trunk/doc/ltnews08.tex

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  29 % Filename: ltnews08.tex
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  31 % This is issue 8 of LaTeX News.
  32
  33 \documentclass
  34 %    [lw35fonts]
  35    {ltnews}
  36
  37 % \usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
  38
  39 \publicationmonth{December}
  40 \publicationyear{1997}
  41 \publicationissue{8}
  42
  43 \begin{document}
  44
  45 \maketitle
  46
  47 \section{New supported font encodings}
  48
  49 Two new font encodings are supported as options to the \textsf{fontenc}
  50 package:
  51 \begin{description}
  52 \item [OT4]
  53 This is a seven-bit encoding designed for Polish. The \LaTeX\ support
  54 was developed by Mariusz Olko.
  55 \item [TS1] This is the `Text Companion Encoding'; it contains symbols
  56 designed to be used in text, as opposed to mathematical formulas, and
  57 some accents designed for uppercase letters.  It is currently
  58 supported by the `tc' fonts, which match the T1 encoded `ec' text
  59 fonts.  A subset of the glyphs in this encoding is supported by
  60 virtual fonts distributed with the PostScript font metrics on the
  61 \textsc{ctan} archives. (This is the `8c' encoding in Karl Berry's
  62 fontname scheme.)  The \textsf{textcomp} package provides access to
  63 this encoding but here is a warning to current users of that package:
  64 some of the internal names for the characters have changed.
  65 \end{description}
  66
  67
  68 \section{New input encodings}
  69
  70 These additions to the \textsf{inputenc} package are
  71 \texttt{decmulti} (the DEC Multinational
  72 Character Set,  contributed by M.~Y.~Chartoire)
  73 and \texttt{cp1250} (an MS-Windows encoding for Central and Eastern
  74 Europe, contributed by Marcin Woli\'nski).  There is also a
  75 \texttt{cp1252} encoding that is identical to \texttt{ansinew}.
  76
  77
  78 \section{Tools}
  79
  80 The \textsf{calc} package (used in many examples in \emph{The \LaTeX\
  81 Companion}) has been contributed to this distribution by Kresten Krab
  82 Thorup and Frank Jensen. This is essentially the same as the version
  83 that has been available from the \textsc{ctan} archives for some time,
  84 with one minor change: to use \LaTeX-style error messages.  It enables
  85 the use of arithmetic expressions within arguments to standard
  86 \LaTeX{} commands where a length or a counter value is required.  For
  87 example:
  88 \begin{verbatim}
  89   \setcounter {page} { \value{page} * 2 + 1 }
  90   \parbox { 3in - ( 2mm + \textwidth / 9 ) }
  91 \end{verbatim}
  92
  93 There have also been some improvements to several other packages in
  94 this collection.  In particular, \textsf{bm} now works correctly with
  95 constructions such as \verb|\bm{f'}| involving \texttt{'} or other
  96 characters which use \TeX's special ``\verb|\mathcode"8000|''
  97 feature.  Also, \textsf{multicol} sets the length \verb|\columnwidth|
  98 to an appropriate value; this enables it to work with classes that
  99 support two-column setting, e.g.,~the AMS classes.
 100
 101
 102 \section{Graphics}
 103
 104 The special \verb|oztex.def| driver file has been removed, and Oz\TeX\
 105 support has been merged with dvips, following advice from
 106 Andrew Trevorrow about Oz\TeX~3.x.
 107
 108 The \textsf{keyval} package has had some internal improvements: to
 109 use \LaTeX\ format error messages; and to avoid `\verb|#| doubling'.
 110 This latter change means that the \verb|command| key for the
 111 \textsf{graphicx} version of \verb|\includegraphics| should now be used
 112 with one \verb|#| rather than two. For example, \verb|command = `gunzip #1|.
 113 Fortunately this key is almost never used in practice, so few if any
 114 documents should be affected by this change.
 115
 116
 117 \section{\LaTeX3 experimental programming conventions}
 118
 119 As announced at the \TeX\ Users Group meeting  (Summer 1997), a group of
 120 highly experimental packages will soon be released to allow experienced\\
 121 \TeX\ programmers to experiment with, and comment on, a proposed set
 122 of syntax conventions and basic data-types that might form
 123 the basis for programming large scale projects in \TeX.
 124 They will be located in\\
 125 this CTAN directory:
 126 \begin{verbatim}
 127   CTAN:macros/latex/packages/expl3
 128 \end{verbatim}
 129 The documentation of this material is as follows: individual package
 130 files provide outline, draft documentation; there is an article that
 131 gives an overview of the syntax and related concepts; there is a
 132 \texttt{readme.txt} file containing a brief description of the
 133 collection.
 134
 135 All aspects of these packages are liable, indeed likely, to change.
 136 They should not be used at this stage for anything
 137 that requires a stable system.  However, we do encourage people to
 138 experiment with these packages, and to send comments on them to the
 139 \texttt{LaTeX-L} mailing list.
 140 To subscribe to this list, mail to:
 141 \begin{verbatim}
 142   listserv@urz.uni-heidelberg.de
 143 \end{verbatim}
 144 the following one line message:
 145 \begin{verbatim}
 146   subscribe LATEX-L <<first-name>> <<second-name>>
 147 \end{verbatim}
 148
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 152
 153 \end{document}
 154