26.01.10: Software :: One input, Multiple Outputs
There are various document formats in use today: Microsoft Word (*.doc), Open Office (*.odf), Portable Document Format (*.pdf), XML, HTML, Docbook, Rich Text Format (*.rtf), Unix man pages, GNU N/T/ROFF, GNU Info, GNU Texi, etc. However, the best document format that exists, according to me, is LaTeX. It has been in use for several decades and has stood the test of time. Nothing can beat LaTeX (or TeX, in general) when it comes to typesetting Mathematics. In this post, I'll give examples of a software converters which accept LaTeX input and convert it to various other output formats. I call this as the principle of "one input, multiple output" -- write once and use it in whatever format you want ! As an example, head over to my Channel Estimation article, which was automatically converted from LaTeX to XHTML.
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I was googling for a way to put my LaTeX files on the web. I came across TeX4ht -- awesome ! It automatically converts LaTeX to several other formats:
- (X)HTML with images -- this is what I use for "math on web"
- XHTML with MathML
- Open Office's ODF (Open Document Format)
- MS Word
- Docbook format
- TEI - Text Encoding Initiative
Of course, I tried TtH, TtM, LaTeX2HTML and HEVEA; all of them didn't satisfy what I want. By default, my TeXLive (a LaTeX distribution) system can output the following formats:
- PDF (Portable Document Format)
- Postscript (*.ps, *.eps), suitable for printers
- DVI (Device Independent Format)
Still want more ? Try these
- LaTeX to RTF
- LA2MML, LaTeX to Adobe's FrameMaker format
- LaTeX to Unix man pages
There's a whole bunch of converters. Try this resource maintained by Wilfried Hennings.
If you want to write in LaTeX with a WYSIWYG-like interface, try LyX and TeXmacs. I use LyX on Windows and TeXmacs on Ubuntu.
Posted by: bdsatish Category: Software
