% $Id: faq-intro.tex,v 1.2 2009/08/02 22:50:13 rf10 Exp rf10 $ % this environment is for the benefit of new-style file generation \begin{introduction} % suppress section numbers until end environment \nothtml{\csname c@secnumdepth\endcsname=-1 } \section{Introduction} This is a set of Frequently Asked Questions (\acro{FAQ}) for English-speaking users of \TeX{}. The questions answered here cover a wide range of topics, but the actual typesetting issues are mostly covered from the viewpoint of a \LaTeX{} user. You may use the \acro{FAQ} \begin{itemize} \item by reading a printed document, \item by viewing a \acro{PDF} file, with hyperlinks to assist browsing: copies are available formatted for printing on \CTANhref{faq-a4}{A4 paper} or on % ! line break \CTANhref{faq-letter}{North American ``letter'' paper}, or \item by using the \acro{FAQ}'s web interface (base \acro{URL}: \URL{http://www.tex.ac.uk/faq}); this version provides simple search capabilities, as well as a link to Google for a more sophisticated search restricted to the \acro{FAQ} itself, or \item via Scott Pakin's \CTANhref{visualFAQ}{Visual FAQ}. \end{itemize} \subsection{Finding the Files} Unless otherwise specified, all files mentioned in this \acro{FAQ} are available from a \acro{CTAN} archive, or from a mirror of \acro{CTAN}~--- see \Qref[question]{later discussion}{Q-archives}% ! space \narrowonly{, which gives details} of the \acro{CTAN} archives\wideonly{ and}\narrowonly{, including} how to retrieve files from them. If you don't have access to the internet, the \Qref*{\texlive{} distribution}{Q-CD} offers off-line snapshots of the archives. The reader should also note that the first directory name of the path name of every file on \acro{CTAN} is omitted from what follows, for the simple reason that, while it's always the same (\path{tex-archive/}) on the main sites, mirror sites often choose something else. To avoid confusion, we also omit the full stop from the end of any sentence whose last item is a path name (such sentences are rare, and only occur at the end of paragraphs). Though the path names are set in a different font from running text, it's not easy to distinguish the font of a single dot! \latexhtml{\subsection*{Origins}}{\textbf{Origins}} The \acro{FAQ} was originated by the Committee of the \acro{UK} \TeX{} Users' Group (\acro{UK}~\acro{TUG}) as a development of a regular posting to the \emph{Usenet} newsgroup \Newsgroup{comp.text.tex} that was maintained for some time by Bobby Bodenheimer. The first \acro{UK} version was much re-arranged and corrected from the original, and little of Bodenheimer's work now remains. The following people (at least~--- there are almost certainly others whose names weren't correctly recorded) have contributed help or advice on the development of the \acro{FAQ}: Donald Arseneau, Rosemary Bailey, % lots of initial set of maths answers Barbara Beeton, % one of first reviewers outside cttee Karl Berry, % often provides comments & suggestions Giuseppe Bilotta, Charles Cameron, Fran\c{c}ois Charette, % update of q-xetex Damian Cugley, Michael Dewey, Michael Downes, % (RIP) on (ams)maths stuff Jean-Pierre Drucbert, % corrected my interpretation of minitoc Michael Ernst, % alert on confusing colloquialism Thomas Esser, Ulrike Fischer, % spotted boondoggle in q-tabcellalign % args like \section improvement; general typos Anthony Goreham, Norman Gray, Eitan Gurari, % (RIP) comparative html translators William Hammond, % lots of work on xml-related answers John Harper, % patient help with q-robust ;-) John Hammond, % corrections to q-protect Troy Henderson, % metapost tutorials update Hartmut Henkel, Stephan Hennig, % text about vc in Q-RCS John Hobby, Morten H\textoslash gholm, % eagle eyes in search for problems Berthold Horn, % lots of stuff on fonts Ian Hutchinson, % comparative html translators Werner Icking, % (RIP) answer on tex-music William Ingram, % extension of transcinit Alan Jeffrey, % another founding father Regnor Jernsletten, David Kastrup, % inter alia, suggested mention of lilypond Oleg Katsitadze, % revision of q-eplain Isaac Khabaza, % kindersley book Ulrich Klauer, % pointed out twaddle in TeXpronounce Markus Kohm, % help with functionality of Koma-script Stefan Kottwitz % picked up text of q-wideflt David Kraus, % help with tocbibind (spotted embarrassing typo :-} ) Ryszard Kubiak, % comment about q-driver Simon Law, Daniel Luecking, Aditya Mahajan, % rewrite of q-context Sanjoy Mahajan, Andreas Matthias, Brooks Moses, % editorial suggestion Iain Murray, % alternative solution in q-hyperdupdest Vilar Camara Neto, % explain breakurl pkg, suggest use of numprint Dick Nickalls, Ted Nieland, Hans Nordhaug, Pat Rau, Heiko Oberdiek, Piet van Oostrum, Scott Pakin, Oren Patashnik, Manuel P\'egouri\'e-Gonnard, % improvement of q-luatex Steve Peter, % comprehensive review, lots of typos etc Sebastian Rahtz, % without whom there would be no... Philip Ratcliffe, % help with a bibtex oddity Chris Rowley, % founding father Jos\'e Carlos Santos, % assiduous reader of new versions Walter Schmidt, Hans-Peter Schr\"ocker, Joachim Schrod, Maarten Sneep, % summary of c.t.t thread for outszwrng, inter alia Axel Sommerfeldt, % suggested rewrite of q-hyperdupdest Philipp Stephani, % xlation of komascript keyval stuff James Szinger, % who responded on c.t.t to request for answer Ulrik Vieth, Mike Vulis, Chris Walker, % revtex alert, ite suggestion (q-labelfig) Peter Wilson, % several, incl functionality of memoir Joseph Wright, % help with keyval Rick Zaccone and Reinhard Zierke. \end{introduction}