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Collaborative LaTeX Editor With Preview In Your Web Browser
Celarent Darii writes "Slashdot readers have undoubtedly heard of Google Docs and the many other online word processing solutions that run in the browser. However, as a long-time user of TeX and LaTeX, these solutions are not my favorite way of doing things. Wouldn't it be nice to TeX something in your browser? Well, look no further, there is now an online collaborative LaTeX editor with integrated rapid preview. Some fantastic features: quasi-instant preview, automatic versioning of source, easy collaboration and you can even upload files and pictures. Download your project later when you get home. Are you a TeX guru with some masterpieces? Might I suggest uploading them? For the beginner: you can start here."
While the summary makes it sound like this is some breakthrough idea, there are several similar sites out there:
https://www.sharelatex.com/
http://spandex.io/
And others, I'm sure. Is the submitter the owner of this particular version? The marketing speak is a bit over-the-top.
I used sharelatex for a group project last semester and it worked fine. Several features were added since then that make it likely I'll use it again.
I work in publishing, so use it quite a bit for any .pdf manipulation which isn't suited to pdftk, and which justifies it (as opposed to using Enfocus PitStop). Examples:
- in-house ad design system for HS ads in phone books .pdfs displayed in Adobe Acrobat w/ a single click people never used it)
- batch processing ads to add a yellow or white background, or to scale them, sometimes asymmetrically
- batch print graphics w/ filenames --- one instance of that was a several thousand page government publication
- print processed graphics side-by-side w/ the original to make proofreading easier (while I worked up an AppleScript which would page forward in both
- unreleased system for creating galley versions of magazine / journal articles when the source text was in Typo3
- custom typesetting system for custom story books, since taken off-line
I also use it for my own design and typesetting:
- the freely distributed .pdf version of Mike Brotherton's Star Dragon: http://www.mikebrotherton.com/2005/04/20/new-star-dragon-pdf/ (this design made it into the Memoir documentclass along w/ some other things I contributed)
- some entries in the TeX Showcase: http://www.tug.org/texshowcase/onetype.pdf and http://www.tug.org/texshowcase/peace_on_earth.pdf
- books which I typeset and print so as to bind them by hand: http://mysite.verizon.net/william_franklin_adams/portfolio/typography/thebookoftea.pdf
William
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
For me LyX was "LaTeX with training wheels"; after about a year of LyX I've moved to pure LaTeX for more complex functionality. However, I found LaTeX far less intimidating that it might have been as I was already familiar with the concepts and with the names of most functions.
Where it really excels though is in the well-thought-out system of keyboard shortcuts. I used it in the final year of my degree to take down lecture notes, including equations and derivations, and found I was generally able to keep up with a blackboard. Try that with Equation Editor!
Most exciting thing I've seen all day! Right now I use a subversion repository to collaborate with my coauthors, but my advisor isn't very technical and can't seem to figure it out half the time. This is going to be much easier.
Thanks - we've designed writeLaTeX to make it easier to collaborate especially with users who are new to LaTeX or used to WYSIWYG editors. (I'm one of the developers of writeLaTeX and have just returned from my valentine meal out to find us on slashdot!!) Hope the site has been performing ok during the spike in traffic, and if you've any questions just let me know or contact us through the site. Any and all feedback appreciated! John