texworks: lowering the barrier to entrytug.org/texworks/texworks-presentation.pdfdevelopment...

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TEXworks: loweringthebarriertoentry

JonathanKewjonathan@jfkew.plus.com

July21, 2008

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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