mailing-list for TeXmacs Users

[Jizhe Zhang <address@hidden>]

On Wed, Oct 10, 2012 at 2:14 PM, François-Xavier Thomas
<address@hidden> wrote:
>
> On Oct 10, 2012, at 12:57 PM, address@hidden wrote:
>
> > Hi Dear all,
> >
> > I just started to use TeXmacs. It's indeed a good tool especially to
> > write
> > small documents. But I encounter a bunch of problems described in the
> > following. BTW, I am using windows 7.
>
> Welcome, and glad to see you join us :)
>
> > 1 The document says that alt+right can generate a new column in the
> > table
> > environment. I tried, but the only thing happens is that on the left
> > footer
> > there is a line saying "keyboard shortcut: alt+right", other than that
> > nothing
> > happens. Is there anything I missed?
>
> Okay, I'm gonna have to agree with you on this one!
> Sometimes system-wide bindings interfere with TeXmacs bindings, so you
> might have to either go for trial-and-error (works most of the time) or try
> other meta keys (editable in something like Edit > Preferences > Keyboard, I
> don't remember exactly where).

Thanks, now I see that it's not my problem :). Trial and error doesn't
work for me. In Edit->Preference-> Keyboard I cannot see the place to
change the meta keys. as opposed to most of the introduction :(. It's
sad that I cannot figure this problem out, as most of the documents I
write need to use tables.

>
> If anybody has another idea, then I'd be glad to learn a little bit more
> about that! (maybe a way to display debug information about keys?)
>
> > 2 Obviously lots of commands are compatible with LaTeX, for example \[
> > is
> > equivalent to A+$. This gives me lots of convenience. But where can I
> > find a
> > list about what commands are compatible? The \[ thing doesn't appear in
> > the
> > manual at all.
>
> Interested in that as well. Most of the time, though, the shortcuts are
> amazingly easier than LaTeX. What kind of commands are you interested in
> particular?

Alright, that's not such an urgent problem. Just curious :)
>
> > 3 How to insert the title with command? Especially where can I find a
> > comprehensive document about commands? In the manual it's mostly
> > keyboard
> > shortcuts, but I prefer these commands personally. They are easy to
> > remember
> > and similar to LaTex
>
> Usually I insert sections with ^1, ^2 and ^3, but titles only have the
> toolbar shortcut, AFAIK. Anyone knows better?
>
> > I think these are the most urgent problems I have when using TeXmacs.
> >
> > As a novice I also have some thoughts about TeXmacs. No doubt that it's
> > a great
> > word processor. I fell in love with it immediately after ten minutes of
> > trial.
> > However, I cannot find a very good document about this great tool. The
> > only
> > user document is only less than 100 pages long and lots of important
> > things are
> > too concise. Comparing to LaTeX, an entry level tutorial is about that
> > length.
> > I believe that it's one of the greatest obstacle when making this
> > fantastic
> > tool more popular. A novice like me will soon get very frustrated when
> > he finds
> > that lots of questions remain unsolved even in the so called user
> > manual. Also
> > the helping documents are spread everywhere and not consistent. The
> > downloaded
> > document is even not the same as the document on the website. Lots of
> > links on
> > the website are lost.
>
> I always feel intimidated by the fact that I use less than 10% of TeXmacs
> power, but alas there is still a lot of work involved...
>
> What I would really, really like is some kind of a cookbook (like
> http://coffeescriptcookbook.com/ or http://www.scipy.org/Cookbook) that
> showcases easy, intermediate and advanced use cases for TeXmacs. I could
> maybe write some of the easiest examples, but I'm like you, I'm sorely
> lacking knowledge in advanced TeXmacs topics...
>

Yeah, I strongly agree that some cookbook will be of great help,
especially to new users like me. Maybe after I am familiar with
TeXmacs I will write some simple tutorials in Chinese and bring more
users to this community.

> Anyway, I hope that helped in some way, or if not, that it'll spark the
> interest of a more knowledgable member of this mailing list!
>
Thanks a lot for your help!

> Cheers,
> François-Xavier

Best
JZ