PreTeXt

The PreTeXt Guide

The PreTeXt Guide is the very best place to learn about the PreTeXt vocabulary and the associated project and community. It contains a basic introduction and parts for authors, publishers and developers, in addition to a reference section of common constructions.

Quick Start

If you are very impatient, there are minimal instructions at the Quickstart page.

Démarrer avec PreTeXt est un guide de démarrage rapide en Français pour Mac et Windows.

Quick Reference

“quickrefs” are short collections of reminders and examples to consult for details of constructions you’ve forgotten how to do exactly. They are meant to be printed onto a single sheet of paper (possibly two-sided).

Video Quick Starts

Or, see the videos, courtesy of Karl-Dieter Crisman in the Getting Started Videos section at the bottom of this page. For Linux/SageMathCloud, Mac, and Windows, these will take you from zero, to completing your first project, in under 30 minutes.

Sample Article

While the PreTeXt Guide is evolving, the sample article tries to contain one example of everything, along with some commentary about use. So it can be used for testing and as a substitute for real documentation. But it is kept up-to-date so is always an accurate reflection of current behavior. So while it can look like a real mess, you can still learn from it.

Look for the regularly updated sample article in the middle of the Examples page next door. You will see both HTML and PDF output there, along with a link to the source. And look for a special version of the online output that is annotated with pieces of the PreTeXt source. Of course, there is a copy of the source in the PreTeXt distribution in the examples/sample-article directory.

Showcase Article

Strictly speaking, ths is not documentation, but if you like working off examples, it could be useful.

Look for the regularly updated Showcase Article in the middle of the Examples page next door. You will see both HTML and PDF output there, along with a link to the source. Of course, there is a copy of the source in the PreTeXt distribution in the examples/showcase directory.

RELAX-NG Schema

A RELAX-NG Schema is a formal specification of the tags and attributes of an XML vocabulary, and the relationships among them. So this is the very heart of PreTeXt, as everything else begins here. You can read the documented version, find various versions in the schema directory, or use the convenient online browsing interface listed third below.

Git for Authors, by Rob Beezer and David Farmer

Writing a book without revision control is like driving a car without a seatbelt. When something bad happens, the damage will be lessened. And more importantly and positively, git allows anyone to easily contribute suggestions or corrections to your writing, if you host your source on GitHub.

The power of git comes with a steep learning curve. We hope this book helps, and especially since it is illustrated with examples that will make sense to authors, and stays away from the aspects of git designed specifically for writing software. Of course, PreTeXt source works well within git, by design.

Hosted on GitHub, naturally. Send us a pull request.