[OS X TeX] Re: List of feature requests on this list

[Ross Moore]

Hi Victor,

On 08/07/2008, at 9:58 AM, Victor Ivrii wrote:
>  Well, the real problem is (at least for a mathematician) the line
>
> Comparing equations (8.1), (7.9),(5.3) and (1.4),...
>
> With AR  or TS  etc you click on the link (8.1), select page area
> using corresponding tool:
>
> rectangle tool in TS and Skim  or snapshot tool  in AR (looks like

AR and Preview (TS) give you images this way, which need to be
pasted somewhere for comparison.

With Skim, just Cmd-click the link then hit its yellow
traffic-light. This minimizes it into the "Snapshot" side-bar.
Do this for each equation needing to be compared.
Then bring each one back up with a click, and adjust its window
size/shape/position (and magnification, if desired).
This allows an easier way to compare the equations.

The need to adjust window sizes is a step that it would be
nice to be able to eliminate, if possible.


Also, the term "Snapshot" is now being used in two different ways.
For Skim, a better term might be "Spyglass", or something else;
especially since the view is scrollable, so not really a snapshot
at all.

> photo camera; remember in AR you can customize toolbar), copy it (in
> TS you press Cmd-C, in AR it is done automatically), paste it as
> graphics in TextEdit (or any graphics editor) window, go to previous
> view (thus returning to the page you are reading) and repeat the
> procedure for each of equations. So you end-up with the TextEdit
> window containing all these equations and can actually compare them.
> Beside equations it could be theorems etc
>
> This is not extremely convenient but (1) it is far more convenient
> than for a printed paper where your snapshot tool is a pencil and a
> paper (2) Adobe' people think that they already provided us with all
> tools needed.
>
> I definitely believe that just going back-and-forth without copy-paste
> makes comparison rather superficial unless there are very few very
> short equations. This would be true and for another window displaying
> at any moment just one of the equations you want to compare.

Yes; but with Skim you can have many different windows,
opened and sized appropriately.

>
> Surely if you are the author you can always write: Comparing equations
> (\ref{A}), (\ref{B}),...
> \begin{equation}
> ...............
> \tag{\ref{A}}
> \end{equation}
> \begin{equation}
> ...............
> \tag{\ref{b}}
> \end{equation}
>
> but using this trick frequently would increase the number of pages
> with  grave consequences for printed article; even pdf article will be
> overburdened.

It should not be necessary to add extra images to the PDF, if that
is what you mean, since the information is already in the PDF...

>
>
> Luckily Ross demonstrated a solution in a different mailing list
> (works only in AR since only it understands Javascript). Hopefully he
> will make a package.

  ... which is one of the downsides of my solution, which
is not shared by Skim's "Snapshots".

>
> Right now beside of asking him 'pretty-pretty-please" one can achieve
> similar effect  but not as nice looking (and actually requiring some
> cumbersome work from the author) using fancytooltips package by Robert
> Marik. What is worse: with Ross solution viewers different from AR
> just follow the link, while with solution based on fancytooltips
> package it does not work

The 2nd downside of my solution is that you cannot choose between
the actions. My Javascript button screens the underlying hyperlink.
It is reliant on the browser to pass a click through when JS is
not activated.  AR and eVince (for Linux) do this correctly,
but Preview and Skim do not.


Thus it is really a matter of requesting the browser vendors
to implement all the methods that we researchers find useful;
preferably with a consistent interface for using them.

Having Skim doing some things differently to Preview and AR
is useful for showing Apple and Adobe what we'd like them
to be doing too.

>
> While this definitely is not endemic to MacOSX, I think that asking
> Ross for a really correct tool should be made in any occasion. I would
> prefer, however, if (say) control-clicking on link would actually
> follow it instead of pop-up (so the reader can chose between pop-uping
> and going).

Skim giving you the choice of "Click" and "Cmd-click" is a good
solution, IMHO.

>
> Victor


Cheers,

	Ross

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Ross Moore                                       ross at maths.mq.edu.au
Mathematics Department                           office: E7A-419
Macquarie University                             tel: +61 (0)2 9850 8955
Sydney, Australia  2109                          fax: +61 (0)2 9850 8114
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