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ScribTeX online LaTeX editor (with git interface)

scribtex.com

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Re: ScribTeX online LaTeX editor (with git interface)

#21

Post by vankap »

scorpion032 wrote: post #19

Latex compiling is precisely a kind of thing I'd do on _my machine_ than on a web service. Who in this world knows Latex but doesn't have access to a machine to compile it into a pdf? While I really like how well the site has been done, I have a hard time imagining how it would be a success, in the market.

This would be very useful for those who work on a netbook or a thin client. Besides, people do use Google Docs even though they have a full fledged document editing software on their machines.

Re: ScribTeX online LaTeX editor (with git interface)

#22

Post by krikor »

The most attractive feature for a service like this is the collaboration features. I have a linux box set up for wake on lan and Dropbox so I can basically do the same thing as long as I have access to a terminal. What would be great was if the editor with ScribTex was something similar to etherpad had where multiple users can edit the same document at once and you can see updates in realtime.

Re: ScribTeX online LaTeX editor (with git interface)

#23

Post by pauljburke »

krikor wrote: post #22

The most attractive feature for a service like this is the collaboration features. I have a linux box set up for wake on lan and Dropbox so I can basically do the same thing as long as I have access to a terminal. What would be great was if the editor with ScribTex was something similar to etherpad had where multiple users can edit the same document at once and you can see updates in realtime.

I found this post this morning, went over there and haven't stopped smiling yet (sad I know). I threw a couple of 10 page or so assignments at it and after uploading a couple of .sty files it all went perfectly and rendered faster than my local machine, which was a bit insulting.

I was a bit taken aback that this has been live since January 2009 (if I'm reading their blog correctly) since an online LaTex editor is something I look out for on a semi regular basis (and has been for years).

Re: ScribTeX online LaTeX editor (with git interface)

#24

Post by ludwigvan »

_delirium wrote: post #15
w1ntermute wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LaTeX doesn't support Unicode. You need XeLaTeX for that: http://i.imgur.com/Yx9x4.png (code is at http://paste.pocoo.org/show/295774/ )

It's hackish, but you can do Unicode in LaTeX with the inputenc and ucs packages. If you do: \usepackage[utf8x]{inputenc} \usepackage{ucs} then the inputenc macro package does a first pass on the document, handing off all non-ASCII characters to ucs to replace them with LaTeX commands to generate the appropriate characters, if supported. So, ö gets replaced by \"{o}, א gets replaced with \hebalef, etc. Doesn't work f…

I just use:

  \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
It seems utf8x is more complete, but not officially supported. I haven't needeced the ucs package. (Maybe needed for extended characters, Chinese?)

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1797841/icelandic-utf8-an...

By the way, here is a document that can be compiled both with LaTeX and XeLaTeX, with Unicode:

http://ustunozgur.com/compiling-documents-via-both-latex-and...

Re: ScribTeX online LaTeX editor (with git interface)

#25

Post by kleiba »

doki_pen wrote: post #10

I wish I could up vote this more. I've tried LaTeX a few times and I think the reason I don't go back more often is because I have to install it and remember how to compile. This makes it much easier to get your feet wet.

Are you sure hackernews is the right place for you? ;-) j/k

Re: ScribTeX online LaTeX editor (with git interface)

#26

Post by jpallen »

Hi, I'm the creator of ScribTeX. I'm a regular reader of HN and it was great to see this on the front page this morning. Most of my effort is focused on the technical side of things and I've been relying on word of mouth for promotion. (Sorry to those of you who have been looking for something like this for a while!)

Thank you for all the positive comments, they really mean a lot. The constructive feedback from HN is excellent as always.

For the interested, here are some features I am working on at the moment: * Better history navigation. The current implementation is quite flat and cumbersome. * A much better editor. Currently it's just a textbox with syntax highlighting, but I'm working on something to rival the functionality of a desktop editor. * Overall design, in particular the splash page and information pages

Push and pull access to the underlying git repository is currently a feature I am testing. Send me an email (james@scribtex.com) if you would like me to enable it for your account.

Re: ScribTeX online LaTeX editor (with git interface)

#28

Post by jpallen »

scorpion032 wrote: post #19

Latex compiling is precisely a kind of thing I'd do on _my machine_ than on a web service. Who in this world knows Latex but doesn't have access to a machine to compile it into a pdf? While I really like how well the site has been done, I have a hard time imagining how it would be a success, in the market.

A lot of users have said they really appreciate how accessible LaTeX is with ScribTeX. I know that's not an important point for everyone but it is a big help to some.

Re: ScribTeX online LaTeX editor (with git interface)

#29

Post by jpallen »

w1ntermute wrote: post #16
_delirium wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's hackish, but you can do Unicode in LaTeX with the inputenc and ucs packages. If you do: \usepackage[utf8x]{inputenc} \usepackage{ucs} then the inputenc macro package does a first pass on the document, handing off all non-ASCII characters to ucs to replace them with LaTeX commands to generate the appropriate characters, if supported. So, ö gets replaced by \"{o}, א gets replaced with \hebalef, etc. Doesn't work f…

Huh, it worked for ö, but א gave me: ! Undefined control sequence. \u-default-1488 #1->\hebalef And the Japanese example above gave me: Package ucs Error: Unknown Unicode character 12371 = U+3053 Either way, there's not much of a point in using LaTeX when XeLaTeX is available, save for intercompatibility. So until sites like this one start moving to XeTeX/XeLaTeX, we'll still often be stuck without (true) Unicode.

I agree, ScribTeX needs support for XeTeX and other LaTeX compilers. As the creator of the site, I guess I'm in a unique position to make this happen! It's been on my todo list for a while now and isn't without its difficulties, but I'll use this conversation as renewed motivation to get it done.

Re: ScribTeX online LaTeX editor (with git interface)

#30

Post by bigfudge »

jpallen wrote: post #26

Hi, I'm the creator of ScribTeX. I'm a regular reader of HN and it was great to see this on the front page this morning. Most of my effort is focused on the technical side of things and I've been relying on word of mouth for promotion. (Sorry to those of you who have been looking for something like this for a while!) Thank you for all the positive comments, they really mean a lot. The constructive feedback from HN is…

Perhaps this isn't in the right spirit, but because of Pandoc I've become wedded to writing in a mixture of markdown and latex (latex for the fiddly bits, markdown for everything else)... Is this (or something like it) something you might consider in the future? I work with many non-technical people and write collaboratively using this mixture on etherpads... A proper git history would be a very nice addition to our workflow.
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