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I've wanted exactly this for years. I love LaTeX, but collaboration through platforms like Overleaf is severely limited, and the language itself has always felt

I've wanted exactly this for years. I love LaTeX, but collaboration through platforms like Overleaf is severely limited, and the language itself has always felt so unnecessarily complex. And while they haven't announced the platform itself to be open source, I'm glad they're at least already contributing some of the stuff they're making [1]. [1]: https://github.com/typst/ https://github.com/typst/

reknih 4y ago
Hey, I'm working on Typst. We try to open source Typst's libraries as soon as they are ready. The same goes for the Typst compiler: it will be open source when we go into beta. We do not want to lock anybody into our service, so you'll always be able to download Typst for the command line for free. Only the web app will remain proprietary.
- nmca 4y ago
  Deleted, ty for reaching out.
  - reknih 4y ago
    You've got mail!
- solarkraft 4y ago
  That's great. I wouldn't want to rely on something proprietary (especially SaaS) for something so important.
maegul 4y ago
From their about page [1]: > We will publish Typst's compiler source code as soon as our beta phase starts. From then on, it will form the Open Core of Typst, and we will develop and maintain it in cooperation with the community [1]: https://typst.app/about/ https://typst.app/about/
ssivark 4y ago
Eh, that only makes sense if you believe LaTeX (markup) to have accidental complexity that typst somehow abstracts away. Having used LaTeX, I appreciate that there is a learning curve, but I think all the complexity is essential domain complexity that's not easy to get rid of. (Note that I'm only talking about the markup language, and not about the toolchain -- which I believe is ripe for massive simplification.) Most likely something simplified will start out convenient and then accrue much of the complexity of LaTeX over years (because that is solving actual needs!) -- the only difference (pro) will be that new users will be slowly onboarded to this complexity over years and (con) have to wait a long time for this to catch up with necessary functionality. An interesting example to observe is Markdown variants thrashing around and diverging as they try to go beyond the simplest case and try to model the essential complexity of writing documents.

reknih 4y ago

Hey, I'm working on Typst. We try to open source Typst's libraries as soon as they are ready. The same goes for the Typst compiler: it will be open source when we go into beta. We do not want to lock anybody into our service, so you'll always be able to download Typst for the command line for free. Only the web app will remain proprietary.

nmca 4y ago
Deleted, ty for reaching out.
- reknih 4y ago
  You've got mail!
solarkraft 4y ago
That's great. I wouldn't want to rely on something proprietary (especially SaaS) for something so important.

maegul 4y ago

From their about page [1]: > We will publish Typst's compiler source code as soon as our beta phase starts. From then on, it will form the Open Core of Typst, and we will develop and maintain it in cooperation with the community [1]: https://typst.app/about/ https://typst.app/about/

ssivark 4y ago

Eh, that only makes sense if you believe LaTeX (markup) to have accidental complexity that typst somehow abstracts away. Having used LaTeX, I appreciate that there is a learning curve, but I think all the complexity is essential domain complexity that's not easy to get rid of. (Note that I'm only talking about the markup language, and not about the toolchain -- which I believe is ripe for massive simplification.) Most likely something simplified will start out convenient and then accrue much of the complexity of LaTeX over years (because that is solving actual needs!) -- the only difference (pro) will be that new users will be slowly onboarded to this complexity over years and (con) have to wait a long time for this to catch up with necessary functionality. An interesting example to observe is Markdown variants thrashing around and diverging as they try to go beyond the simplest case and try to model the essential complexity of writing documents.