Latex in Mellel

[aechallu]

This poll follows up the previous discussion on simple Latex export functionality in Mellel.

By simple export support I mean a translation of autotitles, tables, notes, future crossrefs, and images but not page, column, indents, fonts, margins, colors, etc. Those who have an interest can post their own priorities.

[zoul]

I think the demand for various special export formats is going to be too low for developers to write them – the right choice here seems to be to vote for the export system and let the users write export plugins for themselves. I would write the LaTeX export myself (although I do not need it) if the export system comes.

(But do not feel discouraged and vote for the LaTeX export if you need it! I could be wrong and the LaTeX export could come directly from Redlers if there is enough demand.)

[Stephen Still]

I agree with zoul. I've got to say, I'd prefer the Redlers to work on application functionality and not stuff that the user community should be capable of doing on their own. There are easily a dozen file formats on the "nice to have" list for exporting, and the Redlers can be expected to go out and learn them all.

WRT building an exporter, I've vaguely considered it as a way of familiarising myself with basic LaTeX syntax. Maybe some of us can do it collaboratively… I'm happy to host a subversion repository for it if people are interested.

[verma]

I'm not sure I really want LaTeX export functionality. I write in LaTeX when I need to, and in Mellel when I can - both are two different worlds to me.

Ulysses (corrected), for example, allows TEX export - but it's basic and actually not that useful. I wouldn't want Mellel to take that same direction.

A good thing is the Plain Text export, which one can copy into a LaTeX editor (TeXshop is a very good one).

I'd rather wish that Mellel becomes the user-friendlier version of LaTeX.

[signinstranger]

A good thing is the Plain Text export, which one can copy into a LaTeX editor (TeXshop is a very good one).

Plain text export is great. That's actually the very reason why I came up with the idea of LaTeX export. Judging from the output it already does a lot of formatting based on Mellels internal markup, so why no add that extra touch to make it a proper LaTeX export filter?

[verma]

so why no add that extra touch to make it a proper LaTeX export filter?

Legitimate question; but I find when I'm copying and pasting plain texted-Mellel (or any other PT-export) into LaTeX, there's always quite a number of additional things to do to make LaTeX really into the powerful beast it is (I'm specifically thinking of extra \usepackage commands).

For me, this begs the question: users who are familiar with LaTeX probably are satisfied with the Plain Text export; others who are not familiar (or not too familiar) with LaTeX (or any TeX sibling) won't be able to do much with a "general" LaTeX-export (for TOC or bibliography, they'd better consult a manual anyway).

I thought.

[signinstranger]

It doesn't really matter whether you're a pro or not. When you're in a situation where you have more than 500 footnotes and 100 tables or figures, you'll curse plain text export.

[verma]

It doesn't really matter whether you're a pro or not. When you're in a situation where you have more than 500 footnotes and 100 tables or figures, you'll curse plain text export.

That depends on what the alternatives are; but with a bit of planning, footnotes, tables etc. can all be plain-texted (juggle a bit with RTF (for tables) and TXT exports (for footnotes)) and then "Textwrangled" more properly.

Texts that size, however, should stay put - I wouldn't advise transferring them to another platform at that stage as it inevitably requires a lot of extra work. Unless that extra work comes from the developers themselves - but I'd rather see them using their time and energy to make Mellel (even) better, not writing export filters for other programmes.

[FA1]

Bump. I don't know much about LaTex, but I was just reading about it, and this might be interesting to have as an option (whether or not the Redlers do it). Maybe you can somehow have the user define how each style will translate to a LaTex command, or that might be what people have in mind already.

As Mellel is marketed to scholars, it could be a useful capability and might not be too difficult to pull off.

[rpcameron]

Bump. I don't know much about LaTex, but I was just reading about it, and this might be interesting to have as an option (whether or not the Redlers do it). Maybe you can somehow have the user define how each style will translate to a LaTex command, or that might be what people have in mind already.

As Mellel is marketed to scholars, it could be a useful capability and might not be too difficult to pull off.

TeX is a bit more involved than just commands that may mimic Mellel's style and structure elements.

LaTeX and ConTeXt are two similar macro packages that facilitate the use of TeX elements, and make it easier to create articles, reports, books, &c. A full featured TeX exporter may make it difficult to convert a users style sets into the appropriate environment for TeX.

Also, if LaTeX export is implemented, I would like to propose also export options for ConTeXt, which is slightly different from LaTeX.

(And I know this is not quite the place to ask, but I'm not certain if extra commands are necessary for XeTeX. If so, could those also be included in the export. For those unfamiliar, XeTeX is a TeX implementation that outputs PDF files, and uses OS X's underlaying text engive, so you have full access to Unicode fonts and better typography. I'm uncertain of the use of AAT or OpenType features in XeTeX, so perhaps someone else can fill in the blanks.)