[edutex] Fw: Re: Seeking feedback on a beginner's guide to LaTex

[Flynn, Peter]

Apparently this never made it through edutex.

///Peter


On 2018-02-14 13:52:35+00:00 edutex wrote:


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On 2018-02-14 13:34:07+00:00 Matt Kline <matt at bitbashing.io> wrote:


Hi folks,

I'm working on a beginner's guide for LaTeX that:

1. Is short. (I got started with help from the LaTeX Wikibook and guides in
   CTAN's "Tutorial LaTeX" topic, but those are a bit too long to recommend
   as brief primers. They're _fantastic_ references, but when a coworker
   asks for an intro, throwing &amp;gt;150 pages their way seems
   counterproductive.)

Right. My own attempt (http://latex.silmaril.ie/formattinginformation)  started as a 2-day training course, got condensed down to one day, and then turned into an online book, but when formatted for papers it's 200+ pages, which is why I left it as a web site.

2. Focuses on modern LaTeX features, such as Unicode input, OpenType
   support,and microtypography.

Yesss. And, I would add, XeLaTeX and biblatex/biber. Not pdflatex and bibtex :-)

(A beginner coming from other desktop publishing tools
   doesn't need to know - at least not right away - about input encodings,
   font metric files, and so on.)

Not ever.

I'm looking for some review from the LaTeX community, but unfortunately I'm
not quite sure where to turn - is this a good venue for it?

I'm printing it off for a spot of light reading :-)

Would you recommend any others?


I would be wary of circulating it further unless you know the recipients. If you're aiming to find a publisher and have it printed, the fewer people involved the better. On the other hand, if you're going to give it away, announce it as a draft or work-in-progress on c.t.t or SE and see what people say.

///Peter






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