[OS X TeX] Acrotex

[Jens Noeckel]

On Sep 16, 2008, at 8:38 PM, Ross Moore wrote:

> Hi Jens, and others.
>
> On 17/09/2008, at 12:20 PM, Jens Noeckel wrote:
>
>>
>>> Is this not correct? Does AcroTeX itself (i.e. the eDucation Bundle
>>> which corresponds to acrotex on CTAN) require Acrobat?
>>>
>>>
>>
>> Fortunately, AcroTeX doesn't need Acrobat. It allows to insert  
>> document-level JavaScript for interactive features (that's used in  
>> testing answers in quizzes etc.), and that works perfectly well  
>> with Adobe Reader. Neither Preview nor Skim can handle JavaScript,  
>> so it's probably accurate to say that AcroTeX requires Adobe Reader.
>
> It doesn't need AR to *create* perfectly good PDFs having
> embedded JavaScript functions and button controls, etc.
>
> That Skim and Preview do not support these things is a deficiency
> within those browsers, that has nothing to do with AcroTeX itself.
> This is most unfortunate in that these browsers have other good
> features, making them desirable to use on a Mac.
>
> Basically, there is not yet a PDF browser (on the Mac) that
> does *everything* that one would like.
> (I'm deliberately leaving this last statement vague and ill-defined.)
>
>
>> I don't know anything about the commercial version...
>
>    Of what?  AcroTeX ?
>

Right, there are so many incarnations. I was referring to
http://www.acrotex.net/apb_index.php?page=downloads

But then there is also some stuff that's called "Pro" and yet free -  
and that's what Victor seems to be asking about.

I can only speak about the pure AcroTeX - in particular exerquiz is a  
brilliant package for math oriented questions, allowing almost free- 
form algebra questions (and answers containing variables!) that can  
be checked automatically.

>    There will still be the problem of which browsers support
>    the kind of features in the documents that it can create.
>
>>
>> Jens
>
>
> Hope this helps,
>
> 	Ross
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
> --
> Ross Moore                                       ross at maths.mq.edu.au
> Mathematics Department                           office: E7A-419
> Macquarie University                             tel: +61 (0)2 9850  
> 8955
> Sydney, Australia  2109                          fax: +61 (0)2 9850  
> 8114
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
> --
>
>
>
> ----------- Please Consult the Following Before Posting -----------
> TeX FAQ: http://www.tex.ac.uk/faq
> List Reminders and Etiquette: http://www.esm.psu.edu/mac-tex/list/
> List Archive: http://tug.org/pipermail/macostex-archives/
> TeX on Mac OS X Website: http://mactex-wiki.tug.org/
> List Info: http://email.esm.psu.edu/mailman/listinfo/macosx-tex
>