[OS X TeX] preferred tool for presentations

[Herbert Schulz]

On Dec 19, 2006, at 1:47 AM, Oliver Buerschaper wrote:

>>> If you want to move away from tex-based tools, you may try Keynote.
>>> You can import latex math very easily by cut-and-paste from a pdf
>>> file.
>>
>> I'm surprised no one has recommended this yet.  Keynote is cheap,
>> exceedingly easy to use, and makes terrific presentations.  Using
>> TeXShop you can select  an equation from a PDF file and drag it
>> directly into your presentation (great for preparing a presentation
>> quickly from an existing paper) or use the excellent little app
>> LaTeXiT to render LaTeX math code into a little PDF graphic that you
>> can likewise drag into your presentation:
>
> Actually I wouldn't recommend this combination at all if you need  
> to typeset anything but simple formulas!
>
> True, you can always render the equations externally and then paste  
> them into Keynote but this has serious downsides:
>
> 1. alignment of these equations among themselves and with the rest  
> of the text is a nightmare
> 2. building up equations (or slides) step by step is next to  
> impossible without glyphs dancing about wildly
> 3. once you pasted an equation it's no longer editable
> ...

Howdy,

I agree with point 1. Alignment is a bit of a pain but using the  
arrow keys moves in small increments.

I've overcome point 2 by the liberal use of \phantom{} so that all  
spacing remains constant. The duplicating the slide, selecting the  
graphic and dragging the version without some phantoms makes the  
additions appear without changing any alignment.

Point 3 is not correct! I can drag the image back to LaTeXiT and re- 
edit the equation; LaTeXiT seems to embed the LaTeX code as a comment  
in the pdf file. Sigh... when LinkBack worked in Keynote 2 you could  
simply double click the equation and it would open in LaTeXiT for  
editing.

Good Luck,

Herb Schulz
(herbs at wideopenwest.com)



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