TeXmaker version 3.3 has been released today. Some of the new features, from the ChangeLog file, to 3.2.2:

• An unlimited number of tags can be defined via a new panel.
• The integrated PDF viewer provides spell checking.
• Now the main biblatex entries can be inserted via the bibliography menu.
• \command{} is now displayed before \command*{} in the auto completion.
• More hard coded colors, dark desktop themes can be used.
• The editor provides an overwrite mode.

Bad highlighting with \end{picture} has been fixed. The complete ChangeLog can be found here. Click here for downloading versions for Linux, Mac OS X or Windows or source files.

On TeX.SX, Primal Pappachan asked:

“How can I introduce a non-technical person to LaTeX?”

There are several answers, for helping learning LaTeX without being too complicated. Yiannis Lazarides gave some of the best suggestions:

• Assist in the TeX installation and install a full distribution, to avoid frustration by installation difficulties later.
• Provide a small template and a compilable document which roughly meets their requirements.
• Assist with the first steps.
• We are used to table of contents, lists and index - a new user though might be impressed how easy that is.
• Explain the concepts of floats early - better show benefits than let a user run into unexpected problems with moving objects.

I would add:

• Point the way to up-to-date LaTeX online resources.
• Show how the mentioned Q&A site TeX.SX works, so he can ask for help or find existing solutions there.
• Introduce him to a LaTeX discussion forum, such as LaTeX-Community.org. A web forum is easy to use and you can talk and discuss, in contrast to a Q&A site. Usenet might be a bit harder to introduce.
• For best online support, explain the importance of code such as minimal working examples.

Visit the original question and answers on the site if you would like to read more.

The fourth Alpha version of the upcoming TeXnicCenter 2.0 has been released. As it’s still alpha, it is not stable, it may crash and it’s intended for testing only. It can be used alongside TeXnicCenter Version 1.0, both can be used when installed in different directories, like the previous alpha versions.

Some of the changes:

• Completely new File View with support for TortoiseSVN and similar tools.
• Preprocessors are now supported when building the output.
• The editor knows much more commands and options now. For example, multiple selections are now possible.
• File extensions managed by TeXnicCenter can be chosen through the ‘Default Programs’ control panel.
• Native 64 bit support.
• It is (again) possible to cycle through the documents in Most-Recently-Used order. Also, a long-standing issue with shortcuts using the Alt key has been fixed.

For the long list of changes and fixes, have a look at the announcement by Tino Weinkauf and the TeXnicCenter Team, also posted on LaTeX-Community.org: TeXnicCenter 2.0 Alpha 4.

This text is available in German. Dieser Text ist auch in Deutsch verfügbar.