[Mac OS X TeX] Re: The role of TeXShop

[John Vokey]

I quite like TeXShop, although I am not a "newbie" to the world 
of TeX and LaTeX.  I like its smooth integration with OS X and 
its almost complete freedom from 'nix related issues and 
concerns (I know, some people think being able to 'nix on a Mac 
is wonderful, blessed thing---and it may be, for them; I don't 
either want it or need it).  Further improvements to TeXShop 
*should not be* in the direction of more 'nix-like: there are 
all the standard 'nix tools that can be recompiled for that.  
Instead, it should continue to move in the direction it began: 
tighter integration with OS X and transparent use of TeX---not 
just for the newbie, but everyone who wants the benefits and 
advantages of advanced typesetting and document preparation 
*without the arcane of 'nix*.  To that end, I have two 
suggestions for the TeXShop  editor:

1.  The current spell-checker borders on useless as it doesn't 
understand TeX or Latex commands.  Modifying Excalibur to 
function as an OS X "service" app would go a long way to solving 
this problem, not to mention allowing for use of all those 
wonderful Excalibur dictionaries that have been created (such as 
my "Canadianised" version of the British Dictionary that I use 
daily).  (And no, I have no idea how one would do that.)

2.  The "Templates" sub-menu is a good start (e.g., I've coded a 
large number of TeX and LaTeX commands as template files to 
facilitate my use of them), but it is too limited: it needs to 
enable submenus (and sub-sub-menus), to provide some way to 
organise templates into bundles of related functions, and to 
allow for menu dividers.

BTW, I really don't care (and I can't believe the amount of 
discussion this issue has provoked!) what set of keys are mapped 
to  moving through the file in the .pdf viewer of TeXShop *as 
long as some set is*.

--
John R. Vokey, Ph.D.                       |\      _,,,---,,_
Professor                                  /,`.-'`'    -.  ;-;;,_
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience  |,4-  ) )-,_. ,\ (  `'-'
University of Lethbridge                  '---''(_/--'  `-'\_)


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