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The secret of ConTeXt you don't know: How to easily achieve perfect typesetting?
In the document processing world, ConTeXt is built around efficient and beautiful typesetting technology. This universal file processing system derived from TeX is particularly suitable for automatic generation and multi-language typesetting of structured documents. ConTeXt provides an intuitive interface that allows users to give full play to their creativity in typesetting while taking into account professional requirements.
ConTeXt is designed to provide users with easy access to advanced typesetting controls.
ConTeXt's typesetting capabilities are quite powerful, including microtypesetting processing, support for multiple footnotes and footnote categories, and comprehensive control of OpenType fonts. Its functions are not limited to typesetting, but also include color support, background design, hyperlinks, slideshows, conditional compilation, etc. These features greatly expand the possibilities of document design and simplify the previously tedious process of learning the underlying TeX macro language.
Compared with LaTeX, ConTeXt's unified design greatly reduces package conflicts.
But the fundamental purposes of ConTeXt and LaTeX are completely different. The original intention of LaTeX is to relieve users from the technical details of typesetting, which is especially important for the submission of scientific articles. ConTeXt, on the other hand, emphasizes user control over the typesetting process, allowing every user to flexibly adjust formats and styles.
ConTeXt also performs well in supporting multiple languages. Its user interface supports markup in English, German, French, Italian and Dutch, and can handle character usage in a variety of European and Asian languages. This makes it a global typesetting tool suitable for users from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
ConTeXt can easily utilize different TeX engines, such as LuaTeX and LuaMetaTeX.
In terms of version control, the current ConTeXt version is LMTX, launched in 2019, which is the successor of the MkIV version. LMTX is designed to focus on maximizing the performance of ConTeXt, using a LuaMetaTeX compilation and scripting engine developed specifically for it. Older versions such as MkII and MkIV are no longer maintained, which also highlights the improvement of LMTX in typesetting performance.
ConTeXt has a long history. As early as 1991, Hans Hagen and Ton Otten created ConTeXt for the typesetting needs of educational materials. In 1996, Hans Hagen named it ConTeXt, which means "text with TeX". From then on, ConTeXt began to open to a wider user group, gradually forming today's typesetting system.
ConTeXt has always been committed to providing a simple and easy-to-use typesetting experience.
In actual use, it is very convenient to create a ConTeXt document. The user only needs to write an ordinary text file, then compile it through the context script, and finally generate a PDF file. This process simplifies the documentation generation process, allowing even novices to get started quickly.
The ConTeXt community is also constantly developing. As time goes by, more and more documents and tutorials are added to the Context Garden to facilitate users to find and learn. From early handwriting coding to the current Git repository, ConTeXt continues to adapt to technological changes and provides users with increasingly powerful functions.
ConTeXt's many features, such as the MetaFun drawing engine, PPCHTeX that supports chemical structure diagrams, etc., demonstrate its flexibility and creativity. These functions allow users to switch freely among diverse needs and are no longer limited to fixed layout formats and styles.
How will ConTeXt evolve in the future to adapt to changing typesetting needs?
