Re: tlug: Transitioning to Linux (was: Many Faces on Linux)

["Manuel M. T. Chakravarty" <chak@example.com>]

"Stephen J. Turnbull" <turnbull@example.com> wrote,

> >>>>> "Manu" == Manuel M T Chakravarty <chak@example.com> writes:
> 
>     >> These days, since practically everything I write ends up on a
>     >> WWW page as well as paper, I use a simple markup "language"
> 
>     Manu> Why don't you write LaTeX and run it through latex2html or
>     Manu> hyperlatex.  The output is not optimal for mathematics etc,
>     Manu> because of the lack of support in HTML, but otherwise, it is
> 
> What alternative is there to making images out of the equations?
> 
>     Manu> quite nice -- for example, it automagically creates
>     Manu> hyperlinks for all references to sections etc and for
>     Manu> citations.
> 
> I don't like the output from latex2html for one thing, or the way it
> structures the tree.  And it's at least as limiting as creating your
> own markup language, perhaps more so, if you have the time to muck
> with your own .sty files a bit.

I think, it is usually good to use an input language that is
widely used and supported, as you have more tools etc.  And
I don't think there is another text formatting language that 
combines LaTeX's power and widespread use.  Of course more
people use HTML than LaTeX, but than HTML is a joke when it
comes to serious typesetting.  (Imagine writing a paper in
HTML and getting it published in some conference proceedings 
-- what an embarrassment!)

I agree that latex2html can be improved, but I'd rather put
my time into improving latex2html than designing my own
markup language and writing some tools for it.

> More important, most of the documents I write these days have not just
> two target formats, but four or five.  Some variants are simple enough
> to implement in any given target language (eg, examinations and
> exercises simply need a way to turn off output of the suggested
> answers, which can be done with \newcommand{\answer}[1]{}'
> in LaTeX),

Do you now LaTeX's `version' package?  Quite useful for such 
things.  Also for automagically outcommenting some drafty or 
todo stuff in a pre-release of a document or for having two
versions of a document in one source file.

> but some are quite a bit more difficult (turning lecture notes into
> hardcopy, HTML, and OHP slides simultaneously).

Actually, last time I prepared OHP slides I got convinced
again of the better improve LaTeX and its surrounding tools
than invent something new strategy.  I had to give three
talks in two weeks (all three requiring at least some
significant revision of old material).  As usual time ran
out and I decided to print the slides for only one talk
before leaving for Europe and to finish the other two talks
on my NotePC during my trip and do an online presentation
(ie, VGA projection from my machine).  So, the natural idea
was to consider using MagicPoint for the two online talks.

I spent quite some hours learning MagicPoint and trying to
get the layout that I wanted.  Finally, I gave up and did
the presentation with ghostview sized such that only the
actual contents of the slides was visible on the screen (and
no buttons or windows frames etc).  And it worked very
nicely.  I had to use ghostview instead of xdvi, because I
routinely use the PSTricks package for graphics (yes,
WYSIWIG graphics programs also suck -- at least for
technical drawings) and other nice effects.

The only technical problem that I had, was that as I
sometimes use overlays (using LaTeX's seminar package -- a
must for doing OHPs with LaTeX), I had to hack the
PostScript a little bit, such that overlays accumulate
instead of having exactly one overlay on a slide, which is
right when you stack the slides physically.

Sure, I had no fancy stuff flying around the screen, but
layout-wise I am quite sure you would have great trouble
producing something similar in a tool like power point (not
even to speak about MagicPoint, which doesn't even get the
interword spacing right for ASCII -- as opposed to Kanji --
text).

Actually, I was wondering whether it might be worthwhile
trying to extend LaTeX and maybe ghostview such that they
can provide some of the animations that you have in a tool
like power point - this probably would be much less work
than trying to get the typesetting right in MagicPoint.

TeX rules :-)

Manuel
---------------------------------------------------------------
Next Meeting: 10 October, 12:30 Tokyo Station Yaesu central gate
Featuring the IMASY Eng. Team on "IPv6 - The Next Generation IP"
Next Nomikai: 20 November, 19:30  Tengu TokyoEkiMae 03-3275-3691
---------------------------------------------------------------
Sponsor: PHT, makers of TurboLinux http://www.pht.co.jp