%%% ==================================================================== %%% @LaTeX3-article{ LaTeX3-VT16-01, %%% filename = "vt16d01.tex", %%% archived = "ctan:/tex-archive/info/ltx3pub/", %%% author = "Rolf Lindgren", %%% doc-group = "Volunteer task VT16", %%% title = "Preliminary report on {\LaTeX} style %%% options to be converted to {\LaTeX3}", %%% version = "1.02", %%% date = "02 April 1993", %%% time = "22:53:48 GMT", %%% status = "Public, contributed.", %%% author-email = "rolfl@ulrik.uio.no", %%% author-address = "", %%% abstract = "", %%% keywords = "", %%% project-address = "LaTeX3 Project \\ %%% c/o Dr. Chris Rowley \\ %%% The Open University \\ %%% Parsifal College \\ %%% Finchley Road \\ %%% London NW3 7BG, England, UK", %%% project-tel = "+44 171 794 0575", %%% project-FAX = "+44 171 433 6196", %%% project-email = "LTX3-Mgr@SHSU.edu", %%% copyright = "Copyright (C) 1993 LaTeX3 Project %%% and Rolf Lindgren. %%% All rights reserved. %%% %%% Permission is granted to make and distribute %%% verbatim copies of this publication or of %%% coherent parts from this publication provided %%% this copyright notice and this permission %%% notice are preserved on all copies. %%% %%% Permission is granted to copy and distribute %%% translations of this publication or of %%% individual items from this publication into %%% another language provided that the translation %%% is approved by the original copyright holders. %%% %%% No other permissions to copy or distribute this %%% publication in any form are granted and in %%% particular no permission to copy parts of it %%% in such a way as to materially change its %%% meaning.", %%% generalinfo = "To subscribe to the LaTeX3 discussion list: %%% %%% Send mail to listserv@vm.urz.uni-heidelberg.de %%% with the following line as the body of the %%% message (substituting your own name): %%% %%% subscribe LaTeX-L First-name Surname %%% %%% To find out about volunteer work: %%% %%% look at the document vol-task.tex which can %%% be obtained electronically, see below. %%% %%% To retrieve project publications electronically: %%% %%% Project publications are available for %%% retrieval by anonymous ftp from ctan hosts: %%% ftp.tex.ac.uk %%% ftp.dante.de %%% ftp.shsu.edu %%% in the directory /tex-archive/info/ltx3pub. %%% %%% The file ltx3pub.bib in that directory gives %%% full bibliographical information including %%% abstracts in BibTeX format. 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This is produced by Robert %%% Solovay's checksum utility.", %%% } %%% ==================================================================== %%% %%% Here's status on the LaTeX 2.09 -> LaTeX 3.0 options %%% maintainance questionnaire. %%% %%% %%% \documentstyle{l3ms001} \def\beginQ{% \begin{center} \begin{tabular}{p{4.5cm}p{4.5cm}}} \def\endQ{% \end{tabular} \end{center}} \date{02 April 1993 \\ Version 1.02} \author{Rolf Lindgren} \title{Preliminary report on \LaTeX{} style options\thanks{The notion ``style option'' to be elaborated upon shortly} to be converted to \LaTeX{} 3} \begin{document} \maketitle \section{Preface} During a discussion on the LATEX-L mailing list, devoted to the \LaTeX{} 3 project, a discussion arose as to what level of compitibility to maintain between \LaTeX{} 2.09 and \LaTeX{} 3. In a nutshell, there will not be perfect compatibility. Therefore, the most important macro packages will have to be translated. I was volunteered ({\em sic!\/}) by Frank Mittelbach and others to find out which macro packages should be converted to LaTeX{} 3. A questionnaire that addresses this issue has been created, and has been tested on a German \TeX{} user's group. I will address each item in turn, then outline the conclusions I have drawn, and finally outline the new and improved questiuonnaire. \section{The pretest}. The pretest consists of six items, some with open-ended, others with close-ended questions. $N=36$. \subsection{Question 1} \beginQ What are the most common uses of \LaTeX{} at your installatin? & Welches sind die hauftigsten \LaTeX-Anwendungen auf Ihrer Installation ? \\ \endQ 1 had not answered 1 had misunderstood the question and believed we asked for \LaTeX{} options. Most had at least 4 uses. I do not elaborate on them, due to my lack of German. \LaTeX{} is being used for all conceivable purposes (and some inconceivaible, and a few that doesn't fall into either category). \section{Question 2} \beginQ Please name the ten most commonly used LaTeX style files in your installation. If you use locally modified versions, please state the name of the originals. & Bitte nennen Sie die zehn am haeufigsten benutzten LaTeX-Style-Files an Ihrer Installation. Wenn Sie lokal modifizierte Versionen benutzen, so nennen Sie bitte den Namen des Originals. \\ \endQ The most used options were \begin{tabular}{rlrl} 29& german & 3& titlepage\\ 29& article & 3& pictex \\ 19& letter & 3& parskip\\ 12& report & 3& multicol \\ 11& book & 3& fancyheadings\\ 9& refman & 3& epic \\ 8& twocolumn & 3& art11\\ 6& twoside & 2& verbatim \\ 7& supertab & 3& slides \\ 6& dina4 & 2& layout \\ 7& a4 & 2& expdlist \\ 5& supertabular & 2& eepic\\ 5& 12pt & 2& brief\\ 5& 11pt & 2& art12\\ 4& multicolumn& 2& art10\\ 4& epsf & 2& 10pt \\ 4& array\\ 2& bezier \\ \end{tabular} Options mentioned only once were: userman, torate, titelseiten, times, tgrind, texcmds, strukto, spanisch, rcs, quire, psfig, progtxt, progltx, prelim, popo, plotter, picture, nfss, names, myletter, multicols, merge, longtable, lgerman, latexinfo, koepfe, index, idverb, harideu, greek, glossary, germanb, fullpage, footnote, findex, emlines, eindex, dinbrief, dates, cyrilic, cropmark, chess, biblist, babel, avantgarde, aplweave, amstex, amsfonts, amsart, ams, a4letter, a4. \section{Question 3} \beginQ Do you use any local variants of the above style files? If so, please name the files and (briefly) how or why they are modified. & Bitte nennen Sie die zehn am haeufigsten benutzten LaTeX-Style-Files an Ihrer Installation. Wenn Sie lokal modifizierte Versionen benutzen, so nennen Sie bitte den Namen des Originals. \\ \endQ 25 people answered; six of these used 4 or more. Just about half of these were Germanized versions of the standard document styles. \section{Question 4} \beginQ Please name the five LaTeX style files that you most recently used. & Bitte nennen Sie die fuenf LaTeX-Style-Files, die sie zuletzt benutzt haben \\ \endQ 33 had answered this. 20 had rated `german' as `almost always'\dots. The differentiation into `almost always'\dots`hardly ever' was hoping to aid memory. A few options were added to quesiton 2's list, but no `new' options added ut to two or more. \subsection{Question 5} \beginQ Please name five LaTeX style files that are particularly important to you, even if you do not use them a lot: & Bitte nennen Sie fuenf LaTeX-Style-Files, die fuer Sie besonders wichtig sind, auch wenn Sie sie nicht oft benutzen: \\ \endQ Little-used options (as per question 2) that now were given more prominence are: fancyheadings, bezier, proc, epic, two/multicolumn, rcs, idverb, biblist. \subsection{Question 6} \beginQ What types of styles (document or option) currently not available would improve the usage of LaTeX at your site: & welche Arten von Styles (document style oder Option), die es zur Zeit nicht gibt, wuerden die Nutzungsmoeglichkeiten von LaTeX an Ihrer Installation verbessern: \\ \endQ I will not delve into this, because my German is not sufficient for deciphering handwriting. If I {\em have to\/} analyze this in a final test, I will have to appoint somebody as translator. \section{Discussion} I feel (others can dispute this) that {\em users\/} categiorize options into three: \begin{itemize} \item Documentstyles (such as report, book, article) \item Modifications of documentstyles (such as sober, layout, refman) \item Added functionality (multicolumn, tabular) \end{itemize} I don't think macros for modifying documentstyles should have to be translated: Customizing the documentstyles (or bulding your own) should be made {\em much easier\/}: If not, people will convert to WordPerfect et el. Claiming that this will lead to chaos and typesetting anarchy is plain arrogance: the new \LaTeX{}book should give design hints. Some users wanted a facility for interactice placement of graphics. As a compromise, the new \LaTeX{}book should carry an explanation as to the fact that \LaTeX should have to do the floating, and the power of figure and table environments, along with the use of `{\tt ref}' and `{\tt label}', should be made more explicit. \LaTeX{} 3 should incorporate tables that continue along pages, a multicolumn environment. {\em Everybodey\/} used either {\tt german.sty} or had hacked German words into the standard document styles. These should be made obsolete by a standard naming convention: E.g., {\em All\/} text-producing commands should be converted to {\tt\verb+\+the} {\tt <} {\em english text\/} {\tt >} {\tt name}, such as {\verb+\+\tt thechaptername} or {\verb+\+\tt thelistoffiguresname}. I think it might be confusing that in part of the questionnaire, we ask for a particluar installation, in other parts for the repsondents personal experience/opinion. I think we should state: \begin{itemize} \item We want to know about *your* use and *your* opinions. \item We want to know about *your* use of options that are *not* mentioned in the \LaTeX{}book. The options mentioned in the \LaTeX{}book will be taken care of. \item By {\em options\/}, we mean *both* \verb+{+document styles\verb+}+ and \verb+[+options\verb+]+. \end{itemize} A *new and improved* questionnaire will be figured out shortly, pending your comments. \end{document}