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Maybe this is a side topic, but I need help. I am a math teacher at secondary school. In a class, I have a very intelligent boy with severe physical disability. I evaluated various solutions, and I think that LaTeX could be a viable solution for him to write mathematics (no mouse, no wysywig, only logic). What I look for is a smart editor which renders formulas in real time upon typesetting (I am an old fashioned guy, I type LaTeX with EMACS). In view of these particular needs, what could you suggest? [edit: under Windows, since must be used with laptops of the school, no linux]

[I would have tagged this with 'disability' but I have no reputation to cretae the tag]

Gherardo
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  • There are some editors which can show previews of snippets, imho e.g. texstudio can do it, but "real time" doesn't make sense. What should happen if you are in the middle of frac or an array? – Ulrike Fischer Oct 27 '17 at 12:05
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    I've added the 'accessibility' tag – Mico Oct 27 '17 at 12:06
  • Thanks for the tag. Yes, of course "real time" was sloppy. I tried the latex extension of libreoffice, works well, but then it's difficult to correct a mistake. Not much intuitive. – Gherardo Oct 27 '17 at 12:08
  • Tryying tex studio. – Gherardo Oct 27 '17 at 12:09
  • Not sure if this is correct, but I think online editors such as sharelatex and overleafe automatically compile when there is a slight interruption in typing pattern, so they should update when the formula is finished. – samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz Oct 27 '17 at 12:09
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    I think Latexmk has a mode to watch-out if source changes, as recalled on its home page I linked to. But I have never used it that way. You need a smart PDF viewer like Skim on Mac OS which knows how to refresh automatically. Perhaps even the docview pdf renderer of Emacs will do (but I have never tested -- sorry) –  Oct 27 '17 at 12:19

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In Emacs, AucTeX has a preview-mode that might help. But this is not the easiest editor to begin with. Anyway, you don't need a mouse to run Emacs…

Texworks is shipped with MikTeX and works fine : it is bundled with a pdf viewer that updates automatically after each compilation. It is quite good to begin with : aborting compilation is quite simple. You can choose the traditional console, clicking on the compiling button, or another Ctr-T stroke as suggested by Mico. It does the work.

It is not totally mouse-independant, but you do have keybindings to change line, search, beginning or end of line, compiling, indenting, commenting.

Maybe LyX could help, but I never used it.

You will find much more in this TeX S.E. post.

sztruks
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    Since using a mouse would appear to be something that's high on the list of do-not-use criteria, you may want to mention Control-T as the keyboard equivalent of clicking on the "compile" button. – Mico Oct 27 '17 at 12:10
  • @Mico. Edited. My students were not keen on key bindings, so I did not remember this one. – sztruks Oct 27 '17 at 12:11
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    I haven’t used it in ages and ages, so my memories have faded, but Debian has a package called whizzytex. – Thérèse Oct 27 '17 at 17:03