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ArXiv now offers papers in HTML format

blog.arxiv.org

51–60 of 325 posts

Re: ArXiv now offers papers in HTML format

#51
post #33

It would be neat if they offered submitters the chance to upload their own HTML version alongside the PDF version, instead of always relying on an automatic conversion process. - I can imagine authors feeling frustrated if someone reaches out about a problem in the HTML version of their paper, but they have no way to correct it except by hoping that a change to the PDF fixes a change to the generated HTML. Easier to…

> It would be neat if they offered submitters the chance to upload their own HTML version alongside the PDF version, instead of always relying on an automatic conversion process. Please don't. Then you will have a mismatch between the source and the "own html" which ruins the point of uploading the source.

Pdf isn't the source

Re: ArXiv now offers papers in HTML format

#52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely the two columns for me. It's super annoying skimming a paper and having to scroll down and back up again in a zig-zag pattern.

I think the consuming device matters. A ipad or computer have much wider screen width. One column layout is too wide for them for average people to scan text lines quickly. While it looks perfectly fine on a phone. Two columns layout looks terrible on a smartphone, the text is too tiny to read comfortably. It would probably be even better if you can flip it left and right like a ebook instead of scrolling to allocate…

Just zoom the smartphone into one column. Problem solved.

Re: ArXiv now offers papers in HTML format

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is very interesting, because for me it's just the opposite. In particular the two column layout is just more readable and approachable for me. The PDF version also allows for a presentation just as the authors intended. I guess it's good that they offer both now.

The authors don’t format the pdf, the editor does. Authors probably sent a double spaced word document with figures and tables on another file.

In computer science, the usual case is that the author fully formats the paper.

Re: ArXiv now offers papers in HTML format

#54
post #41

For anyone interested in staying informed about important new AI/ML papers on arXiv, check out https://www.emergentmind.com , a site I'm building that should help. Emergent Mind works by checking social media for arXiv paper mentions (HackerNews, Reddit, X, YouTube, and GitHub), then ranks the papers based on how much social media activity there has been and how long since the paper was published (similar to how HN a…

That looks great. No real feedback yet, but it's the kind of thing I've always been looking for as a better alternative to Twitter.

Re: ArXiv now offers papers in HTML format

#55
post #33

It would be neat if they offered submitters the chance to upload their own HTML version alongside the PDF version, instead of always relying on an automatic conversion process. - I can imagine authors feeling frustrated if someone reaches out about a problem in the HTML version of their paper, but they have no way to correct it except by hoping that a change to the PDF fixes a change to the generated HTML. Easier to…

Most authors probably have no interest in learning html. Also most authors want nothing to do with the work by the time its submitted. It was probably hell getting the project to that point of publishing, they want to be done with it and move on to the next thing going on in their career asap.

Re: ArXiv now offers papers in HTML format

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the consuming device matters. A ipad or computer have much wider screen width. One column layout is too wide for them for average people to scan text lines quickly. While it looks perfectly fine on a phone. Two columns layout looks terrible on a smartphone, the text is too tiny to read comfortably. It would probably be even better if you can flip it left and right like a ebook instead of scrolling to allocate…

Just zoom the smartphone into one column. Problem solved.

And then you will have to scroll both top bottom and left right, a even worst experience.

Re: ArXiv now offers papers in HTML format

#58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is very interesting, because for me it's just the opposite. In particular the two column layout is just more readable and approachable for me. The PDF version also allows for a presentation just as the authors intended. I guess it's good that they offer both now.

The authors don’t format the pdf, the editor does. Authors probably sent a double spaced word document with figures and tables on another file.

Not on arXiv (unless I'm much mistaken), which is a preprint server, not a conventional journal.

arXiv accepts various flavors of TeX, or PDFs not produced by TeX [0], and automatically produces PDFs and HTML where possible (e.g. if TeX is submitted). In the case of the example paper under discussion, the authors submitted TeX with PDF figures [1], and the PDF version of the paper was produced by arXiv. The formatting was mainly set by using REVTeX, which is a set of macros for LaTeX intended for American Physical Society journals.

[0] https://info.arxiv.org/help/submit/index.html#formats-for-te... [1] https://arxiv.org/format/2312.12451

Re: ArXiv now offers papers in HTML format

#59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is very interesting, because for me it's just the opposite. In particular the two column layout is just more readable and approachable for me. The PDF version also allows for a presentation just as the authors intended. I guess it's good that they offer both now.

The authors don’t format the pdf, the editor does. Authors probably sent a double spaced word document with figures and tables on another file.

You are very confidently wrong.

In the arxiv you use latex and do everything yourself. There is no editor.

Re: ArXiv now offers papers in HTML format

#60
post #33

It would be neat if they offered submitters the chance to upload their own HTML version alongside the PDF version, instead of always relying on an automatic conversion process. - I can imagine authors feeling frustrated if someone reaches out about a problem in the HTML version of their paper, but they have no way to correct it except by hoping that a change to the PDF fixes a change to the generated HTML. Easier to…

I was under the impression the source authors publish to arxiv was a latex file
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