Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin
Show HN: I built a website to create images from LaTex (pictotex.com)
5 points by talut on May 11, 2024 | hide | past | favorite | 2 comments
Hey everyone, I was doing some tests with Gaussian Blur and the 2D Gaussian formula. While writing code for the formulas (I'm just trying to learn new things, that's all), I wanted to see LaTeX formulas in my IDE as images or in any convenient way. However, I couldn't find any proper method, such as writing LaTeX as a comment and seeing them as images, etc.

So, I started to create my 2-step project: a LaTeX-to-image website & plugin for my IDE. I've completed the first step of this project. I've created a website called https://pictotex.com/

I didn't return to this project due to things happening in my life, but today I just checked my CloudFlare account to see what is going on and I was surprised because I'm receiving 50-60 unique visitors daily. This is very "unique" for me.

I plan to add a few more features, like maybe creating a service to use "blang/latex" for better results.

I hope this website helps you, even in a small way.

I'd like to get your ideas & feedbacks.

Behind the scene is very simple:

NextJs, Supabase, Vercel




I tried with $x^2$ and got a bad output: https://tex.pics/9b36f95a

The correct format is just x^2 https://tex.pics/67a07589

Perhaps add like 5 samples to show some details.

It would be nice to see the formulas of the images. I guess most people don't care about the secret formulas. Perhaps add an opt-in option to share the LaTeX too.

Which packeges do you have? I tried \sout{hello} and it works, but I tried \cancel{hello} and it doesn't.

I also tried tikz, but I think TikZ is used outside formulas, so it does not apply.


Hey, thanks for the comment. I'm using KaTeX, which has its drawbacks but is working well in most cases.

Handling everything without backend necessity made me use KaTex, but I plan to create a better-suited approach with "blang/latex". On my local tests "blang/latex" gave excellent results.

Yeah, giving an opt-in option to share LaTeX sounds good. I'll put this feature as well.




Consider applying for YC's Fall 2025 batch! Applications are open till Aug 4

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: