[OS X TeX] Outlining ersatz

[Alain Schremmer]

First, let me thank you for a very comprehensive response.

1. Until now, "the book" being still under 200 pages, I had put off 
learning how to split it into chapters. But I am getting there and I 
think that you have just spared me a dive into the Companion 2ed and I 
will implement the change you outline within a few days.

2. Last summer, I tried Lyx but I had a feeling that it would not be 
considered transparent enough for a GPL. Plus, in any case, I just did 
not like it. While I am bemused by, judging by this list, all that seems 
to be going on, for the forseeable future I will remain firmly attached 
to TeXshop 1.35e out of the box. There are things that I would like, 
like Control click to make disjoint selections, and a few other things 
like that, but, otherwise, I now feel quite comfortable and can 
concentrate on writing the book.

3. Nevertheless, I looked up Leo (I run 10.3.7 and couldn't care less 
how things work on Wintel) but what I saw confirmed my worst fears. For 
instance, on CSharpener, I read "I rate Leo 
<http://webpages.charter.net/edreamleo/front.html> as a “must have” for 
Python <http://www.python.org/> programmers." Etc. Nevertheless, I 
downloaded 4.1 final and clicked on the install file. It seemed that it 
requires using the terminal and I aborted the mission. So, I will pass, 
at least for the time being.

4. Just to make sure, I understand from what you said that "automating" 
my current way of "outlining" is hopeless but that, should I split the 
book, it would be feasible. However, if I can readily see that working 
on a particular chapter is easy,

I do not see how to change the order of the chapters—which is what my 
"ersatz outliner" and my query were about—unless it means that I would 
just have to rename the files?

Also, I will indeed need to be able to move sections around and I notice 
that you are using
\input{sectionfoo}
as opposed to
\include{chapterfoo}


In any case, thanks again.
Regards
--schremmer




William F. Adams wrote:

> On Dec 26, 2004, at 7:40 PM, Alain Schremmer wrote:
>
>> But, if so, I would of course appreciate any hint about how to 
>> proceed and/or where to learn what I surely need to.
>
>
> A person should _never_ type a number which a computer can calculate 
> for them.
>
> Far better to set up:
>
> %%%% mybook.tex %%%
> \documentclass{memoir}
> %this is the main file w/ the compleat preamble &c.
> %
> %
> %\includeonly{frontmatter}
> %\includeonly{introduction}
> %\includeonly{beginnings}
> %\includeonly{thoughts}
> %\includeonly{conclusion}
> %\includeonly{appendices}
> %
> %
> \begin{document}
> \frontmatter
> \include{frontmatter}
> \mainmatter
> \include{introduction}
> \include{beginnings}
> \include{thoughts}
> \include{conclusion}
> \appendix
> \include{appendices}
> \end{document}
>
> and keep each chapter in its own file (so one would need files 
> frontmatter.tex, introduction.tex, &c.).
>
> If you really must, you can use \input{sectionfoo} for sections in 
> each chapter.
>
> To work on a specific chapter then one need merely uncomment one of 
> the \includeonly lines (or you can have just one and retype the one 
> you need when you need it --- I'm lazy). I then make a folder which 
> has aliases for each of the afore-mentioned files w/ comments and 
> sorted on comments so that they appear in the correct order and use 
> that as a palette-like window to access the desired file by 
> double-clicking.
>
> Or you could use LyX which'll manage this sort of thing pretty 
> automatically, or you could get an editor which supports ``folding'' 
> which is probably closer to what you wanted originally. Is there a 
> good one for Mac OS X which is free? I've tried Leo (Literate Editor 
> with Outlines) but it didn't work well in Windows.... (but what does).
>
> William
>
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