Grants:IEG/LaTeX Export

status: proposed

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eligibility and selection criteria

project:

LaTeX Export

idea creator:

5.147.70.36

project contact:

Dirk Hünniger on German Wikibooks [1]

participants:

Dirk Hünniger

summary:

Export Wiki Pages to LaTeX

2013 round 2

Project idea

Export Wiki Articles to LaTeX. There are many way how this can be done. Pediapress is creating LaTeX verions, but is keeping them secret. Hans Georg Kluge wrote an LaTeX export (Wiki2LaTeX) [2]. Furthermore the is the javalatex project [3]. Dirk Hünniger wrote the MediaWiki to LaTeX project [4] and last but not least Wikimedia has got enough developers to make its own LaTeX export.

Project goals

Mediawiki already has export functions for many file formats like odf and epub. In the combobox two choices should be added "LaTeX source" and "LaTeX PDF"

Open questions

• question

Turn this idea into an Individual Engagement Grant proposal

Project plan

Scope:

Scope and activities

Our investment of time in the project will be totally independed of funding. We already did the whole work, and the only funding is needed inside the Wikimedia organization in order to make the project availably to every user of wikipedia

Tools, technologies, and techniques

We need server capacities insided Wikimedias Server farm in order to computer the PDF and LaTeX source versions of articles

Budget:

Total amount requested

This is hard to tell. Since we only need server power and we don't know how intensly the service will be used. Looking at the current configuration of Wikimedias Server farm it is likely the 10 servers will be enough. So 10000 USD should be enough money to buy them and keep the running for quite some time.

Budget breakdown

Well we only need server power in MediaWikis server farm. In particular we don't want money in our hands. So the budget goes fully into the servers.

Intended impact:

Target audience

Everyone who wants to download high quality PDF Version of Wiki Pages

Fit with strategy

Improving Quality

Sustainability

It is not expected that signifant amounts of work will need to go into this project after the grands ends. Howevery server capacities will need to be kept available to be able to create PDF and LaTeX versions after the grand has ended.

Measures of success

The only goal is to create the export buttons for LaTeX source and LaTeX PDF in the combobox in the exports page. The quality of the PDF and LaTeX versions should be at least the same as currently acchieved by the MediaWiki to LaTeX project [5].

Participant(s)

Well the point is we, as individal persons don't need any money from the grant project, since our work is already finished and we already created an open source LaTeX Export for MediaWiki that works well. We need the mediawiki devolopers to integrate a LaTeX export, possibly based on the existing open source projects below, which will cost some money. And this addinial funtionality will cost a server resource which also need to be paid. Most of the people who worked on the MediaWiki to LaTeX Project are either students of mathematical sciences or already got university degrees in these fields.

Discussion

Community Notification:

Please paste a link to where the relevant communities have been notified of this proposal, and to any other relevant community discussions, here. [6] [7] [8] [9]

Endorsements:

Do you think this project should be selected for an Individual Engagement Grant? Please add your name and rationale for endorsing this project in the list below. Other feedback, questions or concerns from community members are also highly valued, but please post them on the talk page of this proposal.

• Community member: add your name and rationale here.
• As an admin on de.wikibooks I've seen many requests for print out versions. The build-in capabilities of Mediawiki are cumbersome at best, and without the continuos efforts of Dirk Huenninger, creator of this grant, we would have a lot less printable versions, in quantity as well as in quality. Therefore, I wholeheartedly support this grant. --NeuerNutzer2009 (talk) 11:15, 7 March 2013 (UTC)
• I've been a major contributor and maintainer of the LaTeX wikibook for a while now, and I'd say it's sad that we cannot easily provide a nicely typeset book when LaTeX is actually a document preparation system with a strong emphasis on typography. Printed books are not just a fancy option, there are essential to a lot of people. There is a lot of content hosted on Wiki projects, and a lot of them are very valuable, sometimes even more than specialized books. But without proper formatting, PDF version cannot be considered as good as library books. You need formatting quality if you do not want to hurt the quality of the content. Otherwise wiki books wouldn't look serious at all. I strongly believe WikiMedia should endorse a great typesetting system, and that's why I'm fully endorsing it myself. -- Ambrevar (talk) 13:29, 12 March 2013 (UTC)
• I have spent quite some time looking for a PDF-converter for wikibooks, and believe that this would significantly contribute to the usability of wikibooks in general. Thomas.haslwanter (talk) 11:49, 25 March 2013 (UTC)
• I also think this would be a great new feature for the wikimedia projects Stephan Kulla (talk) 22:05, 3 May 2013 (UTC)