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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)

#31

Post by vlisivka »

_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 am able to compile document with text in Ukrainian:

  \documentclass[12pt,ukrainian]{article}

  \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
  \usepackage[T2A]{fontenc}
  \usepackage[ukrainian]{babel}

  \title{Вітаю, світе!}

  \begin{document}
  \maketitle

  Вітаю, світе! Як ся маєшся?

  \end{document}

Re: ScribTeX online LaTeX editor (with git interface)

#32

Post by jedbrown »

TheEzEzz wrote: post #14

Very cool. This is headed in the right direction. I think there's a lot of room for improvement in LaTeX editors. For instance: Suppose I'm reading a PDF compiled draft and spot an error in an equation. It would be fantastic if I could simply click on the equation and have a mini text box pop up with the relevant LaTeX code. After editing the LaTeX the PDF would seamlessly update. Or suppose I see an embedded figure…

It would be fantastic if I could simply click on the equation and have a mini text box pop up with the relevant LaTeX code.

Emacs' AUCTeX preview mode renders your equations and tables within the emacs buffer. It's not a PDF, but if I understand correctly, there are format limitations in PDF that prevent instantaneous local updates within a large document. Preview mode is fast.

Re: ScribTeX online LaTeX editor (with git interface)

#33

Post by auxbuss »

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…

I'm wondering whether you could monetize ScribTeX by offering an API to submit docs and return PDFs.

I can think of examples in the past where I'd have paid for that in a heartbeat.

Just an idea.

Re: ScribTeX online LaTeX editor (with git interface)

#34

Post by joegaudet »

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…

An API that would allow for small snapshot images would be useful as well. Say for posting a formula blurb to a forum for instance, would be pretty handy as well.

.joe

Re: ScribTeX online LaTeX editor (with git interface)

#35

Post by eddieplan9 »

CoffeeDregs wrote: post #5

That's just really nice. I used LaTeX for two theses and loved it. It was very freeing to just worry about content and not about layout. When I use Word, I constantly fiddle with styling and with Word's occasional bizarre behavior (delete a word and the next paragraph becomes bold... ?!). With LaTeX, I spent an hour up front defining styles and a few minutes toward the end adjusting styles, but otherwise just wrote c…

As excited about LaTeX in general as the next guy, I think this project has room for improvement until it's ready for prime time.

As a webapp, it has its intrinsic advantage of zero-installation, ubiquitous availability, mobility, etc. However, it also inherits many problems and needs to compete with some really really nice native and free apps, such as TeXShop. It would need to include well-received features available in TeXShop and others, and add some extra values beyond the webapp advantages.

1. Targeting real LaTeX users, I think it makes sense to add some shortcut key or autocompletion for common commands.

2. Make it easy to go back and forth between source and preview PDF. It would be very helpful if it could highlight in the rendering result the text selected in the source view (or just the cursor position). It would even be better if you could scroll to the highlighted spot [see http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/317/317300.html]

3. Make it sync with Dropbox and/or Google Docs. Most of the target audience is already using one or both. I prefer Dropbox. If I can still use native app such as TeXShop when it is available and move to ScribTeX when I am somewhere else and still moving back without thinking, I am sold.

4. I am not sure about others, but I'd like to see the prolog (like \documentclass) and epilog (\end{document}) and other boilerplate code auto-generated and configurable from a simple panel and then hided nicely. Using different amount of padding to show the structure of the document (such as show \subsubsection with more padding then \subsection) would also be a very nice feature.

Re: ScribTeX online LaTeX editor (with git interface)

#36

Post by bonzoesc »

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.

I have access to a machine with TeX installed, but I also have a machine that weighs less than two pounds, gets eight hours of use on battery, and supports websites a whole lot more than it does TeX. If I wrote more papers, this would be quite useful.

Re: ScribTeX online LaTeX editor (with git interface)

#37

Post by mdaniel »

frossie wrote: post #2

(I submitted this) I have zero connection with this site, except it made me very happy when I found about it today. I can't believe I haven't heard of this before (searchyc didn't turn anything up). Granted you may not be as excited if you don't use LaTeX :-)

Maybe it's because no one (like myself) thought of submitting those kinds of links.

Observe:

  https://github.com/jpallen/clsi
  http://code.google.com/p/common-latex-service-interface/
  http://code.google.com/p/latex-lab/
  http://www.verbosus.com/
  http://monkeytex.bradcater.webfactional.com/
  and the parent article's service
edit: formatting
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