneet Arora

Waroc Fine Audio + Custom Home Cinema
www.waroc.com  416.937.WAROC (9276)



___
If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the 
Wiki!

maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
webpage  : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net
archive  : http://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/
wiki : http://contextgarden.net
___


Re: [NTG-context] simpleslides help needed

2012-07-18 Thread Hans Hagen

On 18-7-2012 13:23, Pavneet Arora wrote:

Hans and Wolfgang,

Thanks, as always, for the prompt replies.  Does this mean that I need
to focus on the typescript mechanism rather than simplefonts?  Wolfgang,
that was also the point I wanted to clarify since from my earlier
reading of the manual's section on Choosing on your own fonts, the
example pointed to using typescripts. However, from the Aditya's posting
I was encouraged that I could use (my) default method of relying on
simplefonts.


it depends ... some fonts (those that ship with the distribution) have a 
typescript but for others (fonts that come with the os or that you buy) 
simplefonts is a better choice


Hans

-
  Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE
  Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands
tel: 038 477 53 69 | voip: 087 875 68 74 | www.pragma-ade.com
 | www.pragma-pod.nl
-
___
If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the 
Wiki!

maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
webpage  : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net
archive  : http://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/
wiki : http://contextgarden.net
___


Re: [NTG-context] simpleslides help needed

2012-07-18 Thread Aditya Mahajan

On Wed, 18 Jul 2012, Pavneet Arora wrote:

Thanks, as always, for the prompt replies.  Does this mean that I need to 
focus on the typescript mechanism rather than simplefonts?


In principle both should work with simpleslides module though I never 
tested it with simplefonts.


Wolfgang, that was also the point I wanted to clarify since from my 
earlier reading of the manual's section on Choosing on your own fonts, 
the example pointed to using typescripts. However, from the Aditya's 
posting I was encouraged that I could use (my) default method of relying 
on simplefonts.


ConTeXt comes with typescripts for lot of the commonly used fonts. 
Earlier, you had to use


\usetypescript[dejavu]
\setupbodyfont[dejavu]

to use an existing typescript. Since a year or more now, the first line is 
not needed. You can just use


\setupbodyfont[dejavu]

and context will run \usetypescript[...] if a typescript is not already 
loaded.


One last question stemming from the Jean-Luc Dumont's article on effective 
communications:  is there a way to turn off the interaction bar in the 
slides. I am using the simple 'Shaded' style where the interaction bars are 
displayed as small circles along the bottom.


The simpleslides module is not designed for configurability. Sorry. The 
best solution is to copy the Shaded style to another file and remove the 
code for the bottom bar.


Thomas and I were working on a more extensible version of simpleslides, 
but haven't had the time to finish it.


Aditya
___
If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the 
Wiki!

maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
webpage  : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net
archive  : http://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/
wiki : http://contextgarden.net
___


Re: [NTG-context] simpleslides help needed

2012-07-18 Thread Aditya Mahajan

On Tue, 17 Jul 2012, Pavneet Arora wrote:


Hello all,

I am here at TUG 2012 updating the presentation that I am to give in the 
morning.


I have had a couple of lingering questions regarding simpleslides that I
thought I would put out there.  They are not show stoppers, and I have
lived with them in my other presentations.  It is just that with my
brain on TeX (and ConTeXt) for the past few days, I thought that I would
try to resolve them once and for all.

1.  Fonts

I would like to specify separate mainfont and bodyfont using the
simplefonts module (or some other consistent mechanism).

I have read the thread from:

http://www.ntg.nl/pipermail/ntg-context/2011/056495.html

and have tried to split up Wolfgang's suggestion into the two parts.  I
have tried:

\usemodule[simplefonts][size=18pt]
\setmainfont[grandesignneueserif]

\setupbodyfont[dejavuserif]


With simplefonts, you do not need \setupbodyfont! The following example 
works fine on my old installation (2012.06.08)


\usemodule[simpleslides][style=Shaded]
\usemodule[simplefonts][size=\NormalSize]

\setmainfont[DejaVu Serif]

\setupTitle
  [title={Presentation Title},
   author={Author},
   date={Date / Occasion}]

\starttext

\placeTitle

\SlideTitle{Test Slide}

\input knuth

\stoptext

Aditya
___
If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the 
Wiki!

maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
webpage  : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net
archive  : http://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/
wiki : http://contextgarden.net
___


[NTG-context] simpleslides help needed

2012-07-17 Thread Pavneet Arora

Hello all,

I am here at TUG 2012 updating the presentation that I am to give in the 
morning.

I have had a couple of lingering questions regarding simpleslides that I
thought I would put out there.  They are not show stoppers, and I have
lived with them in my other presentations.  It is just that with my
brain on TeX (and ConTeXt) for the past few days, I thought that I would
try to resolve them once and for all.

1.  Fonts

I would like to specify separate mainfont and bodyfont using the
simplefonts module (or some other consistent mechanism).

I have read the thread from:

http://www.ntg.nl/pipermail/ntg-context/2011/056495.html

and have tried to split up Wolfgang's suggestion into the two parts.  I
have tried:

\usemodule[simplefonts][size=18pt]
\setmainfont[grandesignneueserif]

\setupbodyfont[dejavuserif]

which gets me the title font, but not the body font.

The other approach:

\definetypeface[mainface][rm][serif][DejaVu Serif][default]
\definetypeface[mainface][ss][sans][DejaVu Sans][default]
\definetypeface[mainface][tt][mono][Inconsolata][default]
\setupbodyfont[mainface]

also doesn't seem to work at all.  I get what I believe to be Latin
Modern Sans across the board.

I have resorted to using one of the default fonts via the module switch
for now, but would like to customize the font selection to my taste.

2.  Margins

I have the following slide, where only the right margin is affected.  I
have tried variations on backspace, width and margin but haven't gotten
the left margin to move.





\definelayout[quotation][leftmargin=1.5in,rightmargin=1.5in]

\SlideTitle{An exception: Lotus Improv, an exceptional spreadsheet}
\blank
\setuplayout[quotation]
\quotation{Pito Salas, a developer at ATG, decided to attack this problem. 
After a few months of studying existing real-world examples, it became clear 
that the data, views of that data, and the formulas that acted on that data were 
very separate concepts. Yet in every case, the existing spreadsheet programs 
required the user to type all of these items into the same (typically single) 
sheet's cells.}

\par
\setuplayout[reset]
\startalignment[flushright]
\blank[2*big]
{\em Source:  Wikipedia:Lotus Improv}



I am sure that it is something simple that I am missing here, but any
guidance would be most appreciated.

Many thanks.

--
-
- Pavneet Arora

___
If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the 
Wiki!

maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
webpage  : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net
archive  : http://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/
wiki : http://contextgarden.net
___


Re: [NTG-context] simpleslides help needed

2012-07-17 Thread Wolfgang Schuster

Am 18.07.2012 um 02:41 schrieb Pavneet Arora:

 Hello all,
 
 I am here at TUG 2012 updating the presentation that I am to give in the 
 morning.
 
 I have had a couple of lingering questions regarding simpleslides that I
 thought I would put out there.  They are not show stoppers, and I have
 lived with them in my other presentations.  It is just that with my
 brain on TeX (and ConTeXt) for the past few days, I thought that I would
 try to resolve them once and for all.
 
 1.  Fonts
 
 I would like to specify separate mainfont and bodyfont using the
 simplefonts module (or some other consistent mechanism).
 
 I have read the thread from:
 
 http://www.ntg.nl/pipermail/ntg-context/2011/056495.html
 
 and have tried to split up Wolfgang's suggestion into the two parts.  I
 have tried:
 
 \usemodule[simplefonts][size=18pt]
 \setmainfont[grandesignneueserif]
 
 \setupbodyfont[dejavuserif]
 
 which gets me the title font, but not the body font.
 
 The other approach:
 
 \definetypeface[mainface][rm][serif][DejaVu Serif][default]
 \definetypeface[mainface][ss][sans][DejaVu Sans][default]
 \definetypeface[mainface][tt][mono][Inconsolata][default]
 \setupbodyfont[mainface]
 
 also doesn't seem to work at all.  I get what I believe to be Latin
 Modern Sans across the board.
 
 I have resorted to using one of the default fonts via the module switch
 for now, but would like to customize the font selection to my taste.

I suggest to look into the manual for the simple slides module how to change 
fonts
because the module has some control which font is used.

 2.  Margins
 
 I have the following slide, where only the right margin is affected.  I
 have tried variations on backspace, width and margin but haven't gotten
 the left margin to move.
 
 
 
 \definelayout[quotation][leftmargin=1.5in,rightmargin=1.5in]
 
 \SlideTitle{An exception: Lotus Improv, an exceptional spreadsheet}
 \blank
 \setuplayout[quotation]
 \quotation{Pito Salas, a developer at ATG, decided to attack this problem. 
 After a few months of studying existing real-world examples, it became clear 
 that the data, views of that data, and the formulas that acted on that data 
 were very separate concepts. Yet in every case, the existing spreadsheet 
 programs required the user to type all of these items into the same 
 (typically single) sheet's cells.}
 \par
 \setuplayout[reset]
 \startalignment[flushright]
 \blank[2*big]
 {\em Source:  Wikipedia:Lotus Improv}
 
 
 
 I am sure that it is something simple that I am missing here, but any
 guidance would be most appreciated.

You can’t use a customized layout to change the margins of a part of the page 
only,
use the quotation environment or put the quotation in a narrower environment.

Wolfgang
___
If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the 
Wiki!

maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
webpage  : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net
archive  : http://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/
wiki : http://contextgarden.net
___