TeX - TopAnswers

CarLaTeX replying to samcarter

Penguin Beautiful

samcarter replying to Skillmon

Great! I'll keep you in the loop! (and would be great to see you there!)

Skillmon replying to samcarter

yes, sounds excellent (after all, you do all the work up front :) Just write/ask if you need any help)

samcarter replying to निरंजन

I think they should make a reality television series about the penguins. I would certainly enjoy it :)

निरंजन replying to samcarter

"more than friends" :joy:

samcarter replying to Skillmon

How about the following plan:  
  
I'll submit an abstract for one talk about both packages and closer to Dante'26, we communicate again if you want to do the part about xistercian yourself, otherwise I'll do the whole talk. Does this sound acceptable?

Skillmon replying to samcarter

Anyway, lovely idea. I'm always reluctant to give talks about my own packages (well, and for that reason never done so). I like them. I use them (from time to time). But I'm wary whether they're relevant to a broader audience (even though I solve peoples' problems online using them, as there's often another way without using any of my packages).

Skillmon replying to samcarter

I think it would be kind of boring to get two talks about Cistercian numerals. But I'm open to collaborate. I don't know for sure yet whether I'll attend (the location is close-ish so that's a plus, but as I said, I'm not sure yet)

samcarter

Keeping Up with the penguins: https://www.kyoto-aquarium.com/sokanzu/en/2024/

samcarter

@Skillmon The latest Komödie opened the call for presentations at Dante'26. So I'm pondering about doing a short presentation about the cistercian package.    
I think it might be nice to include xistercian as well, what do you think? Maybe first an intro what these numerals are, then some examples with both packages? Or might you be at Dante'26 and could be persuaded to talk about xistercian yourself?

J...S

Perhaps latex isn't the right tool for this task? Saw a few places suggesting scribus with scripting.

J...S

On another note, does anyone know of a way to build photo albums with latex?  
Ideally without actually writing down the whole latex, but with just adding the data files like images and their captions.  
  
photoalbum looks like a nice way.     
https://github.com/flynx/photobook/
  
But I have trouble understanding the expected directory structuring in their example.   
https://github.com/flynx/photobook/tree/main/examples/book

J...S replying to samcarter

At first, I thought you had forgotten type a word after the `&`...

samcarter

[Happy & Day!](https://mastodon.scot/@daveybot/115167152601396082)

samcarter

https://github.com/settinger/selectric_typeballs  
  
... why do I suddenly think the world needs a typewriter with ducks?

Joseph Wright replying to Skillmon

Er, yeah ... we thought about active-`$` but it didn't seem like a plan

Skillmon replying to Joseph Wright

It could go like this (typing the numbers from memory, I hope I don't screw up): `\` remains 0, `{}` remains 1 and 2, `%` remains 14, `[A-Za-z]` remain 11, everything else is active.

samcarter

https://infosec.exchange/@artatyork@bird.makeup/113208474658322690

Joseph Wright replying to Skillmon

Sure, but I still hope that one day we might manage to sort out some 'fixed active list' in the kernel ..

Skillmon replying to Joseph Wright

Well, except when you don't provide any options, in that case, `expkv` is actually faster than `keyval`. So I can say that `expkv` *is* the fastest

Skillmon replying to samcarter

it's "yet another key system", and it's one of the greatest of them for its peculiar syntax.

samcarter replying to Skillmon

You could make a Top Trumps game of key value tools :)

samcarter replying to Skillmon

yax wins in the category "funniest sounding name"!

Skillmon replying to Joseph Wright

But yes, `keyval` is the fastest among them all:  
  
![foo.png](/image?hash=d079e48e7c767332cb85ce2ea8aac01b6fced2cefc48a11050361a6c71591407)

Skillmon replying to Joseph Wright

`keyval` surely category code fragile :P

CarLaTeX replying to samcarter

Quack to you, too!

samcarter

Quack

samcarter

Quack

Joseph Wright replying to Skillmon

`keyval` surely fastest?

samcarter replying to Skillmon

expkv has rabbit speed - of course it is the fastest :P

samcarter replying to Skillmon

Yes, very reliable :)

Skillmon replying to samcarter

Also, `babel` shorthands are the reason I can claim that only 4 of the key=value parsers I tested work reliably (of which `expkv` is by far the fastest)

Skillmon replying to samcarter

sounds like good stochastic

samcarter replying to निरंजन

**Blog post:**  
  
A biased study with one individual finds that a user, who does not use babel shorthands, does not experience a lot of advantages from them, but sometimes finds funny problems they cause.  
  
:)

निरंजन replying to samcarter

Worth a blog post here! :P

CarLaTeX replying to samcarter

:D

samcarter

I'm considering starting a tally sheet with "Number of problems solved by babel shorthands" vs. "Number of problems caused by babel shorthands" :)

Ulrike Fischer replying to UdiB

another implementation for form fields is in the pdfmanagement-testphase package, see all the files starting with `l3pdffield` here https://github.com/latex3/pdfresources

CarLaTeX replying to UdiB

Hi! Look here: https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/14844/101651

UdiB

I want to create a very simple pdf file that allows an end user on a Windows computer to fill in some information using pdf forms. E.g, a form to type free text, choose from a combo box an option, and fill some additional long text that will wrap (i.e. have line breaks).  
My plan is to create the form using LuaTeX's `pdfextension literal` and `pdfextension object`. I just don't know how to do it.
I started reading Leonard Rosenthol and John Witington books about the pdf format, but I think that I will have better progress by reading using a text editor an uncompressed pdf file with forms, preferably made by a person and not by a machine. All pdf files I came across until now were super difficult to read after uncompressing them. Can anyone send me or refer me to such "learn from example" pdf files?

samcarter replying to barbara beeton

:D

barbara beeton replying to samcarter

That's a friendly, if uncomfortable, snuggle.  Your bat has a very friendly face.  I have a little velvet-winged bat in my zoo; his name is Dingbat, and he's a delightful character.

samcarter

:sheep:

Skillmon replying to samcarter

as long as that's a glob, otherwise it's just a screaming sheep.

samcarter replying to Skillmon

clearly!

Skillmon replying to samcarter

a ball with a baboon?

CarLaTeX replying to samcarter

:D

samcarter replying to CarLaTeX

Can be shortened to `ba*` :)

CarLaTeX replying to samcarter

Oh a bat with a bär <3

samcarter

![](https://static.demilked.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/68a562e92e2f4-439879810_940691067835862_1920354224728240400_n-68a2e1769f8b6__700.jpg)