[Textures] No Textures Preview with MacOS Sierra

[Bruno Voisin]

> Le 14 janv. 2017 à 20:06, Uwe Schmock <schmock at fam.tuwien.ac.at> a écrit :
> 
> I am still using Textures occasionally due to its precise command-click feature (otherwise I use TeXShop). I recently shifted to a new MacBook Pro running MacOS Sierra (10.12.2). I managed to get Textures 2.2.0b19 running and typesetting a 150-page document (no complaints in the log window), however, all the typesetted pages are white and empty (the same applies to their "Save as PDF ..." versions). I am only using computer modern fonts. Command-click between TeX code and typeset window works, but is useless since the typesetted text is not displayed.
> 
> I used Textures 2.2.0b18 with MacOS 10.6.8 so far, so I might have missed a few Textures-critical changes in the operating system.
> 
> Any advice, suggestions or experience?

Like Walter Schreiner, I suspect your installation is missing the fonts. Which Textures 2.2.0b19 are you using? The one that works (ie doesn't look for an activation key) is:

- The unlocked Textures220b19.zip that was posted to this list 3.5 years ago

https://email.esm.psu.edu/pipermail/textures/2013-June/000122.html

The DropBox link doesn't work any longer of course. It needed additional Inputs.zip (the TeX/LaTeX files) and Fonts.zip (fonts and metrics).

- Or the repackaged version CarbonTextures.zip put together by Reinhard Diestel, that used to be available at theblueskytex.com and contained both the software and the font and input files.

In case you don't have them, I can send them to you off-list.

However, like Lawrence Paulson, I advise against investing any further time into Textures. It is all the more painful to write given the insane amount of time I had invested into it.

Basically, Textures died with its creator Barry Smith. There has been an attempt by Reinhard Diestel to bring the unfinished Cocoa Textures to completion, having obtained the source code from Barry's widow. Alas, the attempt proved unsuccessful, and the code unsalvageable.

On Sierra, my own Textures copy works erratically (sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't).

But more importantly, Textures cannot work with recent LaTeX packages, like those provided by journal editors. The built-in LaTeX format is too old to play nice with many current packages (most of which rely on specific features of pdfTeX, XeTeX or LuaTeX). And if you try to rebuild (dump in Textures' parlance) the LaTeX format based on its current sources, Textures will fail, most likely because the way hyphenation is implemented now (all in UTF-8), a way incompatible with Textures.

So again, I advise against devoting further time to Textures. TeXShop will fit most of your needs, Flash Mode aside. Texpad provides nice implementations of Flash Mode and Synchronicity, not as performing as those from Textures but quite sufficient for most needs. Both are also very actively developed.

Bruno Voisin