preview-latex 0.9.1 review

The purpose of the preview-latex package is to embed LaTeX environments such as display math or figures into Emacs source buffers

License: GPL (GNU General Public License) File size: 0K Developer: David Kastrup

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The purpose of the preview-latex package is to embed LaTeX environments such as display math or figures into Emacs source buffers. By mouse clicking, you can open the original text.

After editing, another click will just run the region in question through LaTeX and redisplay the new results. It requires version 21.1 or higher of Emacs or XEmacs and AUCTeX.

WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) sometimes is considered all the rage, sometimes frowned upon. Do we really want it? Wrong question. The right question is what we want from it. Except when finetuning the layout, we don't want to use printer fonts for on-screen text editing.

The low resolution and contrast of a computer screen render all but the coarsest printer fonts (those for low-quality newsprint) unappealing, and the margins and pagination of the print are not wanted on the screen, either.

On the other hand, more complex visual compositions like math formulas and tables can't easily be taken in when seen only in the source. preview-latex strikes a balance: it only uses graphic renditions of the output for certain, configurable constructs, does this only when told, and then right in the source code.

Switching back and forth between the source and preview is easy and natural and can be done for each image independently. Behind the scenes of preview-latex, a sophisticated framework of other programs like `dvipng', Dvips and GhostScript are employed together with a special LaTeX style file for extracting the material of interest in the background and providing fast interactive response.