% $Id: faq-docs.tex,v 1.37 2012/02/18 19:28:56 rf10 Exp rf10 $ \section{Documentation and Help} \Question[Q-book-lists]{Books relevant to \tex{} and friends} There are too many books for them all to appear in a single list, so the following answers aim to cover ``related'' books, with subject matter as follows: \begin{itemize} \item \Qref*{\tex{} itself and \plaintex{}}{Q-tex-books} \item \Qref*{\latex{}}{Q-latex-books} \item \Qref*{Books on other \tex{}-related matters}{Q-other-books} \item \Qref*{Books on Type}{Q-type-books} \end{itemize} These lists only cover books in English: notices of new books, or warnings that books are now out of print are always welcome. However, these \acro{FAQ}s do \emph{not} carry reviews of current published material. \LastEdit*{2011-06-01} \Question[Q-tex-books]{Books on \TeX{}, \plaintex{} and relations} \AliasQuestion{Q-books} While Knuth's book is the definitive reference for both \TeX{} and \plaintex{}, there are many books covering these topics: \begin{booklist} \item[The \TeX{}book]by Donald Knuth (Addison-Wesley, 1984, \ISBN{0-201-13447-0}, paperback \ISBN{0-201-13448-9}) \item[A Beginner's Book of \TeX{}]by Raymond Seroul and Silvio Levy, (Springer Verlag, 1992, \ISBN{0-387-97562-4}) \item[\TeX{} by Example: A Beginner's Guide]by Arvind Borde (Academic Press, 1992, \ISBN{0-12-117650-9}~--- now out of print) \item[Introduction to \TeX{}]by Norbert Schwarz (Addison-Wesley, 1989, \ISBN{0-201-51141-X}~--- now out of print) \item[A \plaintex{} Primer]by Malcolm Clark (Oxford University Press, 1993, ISBNs~0-198-53724-7 (hardback) and~0-198-53784-0 (paperback)) \item[A \TeX{} Primer for Scientists]by Stanley Sawyer and Steven Krantz (CRC Press, 1994, \ISBN{0-849-37159-7}) \item[\TeX{} by Topic]by Victor Eijkhout (Addison-Wesley, 1992, \ISBN{0-201-56882-9}~--- now out of print, but see \Qref[question]{online books}{Q-ol-books}; you can also now buy a copy printed, on demand, by Lulu~--- see \url{http://www.lulu.com/content/2555607}) \item[\TeX{} for the Beginner]by Wynter Snow (Addison-Wesley, 1992, \ISBN{0-201-54799-6}) \item[\TeX{} for the Impatient]by Paul W.~Abrahams, Karl Berry and Kathryn A.~Hargreaves (Addison-Wesley, 1990, \ISBN{0-201-51375-7}~--- now out of print, but see \Qref[question]{online books}{Q-ol-books}) \item[\TeX{} in Practice]by Stephan von Bechtolsheim (Springer Verlag, 1993, 4 volumes, \ISBN{3-540-97296-X} for the set, or % nos in comments are for German distribution (Springer Verlag, Berlin) Vol.~1: \ISBN{0-387-97595-0}, % (3-540-97595-0) Vol.~2: \ISBN{0-387-97596-9}, % (3-540-97596-9) Vol.~3: \ISBN{0-387-97597-7}, and % (3-540-97597-7) Vol.~4: \ISBN{0-387-97598-5})% (3-540-97598-5) \begin{typesetversion} \item[\TeX{}: Starting from \sqfbox{1}\,\footnotemark]% \footnotetext{That's `Starting from Square One'}% \end{typesetversion} \begin{htmlversion} \item[\TeX{}: Starting from Square One] \end{htmlversion} by Michael Doob (Springer Verlag, 1993, \ISBN{3-540-56441-1}~--- now out of print) \item[The Joy of \TeX{}]by Michael D.~Spivak (second edition, \acro{AMS}, 1990, \ISBN{0-821-82997-1}) \item[The Advanced \TeX{}book]by David Salomon (Springer Verlag, 1995, \ISBN{0-387-94556-3}) \end{booklist} A collection of Knuth's publications about typography is also available: \begin{booklist} \item[Digital Typography]by Donald Knuth (CSLI and Cambridge University Press, 1999, \ISBN{1-57586-011-2}, paperback \ISBN{1-57586-010-4}). \end{booklist} \nothtml{\noindent}and in late 2000, a ``Millennium Boxed Set'' of all 5 volumes of Knuth's ``Computers and Typesetting'' series (about \TeX{} and \MF{}) was published by Addison Wesley: \begin{booklist} \item[Computers \& Typesetting, Volumes A--E Boxed Set]by Donald Knuth (Addison-Wesley, 2001, \ISBN{0-201-73416-8}). \end{booklist} \checked{rf}{2000/02/12 -- http://cseng.aw.com/book/0,3828,0201734168,00.html} \LastEdit*{2011-06-01} \Question[Q-latex-books]{Books on \latex{}} \begin{booklist} \item[\LaTeX{}, a Document Preparation System]by Leslie Lamport (second edition, Addison Wesley, 1994, \ISBN{0-201-52983-1}) \item[Guide to \LaTeX{}]Helmut Kopka and Patrick W.~Daly (fourth edition, Addison-Wesley, 2004, \ISBN{0-321-17385-6}) \item[\latex{} Beginner's Guide]by Stefan Kottwitz (Packt Publishing, 2011, \ISBN*{1847199860}{978-1847199867}) \item[The \LaTeX{} Companion]by Frank Mittelbach, Michel Goossens, Johannes Braams, David Carlisle and Chris Rowley (second edition, Addison-Wesley, 2004, \ISBN*{0-201-36299-6}{978-0-201-36299-2}) \item[The \LaTeX{} Graphics Companion:]% \emph{Illustrating documents with \TeX{} and \PS{}} by Michel Goossens, Sebastian Rahtz, Frank Mittelbach, Denis Roegel and Herbert Vo\ss {} (second edition, Addison-Wesley, 2007, \ISBN*{0-321-50892-0}{978-0-321-50892-8}) \item[The \LaTeX{} Web Companion:]% \emph{Integrating \TeX{}, \acro{HTML} and \acro{XML}} by Michel Goossens and Sebastian Rahtz (Addison-Wesley, 1999, \ISBN{0-201-43311-7}) \item[\TeX{} Unbound:]% \emph{\LaTeX{} and \TeX{} strategies for fonts, graphics, and more} by Alan Hoenig (Oxford University Press, 1998, \ISBN{0-19-509685-1} hardback, \ISBN{0-19-509686-X} paperback) % \item[Math into \LaTeX{}:]\emph{An Introduction to \LaTeX{} and \AMSLaTeX{}} % by George Gr\"atzer (third edition Birkh\"auser and Springer Verlag, % 2000, \ISBN{0-8176-4431-9}, \ISBN{3-7643-4131-9}) % \checked{RF}{2001/01/16} \item[More Math into \latex{}:]\emph{An Introduction to \LaTeX{} and \AMSLaTeX{}}by George Gr\"atzer (fourth edition Springer Verlag, 2007, \ISBN{978-0-387-32289-6} \checked{RF}{2011-07-06} %% gr\"atzer's home page %% http://www.maths.umanitoba.ca/homepages/gratzer.html/LaTeXBooks.html \item[Digital Typography Using \LaTeX{}]Incorporating some multilingual aspects, and use of \Qref*{Omega}{Q-omegaleph}, by Apostolos Syropoulos, Antonis Tsolomitis and Nick Sofroniou (Springer, 2003, \ISBN{0-387-95217-9}). % A list of errata for the first printing of Digital Typography Using % \LaTeX{} is available from: % \URL{http://www.springer-ny.com/catalog/np/jan99np/0-387-98708-8.html} % (not any longer) \item[First Steps in \LaTeX{}]by George Gr\"atzer (Birkh\"auser, 1999, \ISBN{0-8176-4132-7}) \item[\LaTeX{}: Line by Line:]% \emph{Tips and Techniques for Document Processing} by Antoni Diller (second edition, John Wiley \& Sons, 1999, \ISBN{0-471-97918-X}) \item[\LaTeX{} for Linux:]\emph{A Vade Mecum} by Bernice Sacks Lipkin (Springer-Verlag, 1999, \ISBN{0-387-98708-8}, second printing) \item[Typesetting Mathematics with \latex{}]by Herbert Vo\ss {} (UIT Cambridge, 2010, \ISBN{978-1-906-86017-2}) % checked 2011-09-09 http://www.uit.co.uk/BK-TMWL/HomePage \item[Typesetting Tables with \latex{}]by Herbert Vo\ss {}, (UIT Cambridge, 2011, \ISBN{978-1-906-86025-7}) % checked 2011-09-09 http://www.uit.co.uk/BK-TTWL/HomePage \item[PSTricks: Graphics and PostScript for \tex{} and \latex{}]by Herbert Vo\ss {}, (UIT Cambridge, 2011, \ISBN{978-1-906-86013-4}) \end{booklist} A sample of George Gr\"atzer's ``Math into \LaTeX{}'', in Adobe Acrobat format, and example files for the three \LaTeX{} Companions, and for Gr\"atzer's ``First Steps in \LaTeX{}'', are all available on \acro{CTAN}. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}Examples for \nothtml{\upshape}First Steps in \LaTeX{}]\CTANref{gfs} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}Examples for \nothtml{\upshape}\LaTeX{} Companion]\CTANref{tlc2} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}Examples for \nothtml{\upshape}\LaTeX{} Graphics Companion]\CTANref{lgc} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}Examples for \nothtml{\upshape}\LaTeX{} Web Companion]\CTANref{lwc} %\item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}Examples for \nothtml{\upshape}\TeX{} in Practice]\CTANref{tip} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}Sample of \nothtml{\upshape}Math into \LaTeX{}]\CTANref{mil} \end{ctanrefs} \LastEdit*{2011-09-09} \Question[Q-other-books]{Books on other \tex{}-related matters} There's a nicely-presented list of of ``recommended books'' to be had on the web: \URL{http://www.macrotex.net/texbooks/} The list of \MF{} books is rather short: \begin{booklist} \item[The \MF{}book]by Donald Knuth (Addison Wesley, 1986, \ISBN{0-201-13445-4}, \ISBN{0-201-52983-1} paperback) \end{booklist} Alan Hoenig's `\textsl{\TeX{} Unbound}' includes some discussion and examples of using \MF{}. A book covering a wide range of topics (including installation and maintenance) is: \begin{booklist} \item[Making \TeX{} Work]by Norman Walsh (O'Reilly and Associates, Inc, 1994, \ISBN{1-56592-051-1}) \end{booklist} The book is decidedly dated, and is now out of print, but a copy is available via \texttt{sourceforge} and on \acro{CTAN}, and we list it under ``\Qref*{online books}{Q-ol-books}''. \LastEdit*{2011-06-01} \Question[Q-type-books]{Books on Type} The following is a partial listing of books on typography in general. Of these, Bringhurst seems to be the one most often recommended. \begin{booklist} \item[The Elements of Typographic Style]by Robert Bringhurst (Hartley \& Marks, 1992, \ISBN{0-88179-033-8}) \item[Finer Points in the Spacing \& Arrangement of Type]by Geoffrey Dowding (Hartley \& Marks, 1996, \ISBN{0-88179-119-9}) \item[The Thames \& Hudson Manual of Typography]by Ruari McLean (Thames \& Hudson, 1980, \ISBN{0-500-68022-1}) \item[The Form of the Book]by Jan Tschichold (Lund Humphries, 1991, \ISBN{0-85331-623-6}) \item[Type \& Layout]by Colin Wheildon (Strathmore Press, 2006, \ISBN{1-875750-22-3}) \item[The Design of Books]by Adrian Wilson (Chronicle Books, 1993, \ISBN{0-8118-0304-X}) \item[Optical Letter Spacing]by David Kindersley and Lida Cardozo Kindersley % ! line break (\href{http://www.kindersleyworkshop.co.uk/}{The Cardozo Kindersley Workshop} 2001, \ISBN{1-874426-139}) \end{booklist} There are many catalogues of type specimens but the following books provide a more interesting overall view of types in general and some of their history. \begin{booklist} \item[Alphabets Old \& New]by Lewis F.~Day (Senate, 1995, \ISBN{1-85958-160-9}) \item[An Introduction to the History of Printing Types]by Geoffrey Dowding (British Library, 1998, UK \ISBN{0-7123-4563-9}; USA \ISBN{1-884718-44-2}) \item[The Alphabet Abecedarium]by Richard A.~Firmage (David R.~Godine, 1993, \ISBN{0-87923-998-0}) \item[The Alphabet and Elements of Lettering]by Frederick Goudy (Dover, 1963, \ISBN{0-486-20792-7}) \item[Anatomy of a Typeface]by Alexander Lawson (David R.~Godine, 1990, \ISBN{0-87923-338-8}) \item[A Tally of Types]by Stanley Morison (David R.~Godine, 1999, \ISBN{1-56792-004-7}) \item[Counterpunch]by Fred Smeijers (Hyphen, 1996, \ISBN{0-907259-06-5}) \item[Treasury of Alphabets and Lettering]by Jan Tschichold (W.~W.~Norton, 1992, \ISBN{0-393-70197-2}) \item[A Short History of the Printed Word]by Warren Chappell and Robert Bringhurst (Hartley \& Marks, 1999, \ISBN{0-88179-154-7}) \end{booklist} The above lists are limited to books published in English. Typographic styles are somewhat language-dependent, and similarly the `interesting' fonts depend on the particular writing system involved. \LastEdit{2011-06-01} \Question[Q-whereFAQ]{Where to find \acro{FAQ}s} Bobby Bodenheimer's article, from which this \acro{FAQ} was developed, used to be posted (nominally monthly) to newsgroup \Newsgroup{comp.text.tex}. The (long obsolete) last posted copy of that article is kept on \acro{CTAN} for auld lang syne. \begin{pdfversion} A version of the \href{http://www.tex.ac.uk/faq}{present \acro{FAQ}} may be browsed via the World-Wide Web, and its sources \end{pdfversion} \begin{dviversion} A version of the present \acro{FAQ} may be browsed via the World-Wide Web, at \acro{URL} \URL{http://www.tex.ac.uk/faq}, and its sources \end{dviversion} \begin{htmlversion} The sources of the present \acro{FAQ} \end{htmlversion} are available from \acro{CTAN}. This \acro{FAQ} and others are regularly mentioned, on \Newsgroup{comp.text.tex} and elsewhere, in a ``pointer \acro{FAQ}'' which is also saved at \URL{http://tug.org/tex-ptr-faq} A 2006 innovation from Scott Pakin is the ``visual'' \LaTeX{} \acro{FAQ}. This is a document with (mostly rubbish) text formatted so as to highlight things we discuss here, and providing Acrobat hyper-links to the relevant answers in this \acro{FAQ} on the Web. The visual \acro{FAQ} is provided in \acro{PDF} format, on \acro{CTAN}; it works best using Adobe Acrobat Reader 7 (or later); some features are missing with other readers, or with earlier versions of Acrobat Reader Another excellent information source, available in English, is the \href{http://tex.loria.fr}{\AllTeX{} navigator}. Both the Francophone \TeX{} user group Gutenberg and the Czech/Slovak user group CS-TUG have published translations of this \acro{FAQ}, with extensions appropriate to their languages. Herbert Vo\ss {}'s excellent % beware line break \href{http://texnik.de/}{\LaTeX{} tips and tricks} provides excellent advice on most topics one might imagine (though it's not strictly a \acro{FAQ})~--- highly recommended for most ordinary mortals' use. The Open Directory Project (\acro{ODP}) maintains a list of sources of \AllTeX{} help, including \acro{FAQ}s. View the \TeX{} area at \URL{http://dmoz.org/Computers/Software/Typesetting/TeX/} Other non-English \acro{FAQ}s are available (off-\acro{CTAN}): \begin{booklist} \item[German]Posted regularly to \Newsgroup{de.comp.tex}, and archived on \acro{CTAN}; the \acro{FAQ} also appears at \URL{http://www.dante.de/faq/de-tex-faq/} \item[French]% %% An interactive (full-screen!) FAQ may be found at %% \URL{http://www.frenchpro6.com/screen.pdf/FAQscreen.pdf}, and a copy %% for printing at \URL{http://frenchle.free.fr/FAQ.pdf}; A FAQ used to be posted regularly to \Newsgroup{fr.comp.text.tex}, and is archived on \acro{CTAN}~--- sadly, that effort seems to have fallen by the wayside. %% \item[Spanish]See \URL{http://apolo.us.es/CervanTeX/FAQ/} \item[Czech]See \URL{http://www.fi.muni.cz/cstug/csfaq/} \end{booklist} Resources available on \acro{CTAN} are: \begin{ctanrefs} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}Dante \acro{FAQ}]\CTANref{dante-faq} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}French \acro{FAQ}]\CTANref{french-faq} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}Sources of this \acro{FAQ}]\CTANref{faq} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}Obsolete \texttt{comp.text.tex} \acro{FAQ}]% \CTANref{TeX-FAQ} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}The visual \acro{FAQ}]\CTANref{visualFAQ} \end{ctanrefs} \Question[Q-gethelp]{Getting help online} We assume, here, that you have looked at all relevant \Qref*{\acro{FAQ} answers}{Q-whereFAQ} you can find, you've looked in any \Qref*{books}{Q-book-lists} you have, and scanned relevant \Qref*{tutorials}{Q-tutorials*}\dots{} and still you don't know what to do. There are two more steps you can take before formulating a question to the \tex{} world at large. First, (if you are seeking a particular package or program), start by looking on your own system: you might already have what you seek~--- the better \TeX{} distributions provide a wide range of supporting material. The \Qref*{\acro{CTAN} Catalogue}{Q-catalogue} can also identify packages that might help: you can % ! line break \href{http://www.tex.ac.uk/search}{search it}, or you can browse it \begin{hyperversion} % !!!! line break ``\href{http://mirrors.ctan.org/help/Catalogue/bytopic.html}{by topic}''. \end{hyperversion} \begin{flatversion} ``by topic'' at \url{http://mirrors.ctan.org/help/Catalogue/bytopic.html} \end{flatversion} Each catalogue entry has a brief description of the package, and links to known documentation on the net. In fact, a large proportion of \acro{CTAN} package directories now include documentation, so it's often worth looking at the catalogue entry for a package you're considering using (where possible, each package link in the main body of these \acro{FAQ}s \hyperflat{has a link to}{shows the \acro{URL} of} the relevant catalogue entry). Failing that, look to see if anyone has solved the problem before; places where people ask are: \begin{enumerate} \item newsgroup \Newsgroup{comp.text.tex}, whose ``historical posts'' are accessible via \href{http://groups.google.com/group/comp.text.tex}{Google groups}, and \item the mailing list \texttt{texhax} via its \href{http://tug.org/pipermail/texhax/}{archive}, or via the `Gmane' newsgroup \Newsgroup{gmane.comp.tex.texhax}, which holds a \emph{very} long history of the list. A long shot would be to search the archives of the mailing list's ancient posts on \acro{CTAN}, which go back to the days when it was a digest: in those days, a question asked in one issue would only ever be answered in the next one. \end{enumerate} If the ``back question'' searches fail, you must ask the world at large. So, how do you like to ask questions?~--- the three available mechanisms are: \begin{enumerate} \item Mailing lists: there are various specialist mailing lists, but the place for `general' \alltex{} queries is the \texttt{texhax} mailing list. Mail to \mailto{texhax@tug.org} to ask a question, but it's probably better to subscribe to the list (via \URL{http://tug.org/mailman/listinfo/texhax}) % ! no ~ allowed first~--- not everyone will answer to you as well as to the list. \item Newsgroup: to ask a question on \Newsgroup{comp.text.tex}, you can use your own news client (if you have one), or use the ``+ new post'' button on \URL{http://groups.google.com/group/comp.text.tex}. \item Web forum: alternatives are: the % ! line break \href{http://www.latex-community.org/}{``\LaTeX{} community'' site}, which offers a variety of `categories' to place your query, and the % the next line will tend to break if you add _anything_ to it! \href{http://tex.stackexchange.com/}{\TeX{}, \LaTeX{} and friends Q\&A site} (``Stack exchange''). Stack exchange has a scheme for voting on the quality of answers (and hence of those who offer support). This arrangement is supposed to enable you to rank any answers that are posted. \end{enumerate} Do \textbf{not} try mailing the \LaTeX{} project team, the maintainers of the \texlive{} or \miktex{} distributions or the maintainers of these \acro{FAQ}s for help; while all these addresses reach experienced \AllTeX{} users, no small group can possibly have expertise in every area of usage so that the ``big'' lists and forums are a far better bet. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[texhax \nothtml{\rmfamily}`back copies']\CTANref{texhax} \end{ctanrefs} \LastEdit{2011-05-27} \Question[Q-maillists*]{Specialist mailing lists} The previous question, ``\Qref*{getting help}{Q-gethelp}'', talked of the two major forums in which \AllTeX{}, \MF{} and \MP{} are discussed; however, these aren't the only ones available. The \acro{TUG} web site offers many mailing lists other than just \texttt{texhax} via its % ! line break \href{http://tug.org/mailman/listinfo}{mail list management page}. The French national \TeX{} user group, Gutenberg, offers a \MF{} (and, de facto, \MP{}) mailing list, \mailto{metafont@ens.fr}: subscribe to it by sending a message \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} subscribe metafont \end{verbatim} \end{quote} to \mailto{sympa@ens.fr} (Note that there's also a \MP{}-specific mailing list available via the \acro{TUG} list server; in fact there's little danger of becoming confused by subscribing to both.) Announcements of \TeX{}-related installations on the \acro{CTAN} archives are sent to the mailing list \texttt{ctan-ann}. Subscribe to the list via its \ProgName{MailMan} web-site \URL{https://lists.dante.de/mailman/listinfo/ctan-ann}; list archives are available at the same address. The list archives may also be browsed via \URL{http://www.mail-archive.com/ctan-ann@dante.de/}, and an \acro{RSS} feed is also available: \URL{http://www.mail-archive.com/ctan-ann@dante.de/maillist.xml} \Question[Q-askquestion]{How to ask a question} You want help from the community at large; you've decided where you're going to \Qref*{ask your question}{Q-gethelp}, but how do you phrase it? Excellent ``general'' advice (how to ask questions of anyone) is contained in %beware line break \href{http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html}{Eric Raymond's article on the topic}. Eric's an extremely self-confident person, and this comes through in his advice; but his guidelines are very good, even for us in the un-self-confident majority. It's important to remember that you don't have a right to advice from the world, but that if you express yourself well, you will usually find someone who will be pleased to help. So how do you express yourself in the \AllTeX{} world? There aren't any comprehensive rules, but a few guidelines may help in the application of your own common sense. \begin{itemize} \item Make sure you're asking the right people. Don't ask in a \TeX{} forum about printer device drivers for the \ProgName{Foobar} operating system. Yes, \TeX{} users need printers, but no, \TeX{} users will typically \emph{not} be \ProgName{Foobar} systems managers. Similarly, avoid posing a question in a language that the majority of the group don't use: post in Ruritanian to \Newsgroup{de.comp.text.tex} and you may have a long wait before a German- and Ruritanian-speaking \TeX{} expert notices your question. \item If your question is (or may be) \TeX{}-system-specific, report what system you're using, or intend to use: ``I can't install \TeX{}'' is as good as useless, whereas ``I'm trying to install the \ProgName{mumbleTeX} distribution on the \ProgName{Grobble} operating system'' gives all the context a potential respondent might need. Another common situation where this information is important is when you're having trouble installing something new in your system: ``I want to add the \Package{glugtheory} package to my \ProgName{mumbleTeX v12.0} distribution on the \ProgName{Grobble 2024} operating system''. \item If you need to know how to do something, make clear what your environment is: ``I want to do \emph{x} in \plaintex{}'', or ``I want to do \emph{y} in \LaTeX{} running the \Class{boggle} class''. If you thought you knew how, but your attempts are failing, tell us what you've tried: ``I've already tried installing the \Package{elephant} in the \Package{minicar} directory, and it didn't work, even after refreshing the filename database''. \item If something's going wrong within \AllTeX{}, pretend you're \Qref*{submitting a \LaTeX{} bug report}{Q-latexbug}, and try to generate a \Qref*{minimum failing example}{Q-minxampl}. If your example needs your local \Class{xyzthesis} class, or some other resource not generally available, be sure to include a pointer to how the resource can be obtained. \item Figures are special, of course. Sometimes the figure itself is \emph{really} needed, but most problems may be demonstrated with a ``figure substitute'' in the form of a \cmdinvoke*{rule}{width}{height} command, for some value of \meta{width} and \meta{height}. If the (real) figure is needed, don't try posting it: far better to put it on the web somewhere. \item Be as succinct as possible. Your helpers don't usually need to know \emph{why} you're doing something, just \emph{what} you're doing and where the problem is. \end{itemize} \Question[Q-minxampl]{How to make a ``minimum example''} \Qref[Question]{Our advice on asking questions}{Q-askquestion} suggests that you prepare a ``minimum example'' (also commonly known as a ``\emph{minimal} example'') of failing behaviour, as a sample to post with your question. If you have a problem in a two hundred page document, it may be unclear how to proceed from this problem to a succinct demonstration of your problem. There are two valid approaches to this task: building up, and hacking down. % ! line break \latexhtml{The ``building up'' process}{\textbf{\emph{Building up}}} starts with a basic document structure (for \LaTeX{}, this would have \csx{documentclass}, \cmdinvoke{begin}{document}, \cmdinvoke{end}{document}) and adds things. First to add is a paragraph or so around the actual point where the problem occurs. (It may prove difficult to find the actual line that's provoking the problem. If the original problem is an error, reviewing % ! line break \Qref[the answer to question]{``the structure of \TeX{} errors''}{Q-errstruct} may help.) Note that there are things that can go wrong in one part of the document as a result of something in another part: the commonest is problems in the table of contents (from something in a section title, or whatever), or the list of \meta{something} (from something in a \csx{caption}). In such a case, include the section title or caption (the caption probably needs the \environment{figure} or \environment{table} environment around it, but it \emph{doesn't} need the figure or table itself). If this file you've built up shows the problem already, then you're done. Otherwise, try adding packages; the optimum is a file with only one package in it, but you may find that the guilty package won't even load properly unless another package has been loaded. (Another common case is that package \Package{A} only fails when package \Package{B} has been loaded.) % ! line break \latexhtml{The ``hacking down'' route}{\textbf{\emph{Hacking down}}} starts with your entire document, and removes bits until the file no longer fails (and then of course restores the last thing removed). Don't forget to hack out any unnecessary packages, but mostly, the difficulty is choosing what to hack out of the body of the document; this is the mirror of the problem above, in the ``building up'' route. If you've added a package (or more than one), add \csx{listfiles} to the preamble too: that way, \LaTeX{} will produce a list of the packages you've used and their version numbers. This information may be useful evidence for people trying to help you. What if your document simply doesn't fail in any of these cut-down scenarios? Whatever you do, don't post the whole of the document: if you can, it may be useful to make a copy available on the web somewhere: people will probably understand if it's impossible~\dots{}\ or inadvisable, in the case of something confidential. If the whole document is necessary, it could be that it's an overflow of some sort; the best you can do is to post the code ``around'' the error, and (of course) the full text of the error. It may seem that all this work is rather excessive for preparing a simple post. There are two responses to that, both based on the relative inefficiency of asking a question on the internet. First, preparing a minimum document very often leads \emph{you} to the answer, without all the fuss of posting and looking for responses. Second, your prime aim is to get an answer as quickly as possible; a well-prepared example stands a good chance of attracting an answer ``in a single pass'': if the person replying to your post finds she needs more information, you have to find that request, post again, and wait for your benefactor to produce a second response. All things considered, a good example file can save you a day, for perhaps half an hour's effort invested. The above advice, differently phrased, may also be read on the web at \URL{http://www.minimalbeispiel.de/mini-en.html}; source of that article may be found at \URL{http://www.minimalbeispiel.de/}, in both German and English. \Question[Q-tutorials*]{Tutorials, etc., for \tex{}-based systems} From a situation where every \AllTeX{} user \emph{had} to buy a book if she was not to find herself groping blindly along, we now have what almost amounts to an embarrassment of riches of online documentation. The following answers attempt to create lists of sources ``by topic''. First we have introductory manuals, for \Qref*{\plaintex{}}{Q-man-tex} and \Qref*{\LaTeX{}}{Q-man-latex}. Next comes a selection of \Qref*{``specialised'' \AllTeX{} tutorials}{Q-tutbitslatex}, each of which concentrates on a single \LaTeX{} topic. A small selection of reference documents (it would be good to have more) are listed in an \Qref*{answer of their own}{Q-ref-doc}. Next comes the (somewhat newer) field of % ! line break \Qref*{\TeX{}-related WIKIs}{Q-doc-wiki}. A rather short list gives us a % ! line break \Qref*{Typography style tutorial}{Q-typo-style}. \LastEdit{2011-09-26} \Question[Q-man-tex]{Online introductions: \plaintex{}} Michael Doob's splendid `Gentle Introduction' to \plaintex{} (available on \acro{CTAN}) has been stable for a very long time. Another recommendable document is D. R.~Wilkins' `Getting started with \TeX{}', available on the web at \URL{http://www.ntg.nl/doc/wilkins/pllong.pdf} \begin{ctanrefs} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}Gentle Introduction]\CTANref{gentle} \end{ctanrefs} \Question[Q-man-latex]{Online introductions: \LaTeX{}} A pleasing little document, ``Getting something out of \LaTeX{}'' is designed to give a feel of \LaTeX{} to someone who's never used it at all. It's not a tutorial, merely helps the user to decide whether to go on to a tutorial, and thence to `real' use of \LaTeX{}. Tobias Oetiker's `(Not so) Short Introduction to \LaTeXe{}', is regularly updated, as people suggest better ways of explaining things, etc. The introduction is available on \acro{CTAN}, together with translations into a rather large set of languages. Peter Flynn's ``Beginner's \LaTeX{}'' (which started life as course material) is a pleasing read. A complete copy may be found on \acro{CTAN}, but it may also be browsed over the web (\URL{http://mirrors.ctan.org/info/beginlatex/html/}). Harvey Greenberg's `Simplified Introduction to \LaTeX{}' was written for a lecture course, and is also available on \acro{CTAN} (in \PS{} only, unfortunately). The fourth edition of George Gr\"atzer's book ``Math into \LaTeX{}'' contains a ``short course'' in \LaTeX{} itself, and that course has been made publicly available on \acro{CTAN}. Philip Hirschhorn's ``Getting up and running with \AMSLaTeX{}'' has a brief introduction to \LaTeX{} itself, followed by a substantial introduction to the use of the \acro{AMS} classes and the \Package{amsmath} package and other things that are potentially of interest to those writing documents containing mathematics. Edith Hodgen's % beware line break \href{http://www.mcs.vuw.ac.nz/~david/latex/notes.pdf}{\LaTeX{}, a Braindump} starts you from the ground up~--- giving a basic tutorial in the use of \ProgName{Linux} to get you going (rather a large file\dots{}). Its parent site, David Friggens' % ! line break \href{http://www.mcs.vuw.ac.nz/~david/latex/}{documentation page} is a useful collection of links in itself. % ! line break \href{http://www.andy-roberts.net/misc/latex/}{Andy Roberts' introductory material} is a pleasing short introduction to the use of \AllTeX{}; some of the slides for \emph{actual} tutorials are to be found on the page, as well. D. R.~Wilkins' % ! line break \href{http://www.maths.tcd.ie/~dwilkins/LaTeXPrimer/}{`Getting started with \latex{}'} also looks good (it appears shorter~--- more of a primer~--- than some of the other offerings). Chris Harrison's % ! line break \href{http://xoph.co/20111024/latex-tutorial/}{LaTeX tutorial} presents basic \LaTeX{} in a rather pleasing and straightforward way. Nicola Talbot's % ! line break \href{http://theoval.cmp.uea.ac.uk/~nlct/latex/novices/}{\LaTeX{} for complete novices} does what it claims: the author teaches \LaTeX{} at the University of East Anglia. That is one of several % ! line break \href{http://theoval.cmp.uea.ac.uk/~nlct/latex/}{introductory tutorials}, which include exercises (with solutions). Other tutorials include those for writing theses/dissertations with \LaTeX{}, and for using \LaTeX{} in administrative work. (The page seems to be an adjunct to her \LaTeX{} courses~--- fortunate people, the people of \acro{UEA}!). Engelbert Buxbaum provides the `slides' for his \latex{} course `The \latex{} document preparation system'; this seems to be a departmental course at his university. Mark van Dongen's % line break \href{"http://csweb.ucc.ie/~dongen/LaTeX-and-Friends.pdf}{`\latex and friends'} appeared as he was writing his book on the subject (soon to be published). An interesting (and practical) tutorial about what \emph{not} to do is \Package{l2tabu}, or ``A list of sins of \LaTeXe{} users'' by Mark Trettin, translated into English by J\"urgen Fenn. The tutorial is available from \acro{CTAN} as a \acro{PDF} file (though the source is also available). \begin{ctanrefs} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}Beginner's \LaTeX{}]\CTANref{beginlatex-pdf} % ! line break \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}Getting something out of \latex{}]\CTANref{first-latex-doc} % ! line break \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}Getting up and running with \AMSLaTeX{}]\CTANref{amslatex-primer} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}Slides for \latex{} course]\CTANref{latex-course} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}Not so Short Introduction]\CTANref{lshort} (in English, you may browse for sources and other language versions at \CTANref{lshort-parent}) \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}Simplified \LaTeX{}]\CTANref{simpl-latex} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}Short Course in \LaTeX{}]\CTANref{mil-short} % ! line break \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}The sins of \LaTeX{} users]\CTANref{l2tabuen}; source also available: \CTANref{l2tabuen.src} \end{ctanrefs} \Question[Q-tutbitslatex]{\AllTeX{} tutorials} \AliasQuestion{Q-doc-dirs} The \acro{AMS} publishes a ``Short Math Guide for \LaTeX{}'', which is available (in several formats) via \URL{http://www.ams.org/tex/amslatex.html} (the ``Additional Documentation'' about half-way down the page. Herbert Vo\ss {} has written an extensive guide to mathematics in \LaTeX{}, and a development of it has been % ! line break \Qref*{published as a book}{Q-latex-books}. Two documents written more than ten years apart about font usage in \TeX{} are worth reading: % ! line break \href{http://www.tug.org/TUGboat/Articles/tb14-2/tb39rahtz-nfss.pdf}{Essential NFSS} by Sebastian Rahtz, and % ! line break \href{http://tug.org/pracjourn/2006-1/schmidt/schmidt.pdf}{Font selection in LaTeX}, cast in the form of an \acro{FAQ}, by Walter Schmidt. A general compendium of font information (including the two above) may be found on the \href{http://www.tug.org/fonts/}{TUG web site}. T\acro{UG} India is developing a series of online \LaTeX{} tutorials which can be strongly recommended: select single chapters at a time from \URL{http://www.tug.org/tutorials/tugindia}\nobreakspace--- there are 17~chapters in the series, two of which are mostly introductory. Peter Smith's \begin{narrowversion} ``\LaTeX{} for Logicians'' (\URL{http://www.logicmatters.net/latex-for-logicians/}) \end{narrowversion} \begin{wideversion} % ! line break ``\href{http://www.logicmatters.net/latex-for-logicians/}{\LaTeX{} for Logicians}'' \end{wideversion} page covers a rather smaller subject area, but is similarly comprehensive (mostly by links to documents on relevant topics, rather than as a monolithic document). Keith Reckdahl's ``Using Imported Graphics in \LaTeXe{}'' (\Package{epslatex}) is an excellent introduction to graphics use. It's available on \acro{CTAN}, but not in the \texlive{} or miktex{} distributions, for lack of sources. Stefan Kottwitz manages a web site devoted to the use of the drawing packages % ! line break \Qref*{\acro{PGF} and \acro{T}ik\acro{Z}}{Q-drawing}, % ! line break \url{http://www.texample.net/} Included is % ! line break \href{http://www.texample.net/tikz/examples/}{examples catalogue} includes examples (with output) from the package documentation as well as code written by the original site maintainer (Kjell Magne Fauske) and others. The compendious \acro{PGF}/\acro{T}ik\acro{Z} manual is clear, but is bewildering for some beginners. The % ! line break \href{http://cremeronline.com/LaTeX/minimaltikz.pdf}{`minimal' introduction} has helped at least the present author. Vincent Zoonekynd provides a set of excellent (and graphic) tutorials on the programming of % !line breaks, ... \href{http://zoonek.free.fr/LaTeX/LaTeX_samples_title/0.html}{title page styles}, \href{http://zoonek.free.fr/LaTeX/LaTeX_samples_chapter/0.html}{chapter heading styles} and \href{http://zoonek.free.fr/LaTeX/LaTeX_samples_section/0.html}{section heading styles}. In each file, there is a selection of graphics representing an output style, and for each style, the code that produces it is shown. An invaluable step-by-step setup guide for establishing a ``work flow'' through your \AllTeX{} system, so that output appears at the correct size and position on standard-sized paper, and that the print quality is satisfactory, is Mike Shell's \Package{testflow}. The tutorial consists of a large plain text document, and there is a supporting \LaTeX{} file together with correct output, both in \PS{} and \acro{PDF}, for each of \acro{A}4 and ``letter'' paper sizes. The complete kit is available on \acro{CTAN} (distributed with the author's macros for papers submitted for \acro{IEEE} publications). The issues are also covered in a later % ! line break \Qref{\acro{FAQ} answer}{Q-dvips-pdf}. Documentation of Japanese \ensuremath{\Omega{}} use appears in Haruhiko Okumura's page % ! line break \href{http://oku.edu.mie-u.ac.jp/~okumura/texfaq/japanese/}{typesetting Japanese with Omega} (the parent page is in Japanese, so out of the scope of this \acro{FAQ} list). Some university departments make their local documentation available on the web. Most straightforwardly, there's the simple translation of existing documentation into \acro{HTML}, for example the \acro{INFO} documentation of the \AllTeX{} installation, of which a sample is the \LaTeX{} documentation available at \URL{http://www.tac.dk/cgi-bin/info2www?(latex)} More ambitiously, some university departments have enthusiastic documenters who make public record of their \AllTeX{} support. For example, Tim Love (of Cambridge University Engineering Department) maintains his department's pages at \URL{http://www-h.eng.cam.ac.uk/help/tpl/textprocessing/} %% and Mimi %% Burbank (of the School of Computer Science \& Information Technology %% at the University of Florida) manages her department's at %% \URL{http://www.csit.fsu.edu/~mimi/tex/}\nobreakspace--- both sets are fine %% examples of good practice. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}Graphics in \LaTeXe{}]\CTANref{epslatex} \item[testflow]\CTANref{testflow} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}Herbert Vo\ss {}'s Maths tutorial]\CTANref{voss-mathmode} \end{ctanrefs} \Question[Q-ref-doc]{Reference documents} For \TeX{} primitive commands a rather nice % ! line break \href{http://www.nmt.edu/tcc/help/pubs/texcrib.pdf}{quick reference booklet}, by John W.~Shipman, is available; it's arranged in the same way as the \TeX{}book. By contrast, you can view David Bausum's % ! line break \href{http://www.tug.org/utilities/plain/cseq.html}{list of \TeX{} primitives} alphabetically or arranged by ``family''. Either way, the list has a link for each control sequence, that leads you to a detailed description, which includes page references to the \TeX{}book. There doesn't seem to be a reference that takes in \plaintex{} as well as the primitive commands. An interesting \LaTeX{} ``cheat sheet'' is available from \acro{CTAN}: it's a list of (more or less) everything you `ought to' remember, for basic \LaTeX{} use. % line break (It's laid out very compactly for printing on N.\ American `letter'; printed on \acro{ISO} \acro{A}4, using Adobe Acrobat's ``shrink to fit'', it strains aged eyes\dots{}) For command organised references to \LaTeX{}, Karl Berry (et al)'s % !line break \href{http://home.gna.org/latexrefman}{LaTeX reference manual} is (to an extent) work in progress, but is generally reliable (source is available on the.archive as well). Martin Scharrer's ``List of internal \latex{} macros'' is a help to those aiming to write a class or package. The reference provided by the Emerson Center of Emory University), % ! line break \href{http://www.emerson.emory.edu/services/latex/latex2e/latex2e_toc.html}{LaTeXe help} also looks good. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}Cheat sheet]\CTANref{latexcheat} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}LaTeX reference manual]\CTANref{latex2e-help-texinfo} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}LaTeX internal macros]\CTANref{macros2e} \end{ctanrefs} \LastEdit{2012-02-16} \Question[Q-doc-wiki]{\acro{WIKI} books for \TeX{} and friends} The \emph{\acro{WIKI}} concept can be a boon to everyone, if used sensibly. The ``general'' \acro{WIKI} allows \emph{anyone} to add stuff, or to edit stuff that someone else has added: while there is obvious potential for chaos, there is evidence that a strong user community can keep a \acro{WIKI} under control. Following the encouraging performance of the % ! line break \href{http://contextgarden.net/}{\CONTeXT{} \acro{WIKI}}, valiant efforts have been made generating ``\acro{WIKI} books'' for \AllTeX{} users. Thus we have % ! line break \href{http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/TeX}{(Plain) \TeX{} \acro{WIKI}} and \href{http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX}{\LaTeX{} \acro{WIKI}}~--- both well established. Neither would seem exactly of ``publication quality'' (though that isn't really the aim), but they are both useful reference sources. \Question[Q-typo-style]{Typography tutorials} Peter Wilson's article \Package{memdesign} has a lengthy introductory section on typographic considerations, which is a fine tutorial, written by someone who is aware of the issues as they apply to \AllTeX{} users. (\Package{Memdesign} now distributed separately from the manual for his \Class{memoir} class, but was originally part of that manual) There's also (at least one) typographic style tutorial available on the Web, the excellent % ! line break ``\href*{http://www.nbcs.rutgers.edu/~hedrick/typography/typography.janson-syntax.107514.pdf}{Guidelines for Typography in NBCS}''. In fact, its % !! \href*{http://www.nbcs.rutgers.edu/~hedrick/typography/index.html}{parent page} is also worth a read: among other things, it provides copies of the ``guidelines'' document in a wide variety of primary fonts, for comparison purposes. The author is careful to explain that he has no ambition to supplant such excellent books as \Qref*{Bringhurst's}{Q-type-books}, but the document (though it does contain its Rutgers-local matter) is a fine introduction to the issues of producing readable documents. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[memdesign]\CTANref{memdesign} \end{ctanrefs} \Question[Q-ol-books]{Freely available \AllTeX{} books} People have long argued for \AllTeX{} books to be made available on the web, and until relatively recently this demand went un-answered. The first to appear was Victor Eijkhout's excellent ``\TeX{} by Topic'' in 2001 (it had been published by Addison-Wesley, but was long out of print). The book is now available on \acro{CTAN}; it's not a beginner's tutorial but it's a fine reference. It's also available, as a printed copy, via the on-line publishers \href{http://www.lulu.com/content/2555607/}{Lulu} (not quite free, of course, but not a \emph{bad} deal\dots{}). Addison-Wesley have also released the copyright of ``\TeX{} for the Impatient'' by Paul W.~Abrahams, Karl Berry and Kathryn A.~Hargreaves, another book whose unavailability many have lamented. The authors have re-released the book under the \acro{GNU} Free Documentation Licence, and it is available from \acro{CTAN}. Norm Walsh's ``Making \TeX{} Work'' (originally published by O'Reilly) is also available (free) on the Web, at \URL{http://makingtexwork.sourceforge.net/mtw/}; the sources of the Web page are on \acro{CTAN}. The book was an excellent resource in its day, but while it is now somewhat dated, it still has its uses, and is a welcome addition to the list of on-line resources. A project to update it is believed to be under way. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}Making \TeX{} Work]\CTANref{mtw} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}\TeX{} by Topic]\CTANref{texbytopic} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}\TeX{} for the Impatient]\CTANref{TftI} \end{ctanrefs} \LastEdit{2011-06-29} \Question[Q-pkgdoc]{Documentation of packages} These \acro{FAQ}s regularly suggest packages that will ``solve'' particular problems. In some cases, the answer provides a recipe for the job. In other cases, or when the solution needs elaborating, how is the poor user to find out what to do? If you're lucky, the package you need is already in your installation. If you're particularly lucky, you're using a distribution that gives access to package documentation and the documentation is available in a form that can easily be shown. For example, on many current distributions, the \ProgName{texdoc} command often helps, as in: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} texdoc footmisc \end{verbatim} \end{quote} which opens a window showing documentation of the \Package{footmisc} package. According to the type of file \ProgName{texdoc} finds, it will launch a \acro{DVI} viewer or a \acro{PDF} reader. If \ProgName{texdoc} can't find any documentation, it may launch a Web browser to look at its copy of the \acro{CTAN} catalogue. The catalogue has an entry for package documentation, and since the \acro{CTAN} team asks authors documentation of their packages (and members of the team even occasionally generate documentation that seems useful), you will more often than not find documentation that way. If your luck (as defined above) doesn't hold out, you've got to find documentation by other means. That is, you have to find the documentation for yourself. The rest of this answer offers a range of possible techniques. The commonest form of documentation of \LaTeX{} add-ons is within the \extension{dtx} file in which the code is distributed (see \Qref[answer]{documented \LaTeX{} sources}{Q-dtx}). Such files are supposedly processable by \LaTeX{} itself, but there are occasional hiccups on the way to readable documentation. Common problems are that the package itself is needed to process its own documentation (so must be unpacked before processing), and that the \extension{dtx} file will \emph{not} in fact process with \LaTeX{}. In the latter case, the \extension{ins} file will usually produce a \extension{drv} (or similarly-named) file, which you process with \LaTeX{} instead. (Sometimes the package author even thinks to mention this wrinkle in a package \texttt{README} file.) Another common form is the separate documentation file; particularly if a package is ``conceptually large'' (and therefore needs a lot of documentation), the documentation would prove a cumbersome extension to the \extension{dtx} file. Examples of such cases are the \Class{memoir} class, the \Class{KOMA-script} bundle (whose developers take the trouble to produce detailed documentation in both German and English), the \Package{pgf} documentation (which would make a substantial book in its own right) and the \Package{fancyhdr} package (whose documentation derives from a definitive tutorial in a mathematical journal). Even if the documentation is not separately identified in a \texttt{README} file, it should not be too difficult to recognise its existence. Documentation within the package itself is the third common form. Such documentation ordinarily appears in comments at the head of the file, though at least one eminent author regularly places it after the \csx{endinput} command in the package. (This is desirable, since \csx{endinput} is a `logical' end-of-file, and \AllTeX{} doesn't read beyond it: thus such documentation does not `cost' any package loading time.) The above suggestions cover most possible ways of finding documentation. If, despite your best efforts, you can't find it in any of the above places, there's the awful possibility that the author didn't bother to document his package (on the ``if it was hard to write, it should be hard to use'' philosophy). Most ordinary mortals will seek support from some more experienced user at this stage, though it \emph{is} possible to proceed in the way that the original author apparently expected\dots{}by reading his code. \LastEdit{2011-12-29} \Question[Q-writecls]{Learning to write \LaTeX{} classes and packages} There's nothing particularly magic about the commands you use when writing a package, so you can simply bundle up a set of \LaTeX{} \csx{(re)newcommand} and \csx{(re)newenvironment} commands, put them in a file \File{package.sty} and you have a package. However, any but the most trivial package will require rather more sophistication. Some details of \LaTeX{} commands for the job are to be found in `\LaTeXe{} for class and package writers' (\File{clsguide}, part of the \LaTeX{} documentation distribution). Beyond this, a good knowledge of \TeX{} itself is valuable: thus books such as the \Qref*{\TeX{}book}{Q-tex-books} or % ! line break \Qref*{\TeX{} by topic}{Q-ol-books} are relevant. With good \TeX{} knowledge it is possible to use the documented source of \LaTeX{} as reference material (dedicated authors will acquaint themselves with the source as a matter of course). A complete set of the documented source of \LaTeX{} may be prepared by processing the file \File{source2e.tex} in the \LaTeX{} distribution. Such processing is noticeably tedious, but Heiko Oberdiek has prepared a well-linked \acro{PDF} version, which is in the file \File{base.tds.zip} of his \ProgName{latex-tds} distribution. Individual files in the \LaTeX{} distribution may be processed separately with \LaTeX{}, like any well-constructed \Qref*{\extension{dtx} file}{Q-dtx}. Writing good classes is not easy; it's a good idea to read some established ones (\File{classes.dtx}, for example, is the documented source of the standard classes other than \Class{Letter}, and may itself be formatted with \LaTeX{}). Classes that are not part of the distribution are commonly based on ones that are, and start by loading the standard class with \csx{LoadClass}~--- an example of this technique may be seen in \Package{ltxguide.cls} An % !! line break \href{http://tug.org/TUGboat/Articles/tb28-1/tb88flynn.pdf}{annotated version of \Class{article}}, as it appears in \File{classes.dtx}, was published in \TUGboat{} 28(1). The article, by Peter Flynn, is a good guide to understanding \File{classes.dtx} \begin{ctanrefs} \item[classes.dtx]\CTANref{latex-classes} \item[clsguide.pdf]\CTANref{clsguide} \item[latex-tds \nothtml{rmfamily}collection]\CTANref{latex-tds} \item[ltxguide.cls]\CTANref{ltxguide} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}\LaTeX{} documentation]\CTANref{latexdoc} \item[source2e.tex]\CTANref{latex-source} \end{ctanrefs} \LastEdit{2011-07-19} \Question[Q-mfptutorials]{\MF{} and \MP{} Tutorials} Apart from Knuth's book, there seems to be only one publicly-available \href{http://metafont.tutorial.free.fr/}{tutorial for \MF{}}, by Christophe Grandsire (a copy in \acro{PDF} form may be downloaded). Geoffrey Tobin's \textit{\MF{} for Beginners} % !! line break (see \Qref[question]{using \MF{}}{Q-useMF}) describes how the \MF{} system works and how to avoid some of the potential pitfalls. There is also an article on how to run both \MF{} and \MP{} (the programs). Peter Wilson's % !! line break \textit{Some Experiences in Running \MF{} and \MP{}} offers the benefit of Peter's experience (he has designed a number of `historical' fonts using \MF{}). For \MF{} the article is geared towards testing and installing new \MF{} fonts, while its \MP{} section describes how to use \MP{} illustrations in \LaTeX{} and \PDFLaTeX{} documents, with an emphasis on how to use appropriate fonts for any text or mathematics. Hans Hagen (of \CONTeXT{} fame) offers a \MP{} tutorial called MetaFun (which admittedly concentrates on the use of \MP{} within \CONTeXT{}). It may be found on his company's % ! line break \href{http://www.pragma-ade.com/general/manuals/metafun-p.pdf}{`manuals' page}. Other \MP{} tutorials that have appeared are two in English by % ! line breaks \href{http://remote.science.uva.nl/~heck/Courses/mptut.pdf}{Andr\'e Heck} and \href{http://www.tlhiv.org/MetaPost/tutorial/}{Urs Oswald}, and one in French (listed here because it's clearly enough written that even this author understands it), by \href{http://pauillac.inria.fr/~cheno/metapost/metapost.pdf}{Laurent Ch\'eno}; both have been recommended for inclusion in the \acro{FAQ} Urs Oswald's tutorial is accompanied by a super tool (by Troy Henderson) for testing little bits of \MP{}, which is an invaluable aid to the learner: \URL{http://www.tlhiv.org/mppreview} Vincent Zoonekynd's massive set of example \MP{} files is available on \acro{CTAN}; the set includes a \ProgName{Perl} script to convert the set to html, and the set may be % beware line break \href{http://zoonek.free.fr/LaTeX/Metapost/metapost.html}{viewed on the web}. While these examples don't exactly constitute a ``tutorial'', they're most certainly valuable learning material. Urs Oswald presents a \href{http://www.ursoswald.ch/metapost/tutorial.pdf}{similar document}, written more as a document, and presented in \acro{PDF}. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}Beginners' guide]\CTANref{mf-beginners} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}Peter Wilson's ``experiences'']\CTANref{metafp-pdf} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}Vincent Zoonekynd's examples]\CTANref{zoon-mp-eg} \end{ctanrefs} \LastEdit{2011-11-21} \Question[Q-BibTeXing]{\bibtex{} Documentation} \bibtex{}, a program originally designed to produce bibliographies in conjunction with \LaTeX{}, is explained in Section~4.3 and Appendix~B of Leslie Lamport's \LaTeX{} manual. The document ``\bibtex{}ing'', in the \bibtex{} distribution (look for \File{btxdoc}), expands on the chapter in Lamport's book. \emph{The \LaTeX{} Companion} also has information on \bibtex{} and writing \bibtex{} style files. (See \Qref[question]{\latex{} books}{Q-latex-books} for details of both books.) The document ``Designing \bibtex{} Styles'', also in the \bibtex{} distribution (look for \File{btxhak}), explains the postfix stack-based language used to write \bibtex{} styles (\File{.bst} files). The file\File{btxbst.doc}, also in the \bibtex{} distribution, is the template for the four standard styles (\Package{plain}, \Package{abbrv}, \Package{alpha}, and \Package{unsrt}); it also contains their documentation. A useful tutorial of the whole process of using \BibTeX{} is Nicolas Markey's ``\emph{Tame the BeaST (The B to X of \BibTeX{})}'', which may also be found on \acro{CTAN}. A summary and \acro{FAQ} by Michael Shell and David Hoadley, is also to be recommended. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}\BibTeX{} distribution]\CTANref{bibtex} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}Shell and Hoadley's FAQ]\CTANref{bibtex-faq} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}Tame the BeaST]\CTANref{ttb-pdf} \end{ctanrefs} \Question[Q-symbols]{Where can I find the symbol for\,\dots{}} \keywords{assignment circular integral degrees diagonal dots Fourier transform} \keywords{Laplace greater less complex integer natural real} \keywords{cent euro} There is a wide range of symbols available for use with \TeX{}, most of which are not shown (or even mentioned) in \AllTeX{} books. \emph{The Comprehensive \LaTeX{} Symbol List} (by Scott Pakin % beware line wrap \emph{et al.}\@) illustrates over 2000 symbols, and details the commands and the \LaTeX{} packages needed to produce them. Other questions in this \acro{FAQ} offer specific help on kinds of symbols: \begin{itemize} \item \Qref*{Script fonts for mathematics}{Q-scriptfonts} \item \Qref*{Fonts for the number sets}{Q-numbersets} \item \Qref*{Typesetting the principal value integral}{Q-prinvalint} \end{itemize} A useful new % ! line break \href{http://detexify.kirelabs.org/classify.html}{symbol search} web site is available. It provides you a scratch area on which you draw the symbol you're thinking of, with your mouse; when you've finished drawing, the classifier tries to match your sketch with symbols it knows about. The matching process is pretty good, even for the sketches of a \emph{really} poor draughtsman, and it's often worth trying more than once. Given the huge size of the symbol list, this tool can be very helpful. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[Symbol List]Browse \CTANref{symbols}; there are processed versions \acro{PDF} form for both A4 and letter paper. \end{ctanrefs} \LastEdit{2011-07-01} \Question[Q-docpictex]{The \PiCTeX{} manual} \PiCTeX{} is a set of macros by Michael Wichura for drawing diagrams and pictures. The macros are freely available; however, the \PiCTeX{} manual itself is not free. Unfortunately, \acro{TUG} is no longer able to supply copies of the manual (as it once did), and it is now available only through Personal \TeX{} Inc, the vendors of PC\TeX{} (\URL{http://www.pctex.com/}). The manual is \emph{not} available electronically. However, there \emph{is} a summary of \PiCTeX{} commands available on \acro{CTAN}, which is a great aide-memoire for those who basically know the package to start with. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[pictex]\CTANref{pictex} \item[PiCTeX summary]\CTANref{pictex-summary} \end{ctanrefs}