Re: Review of the rewritten wiki bibliography page

Hello Jean-Pierre,

I took my time to read through your great addition to the ConTeXtgarden.
This will be of good help for getting acquainted with the bibliography
module in ConTeXt. It is easy to read, complete with examples. Super.

I see that there is discussion about splitting the page up. Of course
one could do that, however the Wiki is already a difficult to navigate
monster and I would prefer to keep your work as one piece. I have though
a suggestion. The contents in front is numbered but the sections below
are not. To me it would be nice to have the sections numbered for ease
of navigation.

Thank you so much for your effort in writing this!

Willi

On Jul 18 2026, at 10:21 am, Jean-Pierre Delange via ntg-context
<[email protected]> wrote:

> Dear all,
> 
> I have substantially reorganised and rewritten the ConTeXt Garden wiki 
> on bibliographies and citations 
> (https://wiki.contextgarden.net/References_notes_and_floats/Bibliography_and_citations).
> 
> The main goal was to turn the page into a progressive introduction to 
> the current MkIV/LMTX publications subsystem, while preserving useful 
> information about older formats and advanced customisation.
> 
> The revised page now proceeds through the following stages:
> 
> 1. a minimal two-file example;
> 2. bibliographic data formats and BibTeX record structure;
> 3. datasets, specifications, renderings, selection methods, sorting,
> and 
> placement;
> 4. multiple bibliographies from one dataset or from distinct datasets;
> 5. bibliography management in structured editorial projects;
> 6. citation syntax and citation alternatives;
> 7. custom bibliographic specifications;
> 8. a simple manual bibliography for very small documents.
> 
> A new section on structured editorial projects is based on a working 
> book project, but has been rewritten as a generic example. It separates:
> 
> - bibliographic data;
> - project and bibliography environments;
> - chapter-level citations;
> - backmatter placement.
> 
> It also discusses practical problems encountered in real projects, 
> including:
> 
> - the difference between method=global and method=dataset;
> - manually written references that are not connected to the BTX database;
> - unsupported or incorrectly classified publication categories;
> - unresolved citations;
> - duplicate keys loaded into one dataset;
> - relative paths and compilation roots.
> 
> I would especially appreciate review of the following technical points:
> 
> - the descriptions of method=local, method=global, and method=dataset;
> - the use of repeat=yes with chapter bibliographies and a final 
> bibliography;
> - the examples using several datasets and dataset::key;
> - the distinction between citation and list namespaces;
> - the examples involving \usecitation and manually written editorial notes;
> - the minimal custom specification example.
> 
> I would also appreciate your opinion on the overall structure of the 
> material.
> 
> The page has become quite substantial and now serves several purposes
> at 
> once: an introduction for beginners, a conceptual reference for 
> intermediate users, and a guide to advanced project-based workflows.
> 
> Would it be preferable to keep this as one comprehensive page, or to 
> divide it into several linked pages?
> 
> One possible division would be:
> 
> 1. Bibliography and citations;
> 2. Multiple bibliographies;
> 3. Bibliographies in structured editorial projects.
> 
> The main page would retain the Quickstart, data formats, the general 
> bibliography workflow, and citation syntax, while the two longer 
> advanced sections would become separate pages.
> 
> Would you please indicate whether this division would improve 
> readability and maintenance, or whether the current single-page 
> structure is preferable.
> 
> The current version is intentionally detailed, but the structure is 
> progressive and the table of contents allows readers to stop after the 
> level they need.
> 
> Best//JP
> 
> ___________________________________________________________________________________
> If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry
> to the Wiki!
> 
> maillist : [email protected] / https://mailman.ntg.nl/mailman3/lists/ntg-context.ntg.nl
> webpage  : https://www.pragma-ade.nl / https://context.aanhet.net (mirror)
> archive  : https://github.com/contextgarden/context
> wiki     : https://wiki.contextgarden.net
> ___________________________________________________________________________________
> 
___________________________________________________________________________________
If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the Wiki!

maillist : [email protected] / https://mailman.ntg.nl/mailman3/lists/ntg-context.ntg.nl
webpage  : https://www.pragma-ade.nl / https://context.aanhet.net (mirror)
archive  : https://github.com/contextgarden/context
wiki     : https://wiki.contextgarden.net
___________________________________________________________________________________