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LaTeX Related Information
This page provides links to tutorials and other information relating
to LaTeX, a format of the TeX typesetting language. Some of the
external links may also include information about other TeX formats.
If you have any
comments or suggestions relating to this page, you are welcome to contact me, but please don't
send me general TeX/LaTeX queries, instead try the links in the troubleshooting section. Please note that I am
not responsible for any pages whose URL does not start with http://theoval.cmp.uea.ac.uk/~nlct/.
This page has been translated into Belorussian by Bohdan Zograf.
Contents
- LaTeX for Complete Novices. Nicola L. C. Talbot.
School of Computing Sciences, University of East Anglia.
Version 1.3, 15 Jan 2008.
This tutorial covers the very basics with exercises along the way to
get you started. It also provides links to related topics in the List of Frequently Asked Questions. The HTML version
uses bitmaps to display sample output. (All bitmaps have alternative
text or are linked to a page describing them in more detail.) If you
have problems viewing bitmaps, you may find it easier to download
one of the PDF versions instead. If you are partially sighted, you
may find the
on-line viewing PDF
easier to read. (It looks best in full screen mode, if your PDF
viewer has that function).
- HTML version.
(Designed for accessibility and browser independence. Download
one of the PDF versions if you prefer a more aesthetically pleasing
document.)
- A4 PDF version.
- on-line viewing PDF version.
- Solutions to the exercises.
- Source code (2.1M zip archive)
- Using LaTeX to Write a PhD Thesis.
Nicola L. C. Talbot.
School of Computing Sciences, University of East Anglia.
Version 1.2, 6 November 2007.
This document is aimed at PhD students who want to use LaTeX to
typeset their PhD thesis. It assumes some familiarity with LaTeX.
(See also Writing a Thesis in LaTeX: hints, tips and advice.)
The previous version of this tutorial was translated into Vietnamese by Thái Phú Khánh Ḥa
and is available in PDF either formatted in A4 or for on-line
viewing. Note that some information in that version is now
out-of-date.
- LaTeX for Administrative Work.
Nicola L. C. Talbot.
School of Computing Sciences, University of East Anglia.
11 Sept 2004.
This document is aimed at lecturers and administrative support staff
who need to use LaTeX to typeset exam papers, assignments,
correspondence etc. It assumes some familiarity with LaTeX.
- Creating a PDF Document using PDFLaTeX.
Nicola L. C. Talbot.
School of Computing Sciences, University of East Anglia.
17 July 2004.
This is a brief introduction to PDFLaTeX.
- Converting LaTeX .sty Style Files to LaTeX2HTML .perl Style Files.
Nicola L. C. Talbot.
School of Computing Sciences, University of East Anglia.
9 June 2004.
This document describes how to create LaTeX2HTML style files. It
assumes a familiarity with both LaTeX and Perl.
- Creating Technical Posters with LaTeX.
Nicola L. C. Talbot.
School of Computing Sciences, University of East Anglia.
23 January 2007.
This document describes how to create posters using LaTeX and the
flowfram package.
(See also JpgfDraw tutorials: a poster.)
- Creating a LaTeX minimal example.
Nicola L. C. Talbot.
School of Computing Sciences, University of East Anglia.
14 November 2008.
This document illustrates how to create a minimal (or minimum)
example, which can be used as a debugging aid when you encounter
errors in your LaTeX documents.
Please note that some of the above tutorials were written several years
ago to accompany my teaching
materials, and may therefore now be out
of date. For a list of obsolete packages and commands, see
Mark Trettin's l2tabu (PDF) document available from
CTAN.
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You can download class files and packages
written by me from this site. Some of the packages are also available
on CTAN, but you can find the
latest versions here. Class files and packages specific to UEA
now have their own separate page.
If you have a bug report regarding one of my LaTeX packages,
please check you are using the
latest version
as it may have been fixed, and also check the
list of frequently asked
questions and creating a minimal example.
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I have written some
LaTeX related free software,
that may be downloaded, but remember to read the relevant licence
before installing.
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You can search for TeX/LaTeX packages on
CTAN or, in the UK,
The UK TeX Archive
is closer. If you know the name of the package, you can obtain
information from the address
http://tug.ctan.org/pkg/package-name where
package-name is the name of the package. For example,
to find information on the glossaries package, go to
http://tug.ctan.org/pkg/glossaries. If you don't know
the exact name, you can browse
The TeX OnLine Catalogue or
The TeX OnLine Catalogue Topic Index
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- Helmut Kopka and Patrick W. Daly. A Guide to LaTeX.
Addison-Wesley.
- Michel Goossens, Frank Mittelbach and Alexander Samarin.
The LaTeX Companion. Addison-Wesley.
- Leslie Lamport. LaTeX: a Document Preparation System.
Addison-Wesley.
- Michel Goossens, Sebastian Rahtz and Frank Mittelbach.
The LaTeX Graphics Companion: Illustrating Documents with
TeX and PostScript. Addison-Wesley.
- Michel Goossens and Sebastian Rahtz with Eitan Gurari,
Ross Moore and Robert Sutor. The LaTeX Web Companion:
Integrating TeX, HTML and XML. Addison-Wesley.
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The easiest way of installing TeX is to install it from the TeX Live
DVD which is distributed to members of
TUG. However, TeX
distributions can also be downloaded from the internet.
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Format conversions
- TeX4ht
Converts LaTeX and TeX to HTML (as well as other formats.)
- TtH
Translates either plain TeX or LaTeX documents to HTML.
- LaTeX2HTML
Converts LaTeX documents to HTML (Perl script.)
- Hevea
Converts LaTeX to HTML (written in Objective Caml.)
- LaTeX2rtf
Converts (limited) LaTeX to RTF.
- pdftohtml
Converts PDF to HTML.
Bibliography management
- JabRef
Java application
- RefDB
Light weight portable application which can run on a variety of
platforms
- KBibTeX BibTeX editor for
KDE.
- xbibfile
written in C under Linux using the X Window System
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LaTeX graphics packages
Graphics applications
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If you want to post a query to any
newsgroup,
forum or
mailing list,
make sure you first read
How to ask a question.
Remember that you're more likely to get a prompt response if
you provide a
minimal example.
Some of the big packages (for example
pgf/tikz)
also have their own mailing lists or forums. If you look up the
package in the
TeX Catalogue,
it will provide a link to the package's home page, if one exists.
(However most packages don't have one.)
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LaTeX is great at producing good quality documents, but a well
typeset document isn't a guarantee that you will have instant
success in publishing it. If you are thinking of publishing, be
aware of the pitfalls.
- Travels in TeX Land: The post-typesetting phase of
producing a book In this article from The PracTeX Journal,
Dave Walden provides some useful advice on what to do once you
have typeset your book and are thinking about publishing it.
See also Dave Walden's Notes on Self-publishing.
- Self Publishing Group A forum for self-publishers.
- Self Publishing and Independent Publishing Trade Association In particular, read
their FAQ.
- If you're trying to submit a manuscript to a publisher or
literary agent, remember that most publishers and agents require
manuscripts in a certain format. This format usually includes
double-spacing, single-sided, single spaces between sentences
(
\frenchspacing), ragged right and wide margins so
you'll need to convert your nicely typeset document
into something that looks like it's been created on a typewriter.
The sffms class file is a good place to start.
See also Preditors and Editors and Writer Beware.
Books:
- Renni Browne and Dave King. Self-Editing for Fiction
Writes: How to Edit Yourself into Print. Collins 2004.
- Sandra Newman and Howard Mittelmark. How Not To Write
a Novel: 200 Mistakes to Avoid at all Costs if You Ever Want to
Get Published. Penguin 2009.
- Pat Walsh. 78 Reasons Why Your Book May Never be Published
and 14 Reasons Why it Just Might. Penguin 2005.
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Nicola L. C. Talbot.
School of Computing Sciences.
University of East Anglia.
Last Modified: 2010-02-23.
