Questions tagged [documentation]
{documentation} is about the writing of *TeX package documentation and packages designed for documenting *TeX code, e.g. ltxdoc.
316
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What is the minimum one needs to know to use TikZ?
I am fed up with the poor quality of the pictures in the papers written by my graduate students and am trying to convince them to use TikZ. I know of three ways to begin learning TikZ:
The TikZ & ...
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101
votes
10
answers
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Materials for learning TikZ
I feel intimidated in learning TikZ. I was wondering if there are some nice materials (or just your replies) at different level:
for providing big picture, which is
important to beginners to not lose
...
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89
votes
17
answers
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Which manuals are on your "TeX Reference" shelf?
This is a community wiki since there is no "one true answer"- if you find an answer that contains a lot of your choices, but is missing something you feel is incredibly useful. Feel free to add it. ...
83
votes
12
answers
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Best practices references
What resources (online or otherwise) exist that give good advice on best practices for TeX, etc.? I'm looking particularly for things that assume you already know TeX or LaTeX, and aim to help you ...
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16
answers
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What needs to be introduced in a short introduction to LaTeX?
One of the things listed at the How you can help in the TeX community page of the TUG website is:
We'd like to have an ‘introduction to LaTeX’ document that falls somewhere between the brevity of ...
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votes
2
answers
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Documentation reference for LaTeX internal commands?
This question led to a new package:
macros2e
Is there a place where I can find a reference of LaTeX internal commands? For example, just a few months ago I saw an answer using \@for and today I ...
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54
votes
6
answers
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TikZ manual newest version online?
Is there a definite place where TikZ manual can be found online?
I am only finding version 2.00, while I keep loosing the link to 2.10.
Does the official site host the manual somewhere, or is it ...
- 5,204
54
votes
6
answers
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Which books can I read via texdoc?
For years, I was faithfully downloading a copy of TeX by Topic whenever I reinstalled my computer. Then I learnt about texdoc texbytopic and my life got just that smidgen easier. I've just returned ...
53
votes
1
answer
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An explanation of LaTeX's output routine
Is there a good reference for LaTeX's output routine? The documented source is confused and confusing. The authors seem confused as to why parts are the way they are and wonder if maybe things should ...
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51
votes
1
answer
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Glossary of TeX and LaTeX terms
This is not about glossary package. :-)
I was wondering whether there is a list of common terms you come across as a not-so-advanced user, defined already. Currently what we have are many books ...
- 3,683
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votes
2
answers
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The definitive guide to ConTeXt MkIV and LMTX documentation
On the mailing list (sign up, do it!) and on TeX - LaTeX
Stack Exchange (abbr.: TeX.SX) I often read the complaint
that the ConTeXt documentation is bad/old/incomplete. I
wholeheartedly disagree. ...
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48
votes
6
answers
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Where can I find help files or documentation for commands like \@startsection for LaTeX?
I can't find official documentation for the \@startsection command.
I already looked in:
LaTeX Wikibook
LaTeX: Structured document for TEX, 2008
beginLatex — a book that comes with ProTeX
in the ...
- 3,355
47
votes
2
answers
6k
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Where to find official (!) and extended documentation for tex/latex's commandline options (especially -interaction modes)?
Today I tried to learn more about the several interaction modes for tex/latex/pdflatex etc. The manpages turned out to be not very helpful:
$ man tex
...
-interaction mode
Sets the ...
- 581
45
votes
2
answers
2k
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Moving to LaTeX3 for package authors
I would like to write a package using as much of LaTeX3 stuff as possible (in particular expl3, xparse and xtemplate).
What should I read to learn these?
In particular: I know that there are good ...
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42
votes
2
answers
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What are good advanced LaTeX books?
I've been using LaTeX for about 3 months, and I'm hooked. My background is programming, so for the basic, google is sufficient. I did some research on amazon.com and found these two books with many ...
40
votes
2
answers
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Help in choosing LaTeX2e books in light of LaTeX3 development
I'm quite new to LaTeX (~3 months) and I'm excited about buying the books. I just bought The TeXbook on eBay and hopefully it should arrive next week. I might even want to get a printed copy of TeX by ...
- 16k
39
votes
3
answers
7k
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Different approach to literate programming for LaTeX
I have spent a couple of hours rethinking the literate style tools we have for LaTeX, which are essentially doc, docstrip and ltxdoc. Although the traditional workflow with a good editor can be less ...
- 115k
35
votes
6
answers
1k
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How to build two different .tex files from same .tex file
When I prepare an exercise list for my students I use to also include there my own solutions. I prepare these documents with some macros based on mdframed and with comment help I easily obtain two ...
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28
votes
3
answers
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Where is the LaTeX manual?
Helpful members of the community just solved my problem with \newcommand:
What's wrong with my newcommand?
But in trying to solve it, I got an error message referring to p. 192 of "the manual". ...
- 1,451
25
votes
2
answers
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Berry naming scheme list of LaTeX font families
Could you provide me with a list of Berry names for LaTeX font families?
I am currently working on a paper comparing various LaTeX fonts, particularly their support of extended Latin and it took some ...
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25
votes
1
answer
3k
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How do I document my style files?
I have many style files (and one or two class files) that I've written in my local texmf tree. Most were simple things that got me out of some trouble and which I put in to a style file in case I ...
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23
votes
2
answers
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Where can I find the LaTeX3 manual?
Few month ago I saw a big pdf-manual of all LaTeX3-packages and the new syntax. I think it was bigger than 300 pages. I can't find it on the web.
Does anyone have a link?
- 94.6k
23
votes
5
answers
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Google searching LaTeX commands?
Q: How can I best search the web for exact LaTeX commands (e.g., \show as opposed to show)?
It appears that Google will not allow us to escape the \ character. So, searches for \show are interpreted ...
- 5,233
23
votes
3
answers
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Classes for LaTeX documentation
I wonder which classes are available to typeset LaTeX manuals. Until now I have used ltxdoc. I’m satisfied with its functions but not with its layout/design and it’s not really flexible when writing ...
- 55.1k
23
votes
1
answer
721
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Plain TeX online documentation/references?
I am a non-beginner plain TeX user, mostly typesetting cheat sheets for computer science. I own The TeXbook and have seen some TeX manuals for the compilers, such as pdfTeX manuals and so forth.
My ...
- 331
22
votes
4
answers
4k
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LaTeX, package documentation look-up
I am on OS X (10.6 Snow Leopard) using TeXLive-2011 to typeset a simple .tex file I am editing in Vim and trying to learn. My problem is: how do I...
gradually learn about what TeX can do for me
get ...
- 2,709
20
votes
3
answers
2k
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Is there a printable version of a reference manual for all TeX primitives?
Everywhere in the TeX community, I see suggestions like \parskip, \obeylines, \parindent, etc. I'd be surprised not to find them even in the most basic LaTeX packages. So I figured they must be deeper ...
- 16k
19
votes
3
answers
486
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Where can I find a documentation for low-level tex conditionals like \if?
I want to understand low-level stuff like \if better. I'm not looking for some random examples off Google showing me some statements but a specification of some sort - something mean and unforgiving. ...
- 1,165
18
votes
1
answer
849
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Are there guidelines on how to read commented sources of LaTeX packages?
I'm trying to read source2e.pdf (texdoc source2e on the command line), but I'm stumped. It seems a rather mysterious tome to me. As I understand from this answer about what arguments a command expects,...
- 16k
17
votes
2
answers
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Dummies Guide to TeX as a programming language
There are a lot of answers that are using a somehow cryptic syntax that I am not familiar with. Is there any Not So Short Introduction to TeX (like Not So Short Introduction to LaTeX) ?!
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17
votes
2
answers
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Does anyone know a good XeTeX tutorial?
I want to use XeTeX so that I can use a particular font, but I'm not quite sure about the documentation/commands in specifying this font in XeTeX. Can anyone point me to a good how-to tutorial on ...
- 1,703
17
votes
3
answers
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Tutorial on positioning
As a beginner, I keep running into difficulties when in the need of positioning elements. Pushing them down, up, left or right should be easy concepts, but I find it hard to visualize as a beginner ...
- 3,473
17
votes
1
answer
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Should a \CharacterTable still be used in dtx files?
My understanding of the use of a \CharacterTable in .dtx files is that it provides a visual check that the file was transmitted properly and there were no issues with character encodings.
Is it still ...
- 115k
17
votes
1
answer
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Automatic linking (aka code highlight) in Till Tantau's `codeexample`
I am writing docs for a tikz-based package, and I am trying to reuse Till Tantau's codeexample environment to output source code along with its output. However, I cannot manage to get syntax ...
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votes
3
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Is there a good plain TeX tutorial that explains about doing automation and making layout?
I am interested in learning plain TeX especially in
automation: looping, conditional branching, jumping, iterating, etc.
layout: creating custom smart tables and boxes that can span cross pages.
...
- 46.1k
15
votes
2
answers
2k
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What font configuration is used by microtype documentation
I really like the font configuration (appearance) of the documentation for microtype package (see here). How do I find out the combination they're using? (I will fix the protrusion etc later but first ...
- 4,191
15
votes
2
answers
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Any way to show LaTeX example code *and* execute it? [duplicate]
In (La)TeX documentation and tutorials, it is common to show a snippet of code next to the output it generates. It might be two minipages side by side, or a code listing followed by boxed output, or ...
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15
votes
3
answers
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Updated documentation of ConTeXt
I'm trying to decide which set of macros/typesetting system to learn. I tried Latex2e for a while, but I was very disappointed that it didn't work nicely with Unicode and that in my tryout I had many ...
- 409
15
votes
2
answers
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PSTricks: What are the Learning Tutorials/Guides available for new users with hierarchical steps?
I am looking for materials for PSTricks learning in similar vein to
Materials for learning TikZ
I am always interested to learn PSTricks through our famous Just for fun PSTricks User animated ...
- 6,037
14
votes
6
answers
4k
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Is there some typesetting system that uses XML notation?
Is there some typesetting system that uses XML for notation? This is no offense, but I don't like to type \emph{This \emph{text} is important} despite the fact that there are editors that can do it ...
anon
14
votes
3
answers
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Comprehensive online manual for LaTeX2e user macros and environments
I find myself sometimes in the position that I need to know the "official" syntax and behavior of LaTeX2e user macros or environments. I'm talking about common things like minipage.
Usually I find ...
- 258k
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votes
3
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Where can I find the list of the example images of graphicx?
The graphicx package has many example images, but where are they listed?
I can't find this feature in the package documentation.
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\begin{document}
\...
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14
votes
3
answers
9k
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Where can I find the standard LaTeX reference manual?
Like a semi-detailed user manual for LaTeX commands (\newtheorem, etc).
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votes
1
answer
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Which LaTeX package has the longest documentation?
I began learning LaTeX in the last week and I'm really feeling the learning curve. Something I appreciate is the thoroughness of the documentation for the packages. At first I came across the caption ...
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14
votes
1
answer
532
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How to write a user manual for a class in two languages?
Most classes and packages on ctan, offer a .dtx file, which when processed will automatically produce a user manual. In most cases such classes use the author's mother language. As for example yfonts ...
- 115k
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votes
3
answers
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How can I typeset a command and its literal equivalent in an environment?
UPDATE: I've opened a follow-up question: How can I typeset an environment and its literal equivalent in an environment?
I would like to pass a command and arguments to an environment. The output ...
- 13.1k
13
votes
6
answers
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Writing manpage / reference manual for software in LaTeX
Is it a good idea to write your software manual pages (manpages) / reference manuals using TeX? I'm new to TeX and exploring my options around this.
I'd be able to deliver a manpage.pdf along with ...
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3
answers
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Free intermediate level documentation
Are there any free manuals that are roughly on the level of Lamport, Mittelbach & Goossens, Kopka & Daly, etc.; more in-depth than the Not So Short Introduction to LaTeX, but not as daunting ...
- 42.1k
13
votes
1
answer
998
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Parsing commands with multiple optional arguments
Some LaTeX commands accept multiple optional arguments. Here are some examples:
\makebox[<width>][<pos>]{<text>}
\framebox[<width>][<pos>]{<text>}
\parbox[<pos&...
- 21.7k
13
votes
2
answers
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Is there a list of general use LaTeX kernel macros?
Here are a few cases in which one could use such a list:
Is there a "prepend" version of \g@addto@macro? A "local" version?
What's the most efficient way of gobbling n characters?
Can I use LaTeX's ...
- 15.7k