Re: Learning troff - where to start?

[Peter Schaffter]

On Wed, Oct 14, 2020, Johann Höchtl wrote:
> Groff is certainly feature-rich, stable and polished with
> great documentation.  But I also value l8n, being able to
> input utf8-characters directly into the source or easily
> switch fonts.  Not to mention PAO (paragraph-at-once) from
> Knuth-Plass.  In that respect both Heirloom and Neatroff are
> compelling alternatives and it would be great for mom if she would
> be available there too.

I haven't inspected either Heirloom or Neatroff closely so I don't
know how big a job porting would be.  I'm not likely to undertake it
myself, though if anyone wanted to, I'd be more than happy to act as
a go-to resource.

What difficulties do you have entering UTF8 directly into the
source?  I've produced groff documents in most of the Western
European and Scandinavian languages with direct UTF8 input.  Are
your troubles with languages other than those?  Also not sure what
you mean by "easily switch fonts."  Since '.ft <font>" is as easy as
it gets, I assume you mean something else.

-- 
Peter Schaffter
https://www.schaffter.ca