Overview
I've recently been examining a number of text editors for writing LaTeX documents in a Windows Environment. These include TeXnicCenter (v1.0), Texlipse for Eclipse, and Notepad++. I read a discussion on Stack Overflow discussing the Best LaTeX editor for Windows. Each editor that I tried had good features. Each was free. However, as I tried to get the configuration I wanted, I frequently felt that I was having to implement a lot of custom configurations. Also, while these programs had many great features, there were always features missing. I did not feel that I would be truly comfortable working with these editors for extended periods of time on complex documents.As a side point, Emacs/Xemacs and Vi/vim are also meant to be very good for editing LaTeX documents. I think the text editing shortcut keys in these programs are superior to those on Windows. In particular, I would like to never have to let my fingers leave the home keys in order to edit text. I can also see the benefit of having a single text editor that you use for all programming, emailing, and document creation tasks. It's also great to have an open source text editor supported by a huge community of technical users. However, the shortcut keys used in these programs are completely different to those used in other Windows programs. When working with both Windows programs and editors like Emacs, there is a negative transfer which disrupts automaticity. Thus, until I'm willing to adopt Linux, I'm not inclined to learn these editors.
In particular I wanted usability. I wanted to be able to navigate my document comfortably. I wanted the display to reinforce the document structure. I wanted the program to support my workflow organising my task related comments. I wanted to be able to easily compile and debug my LaTeX source in a comfortable way. I wanted intelligent defaults with the option to customise if a default annoyed me. I wanted the program to have thought about usability issues that I hadn't thought about.
I'm currently using WinEdt 6.0. It looks like it will be the editor for me. It has been designed with someone like me in the mind: A researcher who wants to write technical documents. It's not free, but it's not expensive.
Features that I like
In particular there were several Features in WinEdt that I liked at first glance:- Tree View can be customised
- Automatically display your current location in TOC
- Colour coding that aids usability
- Intelligent defaults
- Options to customise almost anything
- Easy configuration interface with MikTeX
- One click build process for LaTeX documents
- Intuitive default shortcut keys and intuitive alt menu letters
- Ctrl+Up and Ctrl+Down navigates between paragraphs.
Configuration
The following sets out a few alterations to the default WinEdt 6.0 configuration that I have found useful.Configuring Inverse Search with Yap
WinEdt includes documentation on how to configure Inverse search in Yap.Configuring with JabRef
In JabRef, I changed the following:Preferences - External Programs - WinEdt: I had to change the default file location.
Once this was set, Ctrl+L sends the selected citation to WinEdt and returns focus to WinEdt.
Changing Settings
The method of changing settings in WinEdt 6.0 differs from most Windows programs. The configuration is based on a large number of *.ini files. Ini files are arranged categorically.To make changes:
(1) edit the ini file,
(2) save the ini file, and
(3) then click the "load current script" button.
The options are reasonably self-documenting. In particular:
0 = No or Off or False
1 = Yes or On or True
You can backup and restore your settings. This is particularly useful if you corrupt your ini files.
Spelling
I needed to customise Australian spelling. This meant enabling a number of dictionaries (e.g., "colour", "ise", "yse", "centre") and disabling the corresponding American spellings.Dual Monitor Issues
Some dialog boxes default to the top-left of the primary monitor (e.g., Forward Search, spelling). I have a dual monitor setup where the main monitor I work on is the secondary monitor. My Start Menu is displayed vertically from top-left to bottom-left of my primary monitor. When several dialog boxes display, they are obscured by the Start Menu. I still have not resolved this issue for several dialog boxes. However, for some dialog boxes, settings like the following work:Incremental Search: LOCKED_POSITION=0
Word Wrapping
Word wrapping is an important topic. It's also a matter of personal preference. WinEdt provides many options for word wrapping. Wrapping can be turned off and on each document by clicking on the status bar. I'm still thinking about the best configuration for this.A freedom of writing in HTML and LaTeX is that you can arrange you have greater freedom in how text is arranged on the page. The following command does a reasonable job of creating new lines at the end of each sentence. Find: "[.] " Replace: ".<" Regular Expressions enabled
Disable Sound Effects
I work in an office. Thus, dings and dongs are unwanted.Sound Effects: DISABLE_SOUND_EFFECTS=1
Auto Saving
My main aim was to customise the setting to ensure frequent auto-saving (e.g., at least every 5 minutes). I like my backup files in a separate folder as opposed to cluttering the primary folder.backup.ini
BACKUP_FILENAME="c:\temp\%n%t.bak"
AutoSave.ini
AUTO_SAVE_FILENAME="c:\temp\%n%t.sav"
Error Processing in LaTeX
When in draft stages of preparing large document, I find warnings related to "overfull and underfull boxes" to be distracting. Thus, I disabled their bookmarked Inclusion in the Error log. They are still shown in the log, but clicking "Next" or "Previous" does not go to them.
TYPE="Type II: ?...<From>--<To>"
WARNING=0
ENABLED=0
FILTER="TeX"
TRIGGER="Overfull \"
TRIGGER="Underfull \"
Fonts and such
I modified the display of HTML (Font Schemes - Fonts.ini). I prefer a fixed-width font for writing HTML, such as "Courier New". I also modified the TAB_LENGTH to 4 instead of 8.FONT_SCHEME="HTML Documents" MODE="HTML|HHC;XWE" USE_IN_DIALOGS=1 // Use in Spelling or Complete Dialogs... FONT_NAME="Courier New" FONT_SIZE=10 FONT_BOLD=0 FONT_ITALIC=0 FONT_CHARSET=1 EXTRA_LINE_SPACING=1 EXTRA_CHAR_SPACING=0 TAB_LENGTH=4 TAB_OPT_LEADING=0 TAB_OPT_NON_LEADING=0 FREE_CARET=0
Display
As far as I can tell, all the standard toolbar buttons are available through menus. And the combination of the Alt Key and appropriate keyboard accelerators is quicker than using the mouse. Thus, I right clicked around the toolbars to hide toolbars. This has the benefit of creating additional space to view text.Getting Things Done
Getting a sense of Context
The importance of context When working with large documents it is important to have a sense of context. I want to know where I am in the hierarchical structure of a document. In projects with multiple files, I want to know which file I am in.The following two commands are great for providing context:
Project - Auto-Select TOC Branch
Project - Auto-Select Tree Files
Navigation within Document
Basic Cursor Movement
Between ParagraphsCtrl+Up and Ctrl+Down: Move cursor between paragraphs (a nice feature for a coding editor).
Standard Windows Editing Keys
Most standard text editing keys work like you would expect, if you have grown up in a Windows world. e.g., Ctrl+Delete; Ctrl+Backspace; PageUp; PageDown; Ctrl+Left; Ctrl+RightTree View
Tree View provides: Files, TOC, Bibliography, and Labels The mouse can be used to select objects (note my frustration at the absence of keyboard navigation). There's also a slight problem with keeping the tree current (particularly the TOC). It can be manually refreshed by:(a) clicking the "Build Tree" button; or
(b) opening the main file of the project, which in a single file project should already be opened, and selecting Project - Set Main File (Alt, p, e)
Navigating Between Files
Open File
Ctrl+O Brings Up an Open File Box. It tends to be in the folder of the main project file. The file name of the tex file can then be entered.Next and Previous Window
Ctrl+Comma and Ctrl+Shift+Comma move to the next or previous open document based on the order of the tabs (tab-order). This is in contrast to MDI-order which is based on the order that the windows have bene last accessed. When opening a document, the new tab is added after the tab for the current open document. Tabs can be rearranged using drag and drop. By opening a set of documents for a project in a particular order (e.g., main, preamble, chapter1, chapter2, chapter3, etc.) the tab-order shortcut keys can be used to navigate through the files that make up the sections of your document. The tree view also provides a tool to open and close all files in a project or at a given heading level.Open Input and include documents
Double click on aninput or include command to go to
the file referenced by the command.
Double clicking hyperlinks in HTML files open the link in the default web browser.
Global Mark and Global Return
Ctrl+F10 sets a mark in an open document. Ctrl+Shift+F10 returns the cursor to this mark. This works even if you are working in a document other than the marked document. Thus, it is useful when editing multiple documents.Bookmarks
The "Search - Bookmarks" sub-menu lists a number of options for working with bookmarks. They appear to be only effective within a file. If you want to use bookmarks to navigate between files, you need to use the Global Mark option. Up to 9 separate bookmarks can be set using Ctrl+Shift+1, Ctrl+Shift+2, etc to set the bookmark, and Ctrl+1, Ctrl+2, etc to go to the bookmark.When should you use bookmarks? If you are writing at line X, but need to check something in line Y:
(1) bookmark line X, Ctrl+Shift+1
(2) go to line Y,
(3) bookmark line Y Ctrl+Shift+2
(4) check whatever you wanted to check in line Y
(5) return to line X, Ctrl+1
If you then need to check line Y again, Ctrl+2 Macros for navigation I would like to be able to navigate the outline in the Tree View using keyboard short cuts. It seems that the macro language might be the best course of action. Tree and Gather Macro Interfaces are provided. Scroll Lock Navigation In "editor.ini", the following setting turns the cursor keys into a tool to navigate when Scroll Lock is activated.
ENABLE_SCROLL_LOCK_KEY=1
Customised Tree View
Paragraph descriptions in Outline
When I write LaTeX documents, I often write what I call paragraph descriptions above each paragraph. Paragraph descriptions are typically less than the length of a line and state summarise the contents of the paragraph. They are useful for highlighting and checking the structural flow of a document. I incorporate them in latex using a custom command that does not print in the PDF. The syntax that I use for the command is\pd{Text describing title}
A particular appealing feature of WinEdt is that these paragraph descriptions
can be added to the Table of Contents Outline.
To enable this I Added the following option.
It is a copy of the "\paragraph" item with a couple of changes
(e.g., level is deeper)
ITEM="\pd{?}"
MODE="TeX"
CASE_SENSITIVE=1
BEGINNING_OF_LINE_ONLY=1
CURRENT_DOCUMENT_ONLY=1
ALL_OPENED_DOCUMENTS=0
COMPLETE_PROJECT_TREE=1
ICON="Paragraph"
LEVEL=26
CAPTION="%?"
BALANCED="{}\"
MAX_LINE_SPAN=3
ON_CTRL_CLICK="GlobalMark;TreeTrack(2);"
ON_CTRL_DBL_CLICK="Relax;"
ON_CLICK="TreeTrack(2,1);"
ON_DBL_CLICK="TreeTrack(2,2);"
ACTION="Find"
IMAGE="Find"
MACRO="TreeTrack(2);"
SUBSTITUTION="\label{*}"
SUB_FIND="\\label\{*\}"
SUB_REPLACE=""
SUB_REG_EX=1
SUB_CASE_SENSITIVE=1
SUBSTITUTION=" "
SUB_FIND=" +{ }"
SUB_REPLACE=" "
SUB_REG_EX=1
SUB_CASE_SENSITIVE=1
SUBSTITUTION="\ldots"
SUB_FIND="\ldots"
SUB_REPLACE="..."
SUB_REG_EX=0
SUB_CASE_SENSITIVE=1
There are many further possibilities for customisation.
includegraphics: I also added a level value to the
\includegraphics command in the tree.
Spelling
I disabled:Confirm Deletion
Confirm Addition
Confirm Capital Addition
When first starting with a new text editor, there are lots of words that I use that are not spelling mistakes. Thus, the following steps can be applied to a word incorrectly classified as a spelling error:
Ctrl+Enter, Alt+A, or
Right Mouse Click, Alt+A
Customising Gather
In my workflow, I have a number of custom commands where it would be useful if these could be incorporated into the gather functionality. \todo{...} I use the todo command from the todo package to list tasks that in the document. Navigating this list is useful way of working through a todo list.
PAGE="todo"
// Change Mode from TeX to ? to disable this item
PAGE_MODE="TeX|DTX;INS;STY"
PAGE_SORTED=0
PAGE_CASE_SENSITIVE=1
PAGE_IGNORE_COMMENTS=1
PAGE_BEFORE_BUILD="Relax;"
PAGE_AFTER_BUILD="Relax;"
PAGE_ON_ACTIVATE="GlobalMark;"
PAGE_ON_SHOW="GlobalMark;"
PAGE_ON_ENTER="GDIKillFocus;"
PAGE_ON_CANCEL="GlobalReturn;GDIKillFocus;"
ITEM="\todo{?}"
MODE="TeX"
CASE_SENSITIVE=1
BEGINNING_OF_LINE_ONLY=0
CURRENT_DOCUMENT_ONLY=1
ALL_OPENED_DOCUMENTS=0
COMPLETE_PROJECT_TREE=1
RETURN_AT_EOF=0
ICON="ArrowOrange"
LEVEL=0
CAPTION="%!?"
MAX_LINE_SPAN=2
ON_CLICK="GDITrack;"
ON_DBL_CLICK="GDIKillFocus;"
ACTION="Find"
IMAGE="Find"
MACRO="GDITrack;"
Word Counts
Document - Word Count (Alt, D, W) can be used to estimate the number of words in a *.tex file. If you select textExcluding text from word count If you have custom commands that you use often that do not print text, you may wish to exclude them from word counts. For example, I use the
\todo command to
store tasks that need to be done.
I use my own \pd command to store a non-printing paragraph descriptions.
I use my own \OUTPUT command to indicate where
I need to insert a specific table, figure, or results text.
These commands and their contents can be excluded from word counts by
editing the WordCount.ini file (Options - Options - Formatting - Word Count).
The built-in examples make it pretty clear
what needs to be done to add additional tags.
WORD_COUNT_SET="TeX"
...
SKIP="\pd{?}"
SKIP="\todo{?}"
SKIP="\OUTPUT{?}"
Other word count options Note that the word count option does not work for multi-file projects. Other options exist for word count calculation: The main challenge with word counts in both MS Word, in LaTeX, and in PDFs is that many word count limits imposed in academic writing exclude various forms of content. For example, the word count for a thesis might exclude: references, tables, figures, appendices, headers, footers.
LaTeX Build Profiles
Configuring various LaTeX build options is really easy with WinEdt. Under Options - Execution Modes, I have the following options selected:Process Flow: Wait for execution to finish; Start Viewer; Forward search; No interaction [Apply to All]
I generally use TeXify to automatically determine how many times the document needs to be built.
Using Template Text
WinEdt can facilitate the insertion of template text. For example, there is a template for inserting a figure. The template use a character that looks like "*" for information that needs to be replaced by the user. Next Bullet (Ctrl+Space) and Previous Bullet (Ctrl+Shift+Space) can be used to navigate between bullets.You can even create your own templates using Ctrl+Alt+Space and whatever surrounding template text is required. You may want to create a set of common templates and store it in a separate file.
