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so I'm wondering of a way to make review packets similar to a style like this. I can do something similar to that using regular LaTex, but for more nontechnical classes like psychology, I need a way to keep up with the powerpoint. Normally I go after class and type it up, but that takes up a lot of time. I installed Lyx as recommendation, but it cannot nest as many bullet points as I would like.

Is there a way to increase the amount nested? Or an alternate plug-in to use? Thanks for the help!

Adam Liter
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ajs
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  • Welcome to TeX.SX! Are you just looking for something that you can type up quickly but will give you LaTeX output? There are a few ways to do this. One possibility is RDx, which makes use of a perl script to convert Markdown-like format to LaTeX. Another possibility is just to write your notes in Markdown and use pandoc to convert from Markdown to LaTeX. – Adam Liter Apr 10 '14 at 19:23
  • @Adam YES! That is exactly something I am looking for! Thank you for the suggestions, I will check those out! – ajs Apr 10 '14 at 19:37

1 Answers1

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Here are three possibilities for increasing the speed with which you can take notes during a lecture and still have a document at the end that was produced with LaTeX.

RDx

The first is to use RDx, which is a variant of Markdown. After you write your notes in RDx, you subject it to the accompanying perl script.

For example, if you write:

= Why RDx?

Problems with LaTeX:

- LaTeX codes are **way too complicated**.
  - difficult to edit
  - visually not intuitive
- There are *only a few* commands and environments in
  LaTeX that one uses in ordinary texts.
  - Most of these markups can actually be much more
    perspicuously represented.
  - Formats of structured text that enable such simplified
    representation do already exist and are widely used in
    editing Wiki and html files.


== Using RDx
...

and then run it through the perl script, you will get:

\section{Why RDx?}

Problems with LaTeX:

\begin{itemize}
 \item LaTeX codes are \textbf{way too complicated}.
  \begin{itemize}
   \item difficult to edit
   \item visually not intuitive
  \end{itemize}
 \item There are \emph{only a few} commands and environments in
  LaTeX that one uses in ordinary texts.
  \begin{itemize}
   \item Most of these markups can actually be much more
    perspicuously represented.
   \item Formats of structured text that enable such simplified
    representation do already exist and are widely used in
    editing Wiki and html files.
  \end{itemize}
\end{itemize}

\subsection{Using RDx}
\ldots

which can then be compiled with pdflatex.

Markdown and pandoc

Another possibility is to simply write your notes in Markdown. As far as I can tell (though I'm not super familiar with RDx), RDx only seems to differ from Markdown in how it denotes section headings. Where RDx uses =, Markdown uses #.

At any rate, after writing your notes in Markdown, you could run it through pandoc, which is capable of converting from Markdown to LaTeX, among other markup languages and formats.

Depending on the nature of your notes, the Markdown and pandoc option might ultimately be better, as pandoc

understands a number of useful markdown syntax extensions, including document metadata (title, author, date); footnotes; tables; definition lists; superscript and subscript; strikeout; enhanced ordered lists (start number and numbering style are significant); running example lists; delimited code blocks with syntax highlighting; smart quotes, dashes, and ellipses; markdown inside HTML blocks; and inline LaTeX. If strict markdown compatibility is desired, all of these extensions can be turned off.

emacs and org-mode

Finally, a third possibility is to use org-mode of emacs. This, of course, requires knowing how to use emacs. As a starting point, you might want to look at Org-mode export to LaTeX: temptation or nuisance? and A simpleton's guide to (…)TeX workflow with emacs.

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