Programs & Packages Related to X-Symbol

If you prefer a more WYSIWYG-like document processor, you should probably use LyX or GNU TeXmacs. Here are some reasons why you would use Emacs/XEmacs with package X-Symbol instead:

• You have complete control over the LaTeX source. X-Symbol supports more characters.
• You can read any LaTeX source and you write normal LaTeX code, i.e., package X-Symbol does not use any special format.
• It also supports HTML and TeXinfo documents and BibTeX entries.
• You can use your favorite editor, i.e., Emacs or XEmacs.

There are similar Emacs packages in the "LaTeX area" which provide features which are orthogonal to X-Symbol: while X-Symbol lets you change and view the source in a more abstract way (you are interested in characters, not their TeX macro representation), the other Emacs packages help you getting a quick feedback how the LaTeX result looks like (while you still have to edit plain LaTeX).

Thus, for a maximum WYSIWYG-like document creation, you use X-Symbol with one or more of the following packages:

• Package preview-latex runs LaTeX on equations and other environments of your source and replaces the source by an preview image. In the "edit mode" for equations, you see the normal LaTeX code.
• Package WhizzyTeX incrementally updates your dvi viewer file according to your source.
• Package iTe consists of a LaTeX style for the placement/rotation of LaTeX fragments and a Emacs file to do so interactively with simultanous updating of your ps viewer.

If you edit LaTeX with Emacs, you definitely want to use the following packages:

• Package AucTeX, is the LaTeX major-mode. The file texmathp.el in its distribution improves X-Symbol's input method Electric.
• Package RefTeX provides support for doing labels, references and citations in LaTeX.

There are major modes which offer special support based on package X-Symbol:

• Package ProofGeneral defines the token language Isabelle symbol.