This might be of interest to people here? MIT wants to hire someone who knows some stuff about LaTeX.

careers.peopleclick.com/careerscp/client_mit/external/…

Hi @AdamLiter. How are you doing?

How do I post a MWE in a question? Is that just the source code or something else? One time I posted a source code from LyX and a commenter said it was not a MWE.

@TheSubstitute I guess you're referring to tex.stackexchange.com/questions/277262. An MWE should be a complete document, in LaTeX terms starting with \documentclass and ending with \end{document}. It should also be minimal, meaning that everything unrelated should be removed from the document, so that the error is easy to locate. There is a link in Scott's comment, that has some info specifically for LyX. See also meta.tex.stackexchange.com/q/228

@TorbjørnT. How will readers know what my errors are from the given document?

@AdamLiter latex and xslt hmm I should apply (although I know more about the latter than the former:-)

@TheSubstitute An MWE should reproduce the error, so ideally we should see the same. If we don't then you should post the .log file as well, which in LyX is found under Document --> LaTeX log.

@TorbjørnT. Which is preferred for the readers? Should I just post the text in the log file rather than the source code?

@TheSubstitute best is a short complete example (so people can test their answers) and the exact error from your log (so people know what error you are getting)

thanks!

@PauloCereda oh no I see you avoided our cunning plan to bar you from TeX activities.

What is $1+9x^2$ in $t$ if $t=3x$? Ummmm .... $t^2$?

@yo' ?

@DavidCarlisle first time teaching at a new school

@yo' that a sample answer?

@yo' Are you quoting your students?

@DavidCarlisle yep. That's what I got an answer.

@FaheemMitha yep.

@yo' I'm sure they'll grow up to be fine upstanding citizens.

@FaheemMitha probbly

@yo' it's true in the limit, so wait long enough, then mark it right

I did mention the extra LaTeX introduction, right? The beginners learnt some interesting things: You get chapters by using ` \section` and subchapters with \subsection. Except in books, where \chapter does chapters. In the preamble, the optional argument of a macro is always given before the mandatory; vice versa in the document, where the mandatory argument is always given before the optional argument. ...

@DavidCarlisle, you might be interested to know that you need to load package graphicx to have the figure environment available. Ah, and there is a little hack to get a bibliography: you need to click on BibTeX in texmaker, which is another way LaTeX uses cites.

@yo' Aaahh, latex-community.org/forum/…

@Johannes_B where?

@DavidCarlisle Our university. By people not known to the regulars.

@Johannes_B ah, so you can fix it then:-)

@DavidCarlisle I suggested him to send me the material beforehand so i can add a few notes and hints. He didn't.

@barbarabeeton Sorry for the delay, I will post an answer to tex.stackexchange.com/questions/233817/…

@AdamLiter, I respect your concern to members of this house.

@clemens \left( <das Einzuklammernde> )\right

@Johannes_B )\right ?

@clemens Wikibooks for the win.

@clemens I also found that you need graphicx to use figure

@Johannes_B oh boy…

@Johannes_B <- @clemens

@Johannes_B so what did you do? Raise your hand “Entschuldigung, aber so stimmt das nicht ganz…”

@clemens I waited and told him afterwards. The presentation lasted for two hours, if i would have started arguing ...

@clemens Also, it is a bit weird to say to a guy: Samma, hast du überhaupt keine Ahnung? And now haviing read the one wikibook page, i feel sympathy for him and all others reading that.

@Johannes_B probably for the best. I'd have done the same (I think)

@clemens Well, there was a moment when i nearly got up and shouted. Instead i felt my pulse and tried to keep calm. Seldomly had such a speedy pulse.

@clemens Thoughts on that? de.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX-Kompendium:_Chemie

I suggest to change the shown input to chemformula and leave the low level math to get a similar output, nobody will notice (hopefully)

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{chemformula}
\usepackage{parskip}
\begin{document}
\ch{C6H12O6 + 6 O2 -> 6 CO2 + 6 H2O}\par
\ch{AB + C ->[$\Delta T$] A + BC}\par
\ch{AB + C ->[$\Delta T$][{[Kat]}] A + BC}\par
\ch{CH3-COOH + CH3-OH -> CH3-C(=O)-O-CH3 + H2O}
\end{document}

@Johannes_B that is completely outdated IMHO. That's what I had done before mhchem existed…

@Johannes_B It might be that mhchem works… there is a MathJax plugin IIRC.

@clemens So, a few examples using mhchem?

@UlrikeFischer (as most likely person to know) do we have a generic 'you need to update MiKTeX in both modes' question to dupe tex.stackexchange.com/questions/277441 to?

@Johannes_B only if it works. Either way both mhchem and chemformula should be at least mentioned at the very beginning

@clemens I started already.

@Johannes_B :)

@JosephWright Well I nowadays use (and extend if I think something is missing) my answer here: tex.stackexchange.com/questions/108447/…

@UlrikeFischer Great: I'll add that to the 'FAQ' list in meta

@JosephWright Where is the FAQ list? I can't find it.

I have it on my favourites for meta for duping purposes

@JosephWright Just found it (I was looking for FAQ instead of "big list")

@UlrikeFischer :-)

@UlrikeFischer You might add 'If you are the only user on your machine, install in single user mode' ;-)

@JosephWright Well the answer is about maintenance and assumes that miktex is already installed -- so it is too late to give an advice about the installation. The "how to install answer" is here tex.stackexchange.com/questions/29616/…

@clemens @UlrikeFischer @StefanKottwitz That LaTeX wikibook is ... bad. I am thinking of raising that on the Dante list and tex-d-l and ask people for help. If we get a team of maybe 10 people that invest about an hour per week, i think we can improve the wikiboook quite a bit. But then, much of the content is just translated from the original english version, which is similarly bad. Any thoughts?

@Johannes_B Close down both the original site and the translation? The English version has so many errors that it's difficult to say if it has something right.

@egreg To be honest, my first choice as well. But i doubt that will be unnoticed.

@egreg The proper way would be to trash the whole thing and start from scartch. Or trash the whole thing and invest time in the TeX-FAQ and other official resources of TUG and DANTE.

@Johannes_B Just look at the section about introductory material en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/… It says do do

\chapter*{Introduction}
\markboth{\MakeUppercase{Introduction}}{}
\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{Introduction}

Of course, \chapter{Introduction} would be a bit easier, if done in the \frontmatter (which is the only sensible thing to do if the introduction is not numbered).

And the second argument to \markboth should be filled in, otherwise, unless we know that the introduction has sections (but they would be numbered wrongly, and so on).

@Johannes_B I just registered (my plan: work on the chemistry stuff and once that's sorted – I don't know, yet). Is there a FAQ somewhere how to proceed when editing a wiki?

@egreg I'll change.

@clemens Yes, i think so. There are templates too that you can use for markup. But the german and the english wikibook differ. Just change what you think needs changing, if somebody is bugged by it, we will notice.

@Johannes_B You mean the German version?

@StefanKottwitz Any version

@egreg The macro further down is cool, though.

most useful macro in world</russianAccent>

@Johannes_B Which one to start?

@Johannes_B In my template, there would be no Roman numbers for the frontmatter, just continuous numbering from one on.

@Johannes_B Not really.

@Johannes_B Maybe which one starting depends on supporters, if German or international

@egreg only sensible thing these days.

Does anyone by chance know why titlesec causes this behavior with wrapfig? If you comment out titlesec in the following MWE, everything works out nicely.

@Johannes_B And when I'll be the ruler of the world, I'll not allow using two different numbering systems in a document.

% arara: pdflatex
\documentclass[11pt]{article}

\usepackage{titlesec}

\usepackage[margin=1in]{geometry}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{wrapfig}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{parskip}

\begin{document}

\section{first section}

\lipsum[1-5]

\begin{wrapfigure}{L}{0.5\textwidth}
\includegraphics[width=0.5\textwidth]{example-image-a}
\caption{Title for fig 1.}
\end{wrapfigure}

\lipsum[4]

\section{second section}

\lipsum[2-8]

\end{document}

@StefanKottwitz Honestly, i would rather unplug a wiki-server than bug-fix that things. It's really not worth it, but something needs to be done.

@Johannes_B <- @Stefan

@Johannes_B ok, will do :)

actually I already changed the discription on the front page

@egreg dunno how to change that, i.e. where do i start?

@Johannes_B de.wikibooks.org/wiki/Diskussion:LaTeX-Kompendium:_Chemie

@clemens I forgot how to get the timestamp---4 of them tildes :-)

@Johannes_B apparently: ~~~~

@egreg -- i too would like to see the english wikibook made correct and useful. but my attempt to edit something was rudely rebuffed. if someone knows who is responsible for the content, maybe peer pressure can be brought to bear ...

@barbarabeeton Your name alone should be worth a crowd of a dozen people.

@egreg -- afraid you'll have a significant pushback from the traditionalists at ams. granted, the method of access in a pdf file needs to be worked out, since it's really both bad and confusing, but i think it's sortable.

@Johannes_B -- but i've never managed to successfully register to be able to update. i'm just assuming that the folks managing the wiki have never heard of tugboat. (if they had, they should know (la)tex better than they let on.)

@barbarabeeton How far in the past was that?

@barbarabeeton do you know who coined the term topmatter?

@Johannes_B -- maybe six months ago, when i finally got disgusted with the quality of the information posted there.

@Johannes_B -- it's quite traditional, i think, but i'm due in a meeting. i'll look it up later.

@barbarabeeton If its common, i am ok with it. Thanks :-)

@egreg Oh, look hat i found: en.wikibooks.org/wiki/TeX

@Johannes_B If started – I wonder when the first will complain about the radical changes :)

@clemens I really don't care anymore. Sometimes you just need to be drastic and get the chainsaw out.

@barbarabeeton Karl tells me you've not come across the \romannumeral trick!

@Johannes_B me neither. Either I am allowed to make my changes or I will warn to use the Wikibook everywhere I can :)

@clemens The english one is featured and advertised.

@Johannes_B on TeX.sx?

@clemens no. Wikibooks, one mom, i'll look.

@clemens en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/How_to_get_help

@clemens main page, the banner en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX

@Johannes_B o.O OK, then it really should be improved. Too bad they don't recognize experts reading what @barbarabeeton experienced

@clemens Raise on texhax? and tex-d-l and several blog posts?

brothers everywhere, raise your hands into the air, we're warriors, warriors of the world

@Paulo 700 Teensies saved!

@JosephWright -- it's true! (or if i did, the memory has slipped away.) anyhow, the appearance of this little piece of code is intriguing, and if you are willing, a description of how it works would be a very interesting tidbit for tugboat.

@barbarabeeton As I said to Karl, I have some stuff in my blog and will flesh it out. In particular, I posted something here ages ago about using the trick recursively (I'll track it down). I think a couple of pages for TUGboat

@Johannes_B -- that would be a mercy. i haven't anything kind to say about the actual thing, although in concept, it's a good idea. (i absolutely refuse to mention it on the ams tex web pages. "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.")

@JosephWright -- yes, thanks! i expect to enjoy reading it.

@barbarabeeton So, is that a yes? Ask other members to improve the wikibook?

@Johannes_B -- if they can get their edits approved, sure. but before they're applied, someone with some sense of best practices really ought to vet them.

@Johannes_B That's really neat :) At least that has the potential to be 'stable and correct' at some point in the future!

@barbarabeeton I still don't know how all this wiki stuff is dealt with. To my understanding, one can apply for super, meaning one can review and accept changes. Someone on the other site should be able to figure out who an avatar is in real life. if not, we still have torches and the like to burn the thing to the ground.

@SeanAllred :-) One for @egreg's pleasure

Another issue: The freaking template i am now associated with: There are non babel name strings. Collect them and get them on CTAN to keep the template clean ... or? I am really confused.

@Johannes_B if it's a specialist template that would be ok as long as they follow the \zzzzname convention and some documentation tells how to add then the the babel language extras thing for your chosen language.

@DavidCarlisle feels like painting a Shroedinger's wall. Might be there, might not be there.

@DavidCarlisle Right now: vv

\newcommand{\abbrevname}{List of Abbreviations}
\providecaptionname{english,british,american}{\abbrevname}{List of Abbreviations}
\providecaptionname{ngerman,german,austrian,naustrian}{\abbrevname}{Abk\"urzungsverzeichnis}