Show HN: We've open-sourced our bootstrapped startup, ShareLaTeX
github.com
github.com
Sharelatex is really awesome. It works well and makes it so much easier to just start writing latex. And with the preview it is even more comfortable than my desktop workflow before, which is the best compliment I can make for a web-based UI.
So, great. I used sharelatex for some really important documents, and I plan to use it for quite some more. And having it opensourced makes it more future-proof, so thanks for that.
>Thanks, we were a bit worried that people will stop using the site but we hope everyone is wise like yourself! I think overall the main people who will set up there own versions are those who want to work on a private network which is an group of people we have been unable to help so far.
Basically, we are able to produce at the end of the conference a pdf with all the course notes, illustrations and links; it's like writing the book in real time.
On a related note, recently at http://paperpile.com/ we've been thinking about ways to help our users connect their reference manager with web-based writing environments like ShareLaTeX. We've had some ideas about how to do this simply and cleanly, but I suppose now we could show you guys (via pull request) rather than tell now. :-)
I manage the dissertation/thesis template for my department on github. The assembly and dissemination of this template is a purely student-run effort. Typically the task of managing it gets passed to a new student when the previous manager graduates.
The problem I've found with managing it this way is that I'll invariably get a slew of emails from students throughout the semester wanting me to troubleshoot their LaTeX installs to make the template work. 99% of the time the problem is on their end, 1% of the time it results in something that actually improves the template somehow. It would be awesome if I could just point them to your service where a hosted (and guaranteed to work) version of the template resides.
Can I just shoot you a github link[1] to get it incorporated or is there some other process I should go through? (e.g., would you prefer me to send you a zip? I figure what's the point since it's already on github, but if you prefer that approach I can get you a zip)
[1] https://github.com/hootener/LaTeX-Vanderbilt-Dissertation-Fo...
https://engineering.purdue.edu/~mark/puthesis/
Thanks.
This was the unwritten ritual at my department when I was in graduate school too. But no one there really used VCS. Who knows how long that thing had been passed around and tweaked.
Of all the students I've had email me with problems, a vast majority just grab the repo as a zip and never contribute back. Bummer.
Unfortunately for me, Latex hasn't gained traction in our department. I think the main barriers to entry, for our lab at least, are:
1) Local installation is more difficult than installing Word. Sharelatex and other cloud-latex solutions solve this.
2) Word's comment and review tracking system is more intuitive. If you're reading a document electronically and want to insert a comment or make an edit in word, you just do it right there. With latex, you can use synclatex to go back and forth but this extra step is actually a non-insignificant barrier. Also, with latex, is there a way to make and see comments in the pdf/preview but have the comment also live somewhere in the source, AND have the comments be editable in both places? I suspect the answer is yes, but I just haven't found the right tool?
I haven't unlocked the "history" feature in sharelatex but does it come close to this?
This. The first person that makes a LaTeX comment and track changes system as intuitive as Word's can have all my money. No, the comment and todo LaTeX packages don't count. There's just too much resistance in getting someone to go through the LaTeX install process just to use packages in a syntax they don't want to take the time to learn.
The problem with Word's track / review features isn't necessarily that they're good, it's that they're so entrenched in academic writing (even in the sciences), that attempting to do anything else gets zero traction from most PIs and collaborators. Even PIs that use LaTeX themselves are hesitant to collaborate using it because of the extra friction it introduces as compared to Word's track/review tools.
As much as I hate to admit it, I think the only way to migrate some collaborators away from Word and to LaTeX in a collaborative setting is to basically duplicate Word's track/review/comment features and incorporate them into a LaTeX-based system.
(I'm not familiar with LaTeX or the packages you mention, so maybe I'm reinventing a broken wheel here.)
Unfortunately a lot of my own documents are really hard to handle with editors -- I tend to write very long documents split across multiple source documents in a tree for easy management. I wonder if there is room in an offering like this for something more like an online IDE rather than just a editor for a singular file.
Also they don't have Git integration either, which was a deal breaker for my wife.
She's since moved to using RStudio locally + Git.
She says, "If you have Git integration, the auto-compilation feature would get me back from RStudio."
We've also thought about using Grunt to build our own auto-compilation feature.
I found it easy to get started, fast and overall a pleasure to use. :)
We've written a bit more about our motivations in our blog here as well: https://www.sharelatex.com/blog/2014/02/21/sharelatex-is-now...
Presumably you won't really know until your try it, but do you have any data to support that it might increase your revenue (assuming of course that is a goal here - rather than just growth of the number of users of your software - I realise that the two can go hand-in-hand!).
It will be interesting to see how things look in a months time. I'll try to post an update!
(more visitors, more income, ...)
Could be a next HN thread ;)
Edit: the thread above mine didn't exist when i read the comments :P
I'm assuming universities are what you are aiming for? I think you should focus on CSy departments.
Could also target conferences/journals i.e. allow them to offer access to the hosted version for people collaborating on a paper for that journal/conference.
From a business development POV, I think it would make sense to wade through university pages and collect departments that offer Latex-Templates to their students as potential contacts.
Integrating this with github a la travis-ci would be great, obviously one would need to be able to make commits to the repository too; I'm not sure if it would be great enough that it would induce people to start paying for the service if they weren't already, though... although I'd sure like it.
I'm not sure what sort of use-cases you are seeing already, but this seems most useful to me personally for last-minute edits to coauthored papers & grant proposals right before submission. Nailing down the final version can be a real pain in the ass.
A few other minor observations:
* uploading a zip file didn't work, but I'm on an old version of RHEL and made the zip with Ark, so... who knows
* after accidentally drag and dropping a bunch of .bbl, .log, .toc (etc) files, I didn't see a way to delete more than one file at a time, or how to undo a file deletion.
* I also couldn't figure out how to move a file from a subdirectory to the top level directory
We currently have a internal jenkins ci server, we should make the build status available some how. Although we are militant that builds are always green.
The zip sounds unusual, it should work.... The drag and drop stuff is not great, we really need another person to join the team and spend some time on our front end (plug, remote welcome).
Anyway, I'm currently writing my thesis and I've had to stop using your product. The dropbox sync is lame (I know that the problem is on their side) and working on three different computers (usually two at the same time) is a problem. But in case of collective writing, then shareLaTeX is the most useful tool. Thank you for that and for your move!
I am wondering, what would be the best way to have students create accounts and have their accounts be populated with templates for all of the homework assignments?
I am really excited by this announcement. I hope that it leads to even more success!
I'd definitely recommend trying to start a business with monthly recurring revenue. It makes things quite stable and predictable, and watching it grow is like crack.
We're not that worried about this impacting our revenue. Most of our value that people pay for comes from being a hosted service.
I'm glad to read that the code behind ShareLaTeX is being released as open source!
Thanks for open sourcing!
An online version of Latex sure beats the hell out of setting up a local installation though.
Thanks for opensourcing!
Open source.....
I will just come out and say it. I had funny thoughts in my head when I read that.
The official site as well as the products looks well designed (love the idea of templates). Here is the clickable link