[Blindmath] LaTeX

[Jonathan Godfrey]

Shalini,

Choice of editor is mostly a personal one.

I've used TexEd, then WinEDT, then plain old notepad, my own editor written
in Python, TeXnicCenter and back to notepad.

Each has its advantages. On balance, I would recommend TexnicCenter to a
novice LaTeX user and have just done so for my new PhD student. Mywife has
also started learning LaTex but because she is using it for non-scientific
work she is using notepad for minor editing following use of her BrailleNote
for writng everything up.

If you choose TeXnicCenter, then you'll need to optimise it for use with
your screen reader. There is a specific option to set.

The editor is just one part of the installation though. You will need to
have the engine that converts the raw LaTeX document into the final document
for sighted readers. Most windows users work with MikTex and I've seen
recommendations that say to use version 2.8 and not the 2.9 that is
available. I've been waiting for this advice to be withdrawn. I can't see
any point in testing it eigher as 2.8 works well. Note also that the editor
that is installed with MikTex, called TexWorks does not work well with
screen readers. Many of our postgraduate students use this editor but each
time I open it (by mistake) I'm left without sound.

For those that are wondering why I use Notepad: Well its probably because my
typing is faster than my use of menus - most of the time. I also tend to use
batch files to process the files rather than the menus and hot keys. It's a
question of efficiency. For me that means some old school techniques. If I
was starting out with LaTeX today, I'm sure I'd work differently.

Jonathan
Btw: NZ 23, France 13 final score.

----Original Message-----
From: Blindmath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Shalini
Menon
Sent: Friday, 7 June 2013 11:11 p.m.
To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
Subject: [Blindmath] LaTeX

Hello!

I'm just about to get started with LaTeX, but I'm not sure which editor
would work best with Jaws. Is there anything else I would need to download
before creating a LaTeX document?

Thanks a lot,
Shalini

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