texworks: lowering the barrier to entrytug.org/texworks/texworks-presentation.pdfdevelopment...
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Approachable TEX?
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Approachable TEX?
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Approachable TEX?
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Approachable TEX?
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Approachable TEX?
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Approachable TEX?
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Approachable TEX!
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A TEX environmentfornewcomers
TheintroductionofTeXShopcauseda TEX-boomamongMacintoshusers.1
Oneoftheoutstandingsuccessstoriesofthe TEX worldinrecentyearshasbeenDickKoch’sTeXShopenvironmentforMacOS X.WhyhasTeXShopprovedsopopular, amongnewcomersaswellasexperienced TEX users?
• clean, uncluttereduserinterfacepresentingonlytheessentials
• “poweruser”featuresarenotthrustonthenewuser
• simplifiedworkflowbasedonPDF ratherthanDVI output• userinterfacetouches:
• magnifying-glasstool• source↔ previewsynchronization
1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TeXShop
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Sowhatis TEXworks?
The TEXworksprojectisanefforttobuildasimilar TEX front-endprogramthatwillbeavailableforalltoday’smajordesktopoperatingsystems—inparticular, MS Windows(XP andVista),typicalLinuxdistros, andotherX11-basedsystems, inadditiontoMacOS X.
TEXworkswasbegunfollowingdiscussionsatanumberofTUGmeetings, particularlysomeconversationsbetweenKarlBerry, DickKochandJonathanKew. Initialdesignanddevelopmenthasreceivedgeneroussponsorshipthroughthe TEX developmentfund.
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Developmentapproach
Inordertodeliverafree, robust, capable, portableapplicationinareasonableamountoftime, TEXworksisbeingbuiltonthefoundationoftwokeyopen-sourcetools:
• thePopplerlibraryforPDF support• theQtapplicationframework
TheseinturnrelyonadditionalcomponentssuchasFreetype,Fontconfig, X11, zlib, etc., butPopplerandQtaretheprimarydependenciesof TEXworksitself.
ThecurrentcodealsoreliesontheHunspelllibraryforspell-checking,butthismaychangeinthefuture.
AlthoughQtisparticularlyassociatedwiththeKDE desktopenvironment, ithasalonghistoryasacross-platformapplicationframework, andunderliesanumberofmajorapplications(bothfreeandcommercial)onWindowsandMacOS X aswellasLinux/X11.
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TEXworksfeatures
1.SimpleGUI texteditor• UnicodesupportusingstandardOpenTypefonts• multi-levelundo/redo• search&replace, with(optional)regexsupport• comment/uncommentlines, etc.• TEX/LATEX syntaxcoloring• auto-completionforeasyinsertionofcommoncommands• templatestoprovideastartingpointforcommondocument
types
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TEXworksfeatures
2.Toolstoexecute TEX andrelatedprogramstocreatePDF• extensiblesetof TEX commands(withcommoncommands
suchaspdftex, pdflatex, xelatex, context, etc. beingpreconfigured)
• alsosupportrunningBibTEX, Makeindex, etc.• anyterminaloutputappearsina“console”panelofthe
documentwindow; automaticallyhiddenifnoerrorsoccur• “rootdocument”metadataso“Typeset”worksfroman
\includedfile
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TEXworksfeatures
3.Previewwindowtoviewtheoutput• anti-aliasedPDF display• automaticallyopenswhen TEX finishes• auto-refreshwhenre-typesetting(stayatsamepage/view)• TeXShop-like“magnifyingglass”featuretoexaminedetailin
thepreview• one-clickre-typesettingfromeithersourceorpreview• source↔ previewsynchronizationbasedonJérômeLaurens’
SyncTEX technology
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TEXworksfeatures
1. SimpleGUI texteditor
2. Toolstoexecute TEX andrelatedprograms
3. Previewwindowtoviewtheoutput
4. Additional“poweruser”features• advancededitorfeaturessuchascodefolding• interactionwithexternaleditorsandviewers• customizabletoolbars, palettes, etc.• butonlyiftheycanbeaddedwithoutclutteringor
complicatingtheinterfaceandtheinitialuserexperience
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TEXworksfeatures
1. SimpleGUI texteditor
2. Toolstoexecute TEX andrelatedprograms
3. Previewwindowtoviewtheoutput4. Additional“poweruser”features
• advancededitorfeaturessuchascodefolding• interactionwithexternaleditorsandviewers• customizabletoolbars, palettes, etc.• butonlyiftheycanbeaddedwithoutclutteringor
complicatingtheinterfaceandtheinitialuserexperience
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Demo
Currentpre-alpha TEXworksapplication
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Invitation
TEXworksisafreeandopensourcesoftwareproject, andyouareinvitedtoparticipate.
• usetheprototypeforsomerealwork, andgivefeedbackonwhat’sgood, what’sbad, what’sbroken
• ifthere’sacurrentbinarydownloadavailableforyourplatform, trythat
• getthecodeandtrybuildingitonyourplatform; providebugreports(andfixes!) forwhateverproblemsshowup
• digintothecode, andsubmitpatchestoimplementyourfavoritemissingfeatures
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Invitation
TEXworksisafreeandopensourcesoftwareproject, andyouareinvitedtoparticipate.
• writedocumentationandtutorialsfornewcomerstoTEXworksand TEX; bothstandalonedocumentationandpagessuitableforon-linehelparewelcome
• reviewandenhancethecommandcompletionlistsavailablefortheintegratededitor
• providewell-commentedtemplatesforvarioustypesofdocument
• designiconsforthetoolbars, etc.; TEXworkshassomeniceiconsfromQtandtheTangoproject, butothersaremerelyroughplaceholders
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Invitation
TEXworksisafreeandopensourcesoftwareproject, andyouareinvitedtoparticipate.
• usetheQtLinguisttooltolocalizetheuserinterfaceforyourlanguage
• package TEXworksappropriatelyforyourfavoriteGNU/LinuxorBSD distribution, orcreateandmaintainaproperinstallerfortheWindowsorMacOS X platform
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Formoreinformation
• TEXworkshomepageontug.org:http://tug.org/texworks/• shouldincludelinkstoeverythingelse
• developmentishostedatGoogleCode:http://code.google.com/p/texworks/• sourcecoderepository• downloadsofbinarypackages• issuetracker• wikifordevelopernotes