OthersScribTeX, an online collaborative LaTeX editor

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James
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2009 12:23 am

ScribTeX, an online collaborative LaTeX editor

Post by James »

Hi, ScribTeX (http://www.scribtex.com) is a web based LaTeX editor that allows collaborative editing of LaTeX documents. I developed it since I don't think there is anything else like ScribTeX out there and it could prove to be very useful.

It features
  • Full history of all your documents with the ability to revert to previous versions
  • Flexible permissions for sharing your documents with other users
  • Image uploads and embedding in your LaTeX documents
  • BibTeX support
  • Custom style and class files
I hope it can be of use to some of you. Any feedback is appreciated :)

James

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LaTeXguide.org • LaTeX-Cookbook.net • TikZ.org
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Juanjo
Posts: 657
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2007 12:46 am

Re: ScribTeX, an online collaborative LaTeX editor

Post by Juanjo »

Hi James,

Many thanks for developping and sharing such a tool, that certainly may be very helpful. I've been trying it, using the sandbox. I suppose that pages of registered users behave similarly.

Concerning the interface, it is quite intuitive and easy to use. I miss, however, a "download" button to back-up tex files. Likewise, there is no way to see files that are really there, as, for example, the log or aux files generated after a LaTeX run. Or a file created by a filecontents environment, which, by the way, cannot be accessed by other tex file in the same category.

There are no tools for debugging code. The log file is not shown unless the pdf file cannot be created. So, a priori, warning and even errors may remain hidden to an unexperienced user. Of course, one can always force an error (by simply commenting \end{document}) and get the log file, but this is not a friendly way of working. Likewise, the code lines are not numbered and there is no "search" button (that of the browser looks only on the frame, not the edit window). Therefore, for large tex files, it may be difficult to move up and down, move to a given line, find the right command...

There are many other possible improvements: syntax coloring, command and symbol palettes, etc. However, I think that the above cited problems (back-up and debugging) are more urgent. If you can solve them, ScribTex can become an important, useful on-line tool. It is fantastic to have at hand, anywhere, a full TeX Live system! :D
The CTAN lion is an artwork by Duane Bibby. Courtesy of www.ctan.org.
oub
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Apr 28, 2009 8:12 pm

Re: ScribTeX, an online collaborative LaTeX editor

Post by oub »

Hello

First of all I think this is really great.
I know about noosphere, which is the underlying software
for planetmath, so it has a different audience in mind.

As far as the editor is concerned, I think mozex comes in handy
since it allows to call an external editor of your choice.

Uwe Brauer
James
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2009 12:23 am

ScribTeX, an online collaborative LaTeX editor

Post by James »

Hi, just a quick note to let you know that ScribTeX has undergone a major relaunch in the past few months and is now a much better editor that it was before. I've addressed many of the concerns that Juanjo had, in particular:
  • You can download all of your files in a zip file,
  • Things like filecontents will work as expected,
  • You can view the log of any compile, complete with the errors and warnings picked out and displayed nicely,
  • Syntax highlighting
If you haven't seen it, or tried it before and weren't impressed then it's really worth trying again: http://www.scribtex.com.

Thanks,
James
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