I will be delivering it as a PDF and thinking about printing a version in the future. What are the best software solutions for this?
Ask HN: What software should I use to write a textbook?
1–10 of 70 posts
Re: Ask HN: What software should I use to write a textbook?
#2The LaTeX document format is pretty well fit for the use case (it's kinda been made in that sense).
If it's "too complex", you may be interested in reStructuredText, a stricter and more complete alternative to Markdown, that auto-converts well into LaTeX.
Re: Ask HN: What software should I use to write a textbook?
#3I would start by writing it in whatever software you find most conducive to long writing and editing sessions (be that MS Word, Dark Room, Scrivener, or a programmer’s text editor).
Then convert it to the format you want to use for formatting and layout.
Re: Ask HN: What software should I use to write a textbook?
#4Begin with plain ASCII text. It's very easy to get distracted by the formatting and looks. Content is what's important. So begin with a basic editor like notepad/vi/emacs. Perhaps at best markdown. Get it done, then edited, then you can typeset with something like Latex/Word.
Re: Ask HN: What software should I use to write a textbook?
#5Begin with plain ASCII text. It's very easy to get distracted by the formatting and looks. Content is what's important. So begin with a basic editor like notepad/vi/emacs. Perhaps at best markdown. Get it done, then edited, then you can typeset with something like Latex/Word.
So many times this. I'm presently developing a lot of documents for my office with a group of people. If we'd just focused on the content, and not the formatting (layout, font, etc.) we'd have been done weeks ago. Instead, just this morning while peer reviewing a document for the final version, we got bogged down in how to format a section and lost 30 minutes to a pointless discussion that should've been saved for the final revision (once the content was reviewed).
Simple markdown or similar to have a rough structuring/formatting that there are many good editors and presenters for today. Then do a pass through with LaTeX or Word or whatever to (LaTeX may be more appropriate for certain technical documents) after you've written up the content.
Re: Ask HN: What software should I use to write a textbook?
#6Sadly, it's latex.
Yikes
Re: Ask HN: What software should I use to write a textbook?
#7I used Scribus to develop a language teaching course book for kids. It's kind of like Adobe's InDesign, but open source. A bit of a learning curve, but once you get the hang of it I find its quite easy to use.
Re: Ask HN: What software should I use to write a textbook?
#8Begin with plain ASCII text. It's very easy to get distracted by the formatting and looks. Content is what's important. So begin with a basic editor like notepad/vi/emacs. Perhaps at best markdown. Get it done, then edited, then you can typeset with something like Latex/Word.
Just that. Maybe Word in the first place, for the spell checking. But, other than that, just use it as a plain text editor.
I also find it useful to create a new file for each chapter.
Re: Ask HN: What software should I use to write a textbook?
#9Begin with plain ASCII text. It's very easy to get distracted by the formatting and looks. Content is what's important. So begin with a basic editor like notepad/vi/emacs. Perhaps at best markdown. Get it done, then edited, then you can typeset with something like Latex/Word.
Latex is a bad recommendation I'd say. Just use AsciiDoc. The rest I agree with.
Re: Ask HN: What software should I use to write a textbook?
#10Depends on the topic. If there's a lot of math, you might as well go straight to LaTeX.