Textures.free is a TeX-based high quality mathematical typesetting system that reads and prints TeX documents. It includes an extensive collection of mathematical symbol fonts in Type 1 PostScript form. The program is a freeware version of our $495 Textures® product but is limited to typesetting only one page of output. It is a complete TeX language processor with precompiled formats (Plain and LaTeX are included) and has an integrated text editor with a live preview window.
Textures.free will preview and print all pages of standard DVI files. The facilities in the previewer are identical to the full Textures system, with control of page selection, position and magnification. The editor can also open and read TeX and other text files of all sizes. The limitation is that the freeware program will only typeset enough TeX to create the first page of output.
Textures.free is more than a demonstration program. Even if TeX is limited to one page, it is still a powerful tool. It can produce technical poster papers, export JPEGs of equations for the web, even publish a mathematical textbook (one page at a time). And it can be used as a helper application from your web browser to open and preview DVI files by clicking on them.
Textures.free is an excellent way to interactively learn TeX with Flash Mode. Type some TeX and the traffic light will inform you when you've made a mistake. There's no dialog to get in the way when an error is typed. When the mistake is corrected the light will turn back to green. The changing output is displayed as you type by executing the edit-compile-preview cycle for each keystroke. There's no need to select a menu item or press any command keys to compile TeX. You just open a new window and start typing.
The Synchronicity and Follow Focus features work the same as in the full Textures®. Although they are of limited utility on a one page document, you will be able to use them to see how these features would work if you had a large multipage doument to edit.
We believe when you see all you can do with Textures.free on one page of output, you will want to buy our fully functional Textures® product.
TeX is the powerful typesetting language developed by Donald Knuth at Stanford University. It was originally conceived as a typesetting system for the creation of beautiful books that contained mathematics. The typesetting system is explained in David Solomon's What the Heck is TeX?. The essential reference book for TeX is Knuth's "The TeXBook", but most people use a precompiled macro package called LaTeX. There are many good books on that system. The guide for that was written by the package's originator is "LaTeX: A Document Preparation System" by Leslie Lamport.