[OS X TeX] OT: But what suggestions do TeXShop users have for collaborative writing

[Ross Moore]

Hello John,

On 14/06/2006, at 11:13 AM, John Vokey wrote:

> All,
>   Sorry for the OT post, but I was asked today, so I thought I  
> would seek further input from other TeXShop users.  When I write  
> with multiple authors who also use LaTeX, we simply swap the .tex  
> files back and forth, handling all changes and suggestions with in- 
> line comments (i.e., nothing is ever deleted, just commented out).   
> That seems to work well.  For non-tex co-authors, I send compiled  
> pdfs with in-line \marginpar{} for comments and suggestions, but,  
> of course, their comments in return are just usually emailed text.   
> I suppose CVS would work as well, but seems like overkill.  Any  
> other suggestions, especially something more TeX-like?

\usepackage{soul}  lets you do  Strike-Out and Under-Line .
That's a way of marking changes in the LaTeX source, with
a clear visual effect within the PDF.

This could be mixed with different colours to provide a kind
of version-tracking setting.
When it comes to the final version, you would only need to
redefine \so and \ul to gobble/place there arguments, according
to whether they are meant to be discarded or included.


For larger segments such as whole paragraphs, then you could
      \usepackage{comment}
and declare your own  \includecomment  and  \excludecomment
markup environments.



Another possibility, if you have Acrobat Pro --- not expensive
at academic pricing --- is to add text-annotations, or coloured
lines/circles/ovals, or hand/mouse-drawn lines.
This is what I do with students' work, while they are learning
(La)TeX.

Such annotations can be done in pdf-LaTeX, but they aren't so
convenient to create and position, especially for something
that is really just a 1-off. The point-&-click GUI of Acrobat
is thus more appropriate for this kind of thing.


>
> --
> Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments.
> See <http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html>

I never create them, so don't attach them.  :-)

>
> -Dr. John R. Vokey

Hope this helps,

	Ross

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ross Moore                                         ross at maths.mq.edu.au
Mathematics Department                             office: E7A-419
Macquarie University                               tel: +61 +2 9850 8955
Sydney, Australia  2109                            fax: +61 +2 9850 8114
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