[XeTeX] XeTeX in lshort

[Philipp Stephani]

Am 30.09.2010 um 12:27 schrieb Keith J. Schultz:

> The same should be true of xelshort. It should:

I find your list very useful, but it seems to focus more on the differences between XeLaTeX and pdfLaTeX. What I have in mind is a document that should be readable for beginners who have never used anything LaTeX-like before. I've added a few comments on how the list could be updated to reflect this:

> 	1 Introduce Unicode from a users point of view
> 	2 Introduce fonts from the users point of view
> 		- different types
> 		- unicode fonts 
> 			- what glyphs are 
> 			- glyph repertoire (roughly)  
> 			- it should not describe unicode features that is font fontspec
> 		- advantages of using unicode fonts
> 		       - especially for input (more WYSIWYG like)

Well the advantage is "with Unicode, you can use every character everywhere; without, you can't." Because Unicode is so ubiquitous nowadays, more than a few readers might be surprised that a pre-Unicode world existed...

> 	3 Introduce editors/systems from a users point of view

- introduce the terms "engine", "format" and "distribution"
- difference between engines and executable programs

> 		- what TexLive is

...and MikTeX!

> 		- advice on editors 
> 			- why is the choice of an editor/system is important

I don't get this. Of course you have to choose one, but you can switch at any time.

> 			- suggest TeXWorks/TeXShop as starting point
> 			- advice of what is out there for the linux world
> 			      mention that there is E-macs et. al also for 
> 			      Windows/Mac

Don't know if that is so important. If you start talking about specific editors, then everybody wants his preferred editor described.

> 	4 Simple Example Xe(La)TeX document
> 		- explain preamble
> 			- class
> 			- why fonspec et. al.

Why Fontspec: Because you need it to use the key feature of XeTeX, i.e., accessing system fonts.

> 			- why polyglossia
> 				- why not use babel

Unless you want to point out the differences between pdfLaTeX and XeLaTeX, don't mention babel.