mailing-list for TeXmacs Users

[TeXmacs <address@hidden>]

Dear all,

I did a first tentative implementation for comments (revision 13272, upcoming 
TeXmacs 1.99.17).
The functionality becomes available by selecting the 'comment' package.

As the discussion on this list has shown, there are different commenting 
styles.
We basically want to support all of them:

  - Unfolded comments (could also have been called 'embedded' or 'inline')
  - Folded comments
  - Margin comments

I only implemented the first two; comments in the margins could be added later
(for this, it would be nice to design a draft style with large margins).

There is a bit of a hassle due to the fact that inline and block content
needs to be treated differently.  Unfolded comments need to be alone
on a line if they contain block content.  This may create a bit of havoc
when switching between unfolded and folded comments, but we can probably
live with that for now.

Since our tooltip balloons are completely functional now,
this also makes folded comments more attractive:
you can navigate accross all comments using C-[ and C-],
and the tooltips will show you the comments to be reviewed.

I also implemented Alvaro's suggestion of making it possible to
show all comments in a separate window.  We don't have the "subtle lines"
that connect the commented text and the corresponding comments,
but TeXmacs knows how to synchronize the cursor positions,
so that should be more or less as good (maybe even less distracting).
One pending issue is to make cursors somewhat more visible.

The comments window is also a nice illustration of the new way
to deal with 'mirroring', i.e. the ability to edit the same text
in different windows.  We have not used this feature much until now,
so feedback about this and potential bugs will be welcome.

For the moment, comments are attached to single locations,
but the markup contains an additional slot that will make it
possible to attach comments to regions of text.
In case we need that some day.

The coloring scheme is stored in the user preferences and
not in the document.  This allows you to assign once and
for all colors to your favorite collaborators.

Best wishes, --Joris



On Fri, Dec 04, 2020 at 04:21:46PM +0100, Massimiliano Gubinelli wrote:
> Dear all,
>   this is very interesting feedback, thanks to all.
> 
> I would like to keep track of the discussion and not pollute further the 
> mailing list. I think the error was mine to begin.
> Maybe a sensible way to prompt long discussion is to post them on the forum 
> and then send a small "heads up" also on the mailing list, for those who 
> are interested in partecipating. 
> 
> So I will copy my initial message on the mailing list, and you can add your 
> contribution there. At some point we can come up with a design for this 
> features and prepare a working code.
> 
> Best
> Max
> 
>  
> 
> > On 4. Dec 2020, at 16:08, Jeroen Wouters <address@hidden> wrote:
> > 
> > Hi all,
> > 
> > I use the following to add short comments:
> > 
> > <assign|comment|
> >  <macro|body|thecomment|
> >    <surround||<flag|comment|green>|
> >      <with|visited-color|<value|color>|locus-color|<value|color>|
> >        <mouse-over-balloon|
> >          <arg|body>|<arg|thecomment>|left|Bottom>>>>>
> > 
> > Mouse-over-balloon changes the color of the body text to indicate a
> > link, hence I'm resetting the visited-color to the default text color.
> > I'm also inserting a flag to show that there is a comment, otherwise
> > you only see it on mouse-over.
> > 
> > Best,
> > Jeroen
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > On Fri, 2020-12-04 at 09:10 +0000, Frank wrote:
> >> Hi max and all,
> >> 
> >> Joris answered my question before. This could be implemented by a
> >> macro like
> >> 
> >> (show-comment "body") = body
> >> (hide-comment "body") = empty
> >> 
> >> and use an if branch to detect whether the boolean variable draft-
> >> mode is true or not, and then return show-comment or hide-comment
> >> macro.
> >> 
> >> There is a disadvantage of this implement: when I set draft-mode to
> >> be false, there will be an extra empty line. I don't know how to
> >> suppress it.
> >> 
> >> Meanwhile, you can add comments to
> >> http://forum.texmacs.cn/t/tricks-for-drafts/199/4
> >> then somehow export it to wiki.
> >> 
> >> Best,
> >> Frank
> >> 
> >> 于 December 4, 2020 9:04:00 AM UTC, marc lalaude-labayle
> >> <address@hidden> 写到:
> >>> To be precise, since I just used it : what I use is called
> >>> "etiquette"
> >>> in
> >>> the french texmacs version ; these are obtained with Alt+! on my
> >>> ubuntu
> >>> machine.
> >>> 
> >>> Marc
> >>> 
> >>> Le ven. 4 déc. 2020 à 09:58, marc lalaude-labayle
> >>> <address@hidden>
> >>> a écrit :
> >>> 
> >>>> Hi.
> >>>> 
> >>>> I do need some of these features for my files. I use the label
> >>>> flags
> >>> and
> >>>> write what I need, which is barely longer than 10 words. I do
> >>>> like to
> >>> have
> >>>> the comments accessible within my file : these files are for my
> >>> teaching
> >>>> and I keep tracks of their origins.
> >>>> 
> >>>> I don't use the versioning markup, but the possibility to open a
> >>> small
> >>>> window with all the texmacs features by a simple click on a flag
> >>>> (for
> >>>> example) could be really helpful when I do share my files for
> >>> exercise or
> >>>> exams with my colleagues.
> >>>> 
> >>>> So I do really prefer your first proposal too.
> >>>> 
> >>>> Marc
> >>>> 
> >>>> Le ven. 4 déc. 2020 à 08:08, Massimiliano Gubinelli
> >>> <address@hidden>
> >>>> a écrit :
> >>>> 
> >>>>> Dear all,
> >>>>>  discussing with some friends I became aware of some advantage
> >>>>> of
> >>>>> unstructured editing for which we should provide some
> >>>>> alternative.
> >>> This is
> >>>>> the possibility (common in programming, but also in some
> >>>>> research
> >>> workflow)
> >>>>> to add comments on a document which will not appear in the
> >>>>> final
> >>> version
> >>>>> (i.e. in the PDF, on in the HTML or LaTeX export -- In some
> >>>>> sense,
> >>> the dual
> >>>>> of literate programming, maybe we can call it co-literate
> >>>>> editing
> >>> :)).
> >>>>> 
> >>>>> These comments can be parts of the document one do not want to
> >>>>> make
> >>> to
> >>>>> the final version, or just reminders to explore some
> >>>>> directions, or
> >>> parts
> >>>>> one has to cut because of editorial constraints or referees
> >>> comments, but
> >>>>> anyway one wants to keep in place and not just delete them
> >>>>> (because
> >>> maybe
> >>>>> the paper has a short and long versions). These comments can
> >>>>> also be
> >>> simply
> >>>>> discussion between various co-authors, so it would be nice if
> >>>>> they
> >>> carry
> >>>>> tags, like the name of the author. And then have a macro
> >>>>> facility to
> >>> view
> >>>>> only certain subclasses of comments and make them invisible
> >>>>> (i.e.
> >>> just
> >>>>> leave a flag or some other indicator which do not modify the
> >>> typesetting)
> >>>>> if the user wants. This should not be difficult to code, is
> >>> something
> >>>>> similar to the versioning markup we already have, but I think
> >>>>> it
> >>> would be a
> >>>>> useful addition to everyday workflows.
> >>>>> It could also be a way to edit the metadata in the document.
> >>>>> 
> >>>>> Of course one has (at least) two options to design such a
> >>>>> facility:
> >>> make
> >>>>> the additional content editable as part of the document (as in
> >>>>> the
> >>> proposal
> >>>>> above), or keep it in the document as always invisible and make
> >>>>> it
> >>> editable
> >>>>> only via some separate GUI element, i.e. a dialog with an
> >>>>> embedded
> >>> editor
> >>>>> (like we have now for search and replace, for example, or for
> >>>>> the
> >>> macro
> >>>>> editor). I think I would prefer the first approach, though.
> >>>>> 
> >>>>> Thoughts, ideas, comments, on such a facility?
> >>>>> 
> >>>>> Max
> >>>>> 
> >>>>> ps: on a similar direction a document can have a "draft" mode
> >>>>> where
> >>>>> markups like \todo or these comments are visible and a "final"
> >>>>> mode,
> >>> where
> >>>>> they are invisible.
> >>>>> 
> >>>>> 
> >> 
> > 
> > 
>