Another question: do beginners need an editor with LaTeX support? I don't
think
it is wise to recommend a "large", complex editor like TeXnicCenter or Vim
to
newcomers. Most good programming books take care not to overwhelm newbies
with
complicated editors or IDEs.
Maybe it would be easiest to start with plain Notepad. If they start
writing
longer documents, they can still switch to a more elaborate editor.
For those who come to (Xe)(La)TeX without a programming background, I think
a TeX- specific editor such as TeXworks is very helpful. Most importantly,
it offers an easy way to compile the document and see the resultant PDF.
Asking beginners to fire up a command line and then open a separate program
to view the result is confusing to many since it is so different from the
word processors they are used to. And such an editor can provide other
kinds of help too, with the syntax etc.
How about TeXworks?
I use it all the time and recommend it highly. The two-window issue isn't
really a problem, at least in my mind. If there are official Windows
policies about such things -- well, rules are made to broken sometimes for
good reason. Having the source and result side by side seems like such a
case. Not to mention the fact that there is no alternative yet for
Xe(La)TeX users, except a plain text editor.
I know that TeXniccenter does not support Unicode. (This is what lshort
recommends)
They've got a Unicode version under development, but it's still in the alpha
stage.
TeXmaker supports Unicode, but knows nothing about XeTeX!
As a relative newcomer to Xe(La)TeX, and proponent of Unicode and
multilingual computing for 15+ years, I was very surprised by the lack of
Unicode support in the TeX world. I think what lshort and other tutorials
need is a very clear and unbiased explanation of this situation. Something
along these lines:
What is Unicode? How is it different from traditional TeX?
Why has TeX been slow to adopt Unicode? (TeX is a standardized system
that predates Unicode; has good tools for math typsetting that meet the
needs of many users)
Who needs Unicode + TeX now? (multilingual users mostly, also those who
want a larger variety of fonts and OT/AAT support, and the ability to easily
interchange data with software outside the traditional TeX orbit; math users
probably don't, since Unicode math is still developing)
David
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