[OS X TeX] TeXnicle

[Berend Hasselman]

On 23-06-2010, at 13:37, Herbert Schulz wrote:

> 
> On Jun 23, 2010, at 12:01 AM, Ramón Figueroa-Centeno wrote:
> 
>> 
>> Aloha,
>> 
>> I just stumbled upon this new editor for TeX on OS X:
>> 
>> http://web.me.com/martinhewitson/BOBsoft/TeXnicle.html
>> 
>> Enjoy!
>> 
>> Ramón
> 
> Howdy,
> 
> This looks interesting. Especially for folks that work on multi-file projects. Would some folks try it out and see if it works for them? Is it extensible (i.e., can you construct ``engines'' or ``tools'') does it do command completions (also can you add your own)?

I have had a quick look at TeXnicle.
You add your files one by one manually to a project.
For typesetting it uses latex or pdflatex directly; it will use bibtex and gives you the option of specifying how many times it should run pdflatex after running bibtex.  You specify this in the preferences.
It doesn't do makeindex out of the box.
I suppose you could use your own engine but TeXshop (and TextMate) to me at least are a lot nicer.

Don't know about command completions.
It does have  huds for symbols and snippets/clippings (you can add your own) and more: white lettering on a black background and quite transparent.
When called up, these are scattered rather haphazardly  across your desktop.

It has syntax colouring that struck me as slightly weird. Macros and arguments were red but in slightly different shades. Can be changed.

It can't compare with TextMate for editing. I couldn't find split window as in TeXshop.

I see no reason for abandoning TeXshop and/or Textmate.
Besides I need makeindex and always use latexmk.

It seems as if it always uses pdflatex. It uses Preview to view the pdf.

It doesn't do synctex which is a show stopper for me.

Bug: when I open an existing project and immediately quit, it seems to thing that something changed and asks me to save the project.

Needs a lot of work before it can serve as an alternative to TeXshop  and TextMate.

Berend