Training Links

The Committee is collecting useful links for UK (La)TeX training at:

http://delicious.com/uktug/uk-latex-training

Suggestions very welcome!

The Latex Course in Wikibooks (2)

Introduction and Absolute Beginners

One thing I notice about the Introduction and Chapter 2 (Absolute Beginners) is that they seem to have been written for some one in a Science Dept at a University or College who is accustomed to accessing Latex through typing in a command line like latex hello.tex (see p8 Generating the Document and else where in the course). This type of user may well also have the support of a Computer Science background with Latex already installed.

However, there is an even larger population of potential users out there who for one reason or another do not have this luxury. They are more likely to be running Windows XP or GNU(Linux) on their own equipment and are accustomed to a quite different procedure for running programs like Latex. Not only that but their first task will be to install Latex and its associated programs onto their system. There are of course different ways of doing this. In my own experience I found down loading off the internet made quite big demands on me and I must say I really appreciate the DVD disk “Tex Collection” which can be obtained from uktug where the installation is automatic and makes few if any demands on ones computer expertise. Even then, I well remember the feeling of utter helplessnes as I first held the DVD in my hands. What on earth was I supposed to do next ? No friendly colleague at my elbow showing me the way that worked for him or her. In fact I finally settled on the the ProText option which is based on MiKTeX and has additional tools like a really helpful TeXnicCenter as user interface. However, someone else using GNU/Linux (or Windows XP) has available on the disk the option to choose TeXLive which I know from experience is also very good.

I think I should make it clear here that these remarks are not in any way intended as a criticism of the Latex Course itself which quite properly assumes that the user already has Latex available. What I would suggest however is that there is a real need for another associated Wikibook entitled “Installing Latex on a PC ” which really has to be written very clearly avoiding computer jargon as much as possible to make it really easy for someone on their own to install Latex with least fuss and bother. Such a Wikibook would make a good companion to the “Latex Examples” book already suggested in the previous post and together with the Latex Course itself the trio might well form a really practical way for someone to gain the undoubted benefits of using Latex.

Your comments will be very welcome

Alastair

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The Latex Course in Wikibooks

As you know I’m working my way through the Latex Course in Wikibooks. This is partly because I think it is a good course and at the same time trying to see if there are any parts of it which might be difficult for a beginner in Latex. I began by printing the course out (currently 90 pages) and inserting these into a binder which has plastic sheets to hold the pages. Personally I always find it easier to have a course like this printed out while at the same time having it up on line to access the links.

So far, I’ve found the course just as good as I thought it might be apart from the odd trivial spelling error. I played around with it a bit and was easily able to “copy” some of the examples given and then “paste” them into my installed Latex program (MiKTeX 2.5) running on Windows XP.  Then by adding a few standard commands like begin and end document all of the examples I looked at ran with no errors. This sort of procedure is very easy to do and is rewarding and encouraging.
I wonder if there may be a case for making up a Wikibook of our own called say “Latex Examples” with each page devoted to a particular environment (document, report and so on) and this time putting in whatever commands are needed to complete the example and have each example run with no errors.  At the same time using the % command to add useful comments here and there with the beginner in mind.

If we were to do this and make up such a book we could open with an Introduction explaining very clearly just how to obtain a copy of Latex (on a DVD disk from uktug) and install it on ones own computer (Windows or GNU/Linux) .  I must confess I would have found such a thing very useful when I first began to learn Latex. I envisage the beginner starting here and then going on to look at one or two good textbooks and the wide range of free articles dealing with the subject on the Internet.

This would meet the aims of the (DVD based) project I put forward at our recent annual meeting  but would have the big advantage (suggested by others at the meeting) of being Wiki based so that anyone can add to the number and variety of examples included.

I think this is more or less in line with our recent discussions and I would be interested in your comments.

Alastair

TeX news by RSS and Atom feeds

In case you didn’t know, RSS  and Atom feeds are a new and effective way of being told what’s new on a website, without having to visit it.  One very nice use of feeds is Live Bookmarks.  The icon for a feed is an orange ‘radio wave’.  There may be one of these icons in the URL bar of your browser right now.

Here are some TeX feeds you might want to use.

• This blog
• UK TeX sites (or directly, without RSS)
• CTAN announcements

We hope, in UK TeX sites to list many sites of particular interest to TeX Users in the UK.  We’ve made a modest start, but we know we’re missing many sites. If you want to help, send us some URLs (say by making comments on the post).  We particularly welcome, at this time, sites connected to supporting TeX in UK Higher Education.  (We’ve got a few, but we know we’re missing lots.)

Jonathan Fine

Guidelines for using this blog

The Committee has set up this blog, for sharing information with our members, and the wider community.  We’ve decided to follow some guidelines, which are

1.  Any member of the Committee may post an article to the UK TUG blog.
2.  No further permission is required to do this.
3.  Matters that are confidential must not be published on the blog.
4.  Personal views must not be represented as the view of the Committee.

We hope to use this blog as a way of keeping you informed about what we’re doing, and to give you an opportunity to make suggestions.

Please feel welcome to add your comments to the posts on this blog.  And if you’d like to post an article, contact us and one of the Committee can post it for you.

Jonathan Fine, Chair UK TUG