

Rich text editing with WriteLatex - nkoren
https://www.writelatex.com/blog/81#.U268SK1dVGl

======
WestCoastJustin
Amazingly functional site for working with Latex documents! For example, I am
working on screencast re: containers/docker right now, and created several
diagrams using their editor, see:
[http://i.imgur.com/NlYuaXp.png](http://i.imgur.com/NlYuaXp.png)

If this type of stuff interests you, make sure you check out
[http://texample.net/tikz/examples/all/](http://texample.net/tikz/examples/all/)
& [http://tex.stackexchange.com](http://tex.stackexchange.com) too. Also, if
you want to try and play around with it, use the "Create A New Paper" link @
[https://www.writelatex.com/docs?template=paper](https://www.writelatex.com/docs?template=paper)

Here's the code I'm using:

    
    
      \documentclass[12pt]{article}
      \usepackage{tikz}
      \usepackage{verbatim}
      \usetikzlibrary{positioning}
      \begin{document}
      \pagestyle{empty}
    
      \begin{tikzpicture}[scale=.9,every node/.style={minimum size=1cm},on grid]
               
          \begin{scope}[
                  yshift=-83,every node/.append style={
                  yslant=0.5,xslant=-1},yslant=0.5,xslant=-1
                  ]
    
              \fill[white,fill opacity=.9] (0,0) rectangle (5,5);
              \draw[black,very thick] (0,0) rectangle (5,5);
          \end{scope}
           
          \begin{scope}[
              yshift=0,every node/.append style={
                  yslant=0.5,xslant=-1},yslant=0.5,xslant=-1
                             ]
              \fill[white,fill opacity=.9] (0,0) rectangle (5,5);
              \draw[black,very thick] (0,0) rectangle (5,5);
        \end{scope}
           
        \begin{scope}[
            yshift=90,every node/.append style={
            yslant=0.5,xslant=-1},yslant=0.5,xslant=-1
                             ]
            \fill[white,fill opacity=0.9] (0,0) rectangle (5,5);
            \draw[black,dashed] (0,0) rectangle (5,5);
        \end{scope}
           
        \draw[-latex,thick] (6.2,2) node[right]{$\mathsf{Web\ Server}$}
             to[out=180,in=90] (3,2);
        \draw[-latex,thick](5.9,5)node[right]{$\mathsf{Your\ App}$}
            to[out=180,in=90] (2,5);
        \draw[-latex,thick,red](4.3,-1.9)node[right]{$\mathsf{rootfs}$}
            to[out=180,in=90] (2,-.5);
    
      \end{tikzpicture}
    
      \end{document}

~~~
dfc
I am a little confused. Did you use a tikz editor/assistant that they have? Or
did you type your tikz just like you would with ed/vim/emacs? I did not see
anything that would assist with creating tikz illustrations when I was poking
around. Lowering the tikz bar would be awesome.

------
JelteF
Amazing additions, to bad it's not open source like ShareLatex. Will probably
use this when working with none techsavy people.

Shameless plug: Do you need generated LaTeX documents, or just partial pieces,
like tables and plots. In that case PyLaTeX[0] is probably worth looking at.

0\. [https://github.com/JelteF/PyLaTeX](https://github.com/JelteF/PyLaTeX)

~~~
skierscott
There's also support for latex in plots via matplotlib[1].

[1]:[http://matplotlib.org/users/usetex.html](http://matplotlib.org/users/usetex.html)

~~~
JelteF
Sounds like a good addition, but the big problem I've had with matplotlib is
that the defaults are really terrible. The defaults of PGFplots are way
better.

------
sdenton4
The Sage Cloud also had great support for Latex, with much of the same
functionality as WriteLatex.
[http://cloud.sagemath.com](http://cloud.sagemath.com)

~~~
cben
More details: [http://sagemath.blogspot.com/2013/08/latex-in-
cloud.html](http://sagemath.blogspot.com/2013/08/latex-in-cloud.html)

------
soganess
The site is way impressive. I recently produce a resume using it. One of the
best features I didn't see mentioned was the fact that it either stores
everything locally or in such a way that a local cookie identifies you
uniquely to the server, even if you are not logged in. So if your computer
happens to shutdown during editing, or if you close the tab, or whatever,
returning to the website will drop you in right where you left off. The only
complaint I had was the delay on auto-updating, but the manual updating was
more then sufficient.

------
pjmlp
I remember seeing a UNIX Motif application capable of live editing back in
1999 (way better than Lyx), when visiting a professor on my university.

Somehow they never became widespread.

------
mepcotterell
Actually recommended this site to my Discrete Math students last Fall (this
and sharelatex). They seemed to like it a lot.

------
matthewcford
I was thinking about why this didn't exist already, just days ago. Great way
to start playing with Latex.

------
YesThatTom2
If they could support "track changes" like MSWord, I know a publisher that
would die for this.

~~~
JohnHammersley
There's a version of track changes available in "compare" mode (see
[https://www.writelatex.com/blog/154-a-first-look-at-the-
new-...](https://www.writelatex.com/blog/154-a-first-look-at-the-new-version-
comparison-feature) for details), and we'll be releasing a further update to
this in the near future.

------
hedwall
It complained about a Swedish character ('ä') and errored out for me.

Locally I use TeXWorks with the XeLaTeX "output" and it handles it fine...

~~~
jdleesmiller
If you click on the gear icon and go to Advanced Build Options, you can turn
on XeLaTeX.

It's also worth noting that you can use accented characters with pdflatex:
adding \usepackage[utf8x]{inputenc} at the top of your preamble will usually
do the job.

If none of that helps, feel free to send us the link to the doc via
[https://www.writelatex.com/contact](https://www.writelatex.com/contact) and
we will have a look.

EDIT: english

~~~
Osmium
I personally hold the opinion that XeLaTeX should be the default anyway, e.g.
Texpad app (iOS/Mac) already does this. I don't know of any downsides to
choosing XeLaTeX over LaTeX.

~~~
dfc
Why do you prefer xelatex to lualatex?

~~~
Osmium
Simply never used lualatex. Should I be?

------
dileu12
not support chinese

~~~
jdleesmiller
Some LaTeX incantations are required, but we do support Chinese. Here's an
example of one way to set it up:

[https://www.writelatex.com/examples/chinese-a-visit-to-
qiant...](https://www.writelatex.com/examples/chinese-a-visit-to-qiantang-
lake-in-spring-qian-tang-hu-chun-xing/xhzmbjjnbfrq#.U28HhK1dU85)

