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There's usually some confusion about this, so to clarify in advance: - The Typst online editor is proprietary: https://typst.app https://typst.app - The Typst

There's usually some confusion about this, so to clarify in advance: - The Typst online editor is proprietary: https://typst.app https://typst.app - The Typst compiler/CLI is open source: https://github.com/typst/typst https://github.com/typst/typst I hear that the online editor is quite good, but personally I've only ever used the CLI. I originally picked up Typst as yet another replacement for PowerPoint (replacing my use of Marp), but have since used it for a poster and some minor text documents. And I've been very happy the results. I know that a lot of people love using LaTeX for that kind of thing, and with good reasons, but I always forgot most of the details between my (occasional) use of LaTeX, while I've found Typst to be very easy to return to

jadodev 1y ago
TinyMist is a great alternative to the online editor for local development in VS Code / Cursor https://myriad-dreamin.github.io/tinymist/ https://myriad-dreamin.github.io/tinymist/
- optionalsquid 1y ago
  Yeah, that's also what I've been using, and yes it is very good. Thank you for bringing it up
imiric 1y ago
This is a great example of the open core model done right. Have a fully-featured F/LOSS product, and build value-add commercial products and services on top of it. I've also only used the CLI tool, and didn't miss any features from it. The commercial product was never pushed or promoted to me. I personally have no need for it, and I'm only vaguely aware that it exists. But I'm sure that people who do need the friendlier UI/UX and more advanced features would be willing to pay for it, so I'm glad that the team has a stable source of income that enables them to continue maintaining the project in the long-term. Looking at the pricing page now... Wow, the plans are quite generous and affordable. Way to go!
- croes 1y ago
  It’s a great example how many open source projects start … until they change.
  - imiric 1y ago
    I mean, we can be cynical about it, or we can acknowledge the fact that running a sustainable business around OSS is entrepreneurship on hard mode. Yes, many companies start with good intentions which then change at some point, but there have also been companies that have managed to successfully balance both sides. Grafana comes to mind, as well as ClickHouse, and TimescaleDB. I'm not as familiar with the latter two, but Grafana is certainly a good example. You can probably find some blemishes even on their record, but overall, I would say they have been excellent stewards of OSS. Especially considering the large amount of products they maintain. So far, Typst seem to be on the right track as well, which is worthy of praise.
- commandersaki 1y ago
  I don't really need the web version, but I pay for a yearly subscription to support development of Typst. I do find the web version handy to share Typst examples and on occasion work on a document while syncing with private Github repository.
agentcoops 1y ago
I used LaTeX for decades and had convinced myself nothing could ever replace it. Just this month, however, I converted to Typst for a large project. Absolutely no regrets: undying respect to the great Knuth, but the experience with Typst is already simply better on almost every axis. I use TinyMist with vscode and the development experience is terrific. I was modifying templates within a day of picking it up, which—-skill issue undoubtedly—-always gave me nightmares in LaTeX.
- imiric 1y ago
  Speaking of skill, learning a new language is always daunting, but I found that LLMs do a pretty good job of generating Typst code. I relied on that a lot for generating snippets of code, and learning about the language, which would've taken me more time otherwise. Although the Typst docs are pretty good, regardless.
  - commandersaki 1y ago
    Yep this is how I started my Typst journey. I was intimidated by Typst at first and wanted to do some mildly complicated documents that really isn't covered by the tutorial, so I had ChatGPT generate elements of the document I need. Now I'm a more self-sufficient being able to generate functions and use more complicated features of Typst and better exercise use of the docs.
  - nonethewiser 1y ago
    What LLMs? In my experience they do a terrible job with Typst. Very frequently ChatGPT and Gemini will produce code that doesnt work. Im not sure if it's using an older syntax or just hallucinating. Additionally, it's rarely able to fix it after I provide the error and even copy-past docs. Maybe I was just unlucky or you had better luck with another model. But I was very surprised to here this because Typst is my chief example for a language that LLMs are bad at.
    - imiric 1y ago
      This was a few months ago, but mainly Claude Sonnet 3.5 IIRC. You can't escape hallucinations, of course, but they can be mitigated somewhat. Don't ask it to generate a bunch of code at once. Feed it a snippet of code, and tell it precisely what you want it to do. These are general LLM rules applicable to any language and project, and I've had success with them with Typst. I also used it just to get explanations, or general ideas about how to do something, and then figure out the actual syntax and working code myself. It's strange that you haven't had luck with pasting docs. That has usually worked well for me. I also think that LLMs don't struggle as much with Typst because the language is relatively simple, and there is little bad and outdated content about it online, so they weren't trained on it. I assume that the API probably hasn't changed as much either and there haven't been many compatibility issues, so it's not as important which version the LLM was trained on.
s777 1y ago
The online editor is extremely useful for quick projects with other people where real-time editing works better than git, and where people don't want to download tools.
weinzierl 1y ago
Speaking of core product and online editor: Over the decades many of the products I worked on developed some form of reporting feature. Not alway, but often they required PDF output. Not always, but often they ended up being LaTeX based, with all the nice and some of the ugly consequences. Especially the security story was never great. Does anyone know how hard it would be to integrate the Typst renderer into an existing Rust product?
- tugten 1y ago
  I embed the typst binary in a go binary deployed to cloud run. I use this to generate pdfs on the fly. I need to generate a 2 page invoice and i can generate it under 100 ms. IIRC, it's easier to integrate with rust. Since the pdf rendered is written in rust
- lonjil 1y ago
  Not particularly difficult. The main Typst crate should have you covered. I've seen quite a lot of projects that do it already.
jadbox 1y ago
I LOVE Marp! Why do you like Typst more than Marp for presentations?
- optionalsquid 1y ago
  I much preferred Marp to PowerPoint, but there were several parts of it I wasn't fond of: - Using CSS for formatting resulted in a lot of one-off rules, and was a lot noisier and less readable than the equivalent in Typst. - The use of CSS for formatting also meant that the Marp compiler couldn't catch most of my silly mistakes. With Typst the compiler will catch those mistakes. - Using a plugin to selectively highlight lines required writing a custom "engine" in JS, which was a pain to get working. Using a package in Typst is extremely simple. - And I had to use npm to install the plugin in the first place. Typst comes with a package manager built-in. - Generating PDFs required that I installed Chrome/Chromium. Typst does that out of the box. The only place, that I can think of, where Marp is ahead of Typst, is with regards to generating HTML based presentations. But that probably won't be the case forever, and I personally always use PDFs for the final presentation, since that means that a lot less can go wrong. Especially so if I am not using my own PC when giving the presentation
setopt 1y ago
> I originally picked up Typst as yet another replacement for PowerPoint I’ve also mainly used it for slides so far. Can recommend Slydst for that.
- optionalsquid 1y ago
  I've been using touying so far. It took some effort, since I was learning Typst at the same time, but I was able to convert our "official" PowerPoint template to a toying template that I am quite happy with. From what I can tell, Slydst seems intended for more minimalist slides. But it looks nice, so I'll have to keep it in mind for cases where I don't need the above template
dev_l1x_be 1y ago
How do you translate a bit more visually complex presentation to Typst? Should I create my iconography in SVG and try to position those?
- optionalsquid 1y ago
  What do you mean by a "more visually complex presentation"? Typst has some built in support for drawing shapes [1], but if you need more complex figures then cetz is also an option [2]. But if you mean animations (including animated transitions), then I do not believe that it is possible in Typst, since the output it outputs PDFs. I also do not believe that it is possible to embed multimedia in a document. [1] https://typst.app/docs/reference/visualize/ https://typst.app/docs/reference/visualize/ [2] https://typst.app/universe/package/cetz/ https://typst.app/universe/package/cetz/
culi 1y ago
isitreallyfoss.com did a break down on typst that goes more in-depth https://isitreallyfoss.com/projects/typst/ https://isitreallyfoss.com/projects/typst/ It seems mostly fine except for this bit: > The compiler includes a package manager “Typst Universe” that may connect to servers owned and operated by Typst GmbH
- Aaron2222 1y ago
  So do most package managers...
  - echoangle 1y ago
    I think most package managers take the repository urls from config, with typst its hardcoded in the binary (right?).
__mharrison__ 1y ago
Converted to Typst last year from LaTeX for book authoring, invoices, and slides (was using a hand-rolled rst2ppt tool for slides). Happy to never touch LaTeX again. Typst is that good.
paradox460 1y ago
Did you ever use beamer? I've done a few presentations with it, and while I wouldn't call it great, I preferred it to PowerPoint or keynote

jadodev 1y ago

TinyMist is a great alternative to the online editor for local development in VS Code / Cursor https://myriad-dreamin.github.io/tinymist/ https://myriad-dreamin.github.io/tinymist/

optionalsquid 1y ago
Yeah, that's also what I've been using, and yes it is very good. Thank you for bringing it up

imiric 1y ago

This is a great example of the open core model done right. Have a fully-featured F/LOSS product, and build value-add commercial products and services on top of it. I've also only used the CLI tool, and didn't miss any features from it. The commercial product was never pushed or promoted to me. I personally have no need for it, and I'm only vaguely aware that it exists. But I'm sure that people who do need the friendlier UI/UX and more advanced features would be willing to pay for it, so I'm glad that the team has a stable source of income that enables them to continue maintaining the project in the long-term. Looking at the pricing page now... Wow, the plans are quite generous and affordable. Way to go!

croes 1y ago
It’s a great example how many open source projects start … until they change.
- imiric 1y ago
  I mean, we can be cynical about it, or we can acknowledge the fact that running a sustainable business around OSS is entrepreneurship on hard mode. Yes, many companies start with good intentions which then change at some point, but there have also been companies that have managed to successfully balance both sides. Grafana comes to mind, as well as ClickHouse, and TimescaleDB. I'm not as familiar with the latter two, but Grafana is certainly a good example. You can probably find some blemishes even on their record, but overall, I would say they have been excellent stewards of OSS. Especially considering the large amount of products they maintain. So far, Typst seem to be on the right track as well, which is worthy of praise.
commandersaki 1y ago
I don't really need the web version, but I pay for a yearly subscription to support development of Typst. I do find the web version handy to share Typst examples and on occasion work on a document while syncing with private Github repository.

agentcoops 1y ago

I used LaTeX for decades and had convinced myself nothing could ever replace it. Just this month, however, I converted to Typst for a large project. Absolutely no regrets: undying respect to the great Knuth, but the experience with Typst is already simply better on almost every axis. I use TinyMist with vscode and the development experience is terrific. I was modifying templates within a day of picking it up, which—-skill issue undoubtedly—-always gave me nightmares in LaTeX.

imiric 1y ago
Speaking of skill, learning a new language is always daunting, but I found that LLMs do a pretty good job of generating Typst code. I relied on that a lot for generating snippets of code, and learning about the language, which would've taken me more time otherwise. Although the Typst docs are pretty good, regardless.
- commandersaki 1y ago
  Yep this is how I started my Typst journey. I was intimidated by Typst at first and wanted to do some mildly complicated documents that really isn't covered by the tutorial, so I had ChatGPT generate elements of the document I need. Now I'm a more self-sufficient being able to generate functions and use more complicated features of Typst and better exercise use of the docs.
- nonethewiser 1y ago
  What LLMs? In my experience they do a terrible job with Typst. Very frequently ChatGPT and Gemini will produce code that doesnt work. Im not sure if it's using an older syntax or just hallucinating. Additionally, it's rarely able to fix it after I provide the error and even copy-past docs. Maybe I was just unlucky or you had better luck with another model. But I was very surprised to here this because Typst is my chief example for a language that LLMs are bad at.
  - imiric 1y ago
    This was a few months ago, but mainly Claude Sonnet 3.5 IIRC. You can't escape hallucinations, of course, but they can be mitigated somewhat. Don't ask it to generate a bunch of code at once. Feed it a snippet of code, and tell it precisely what you want it to do. These are general LLM rules applicable to any language and project, and I've had success with them with Typst. I also used it just to get explanations, or general ideas about how to do something, and then figure out the actual syntax and working code myself. It's strange that you haven't had luck with pasting docs. That has usually worked well for me. I also think that LLMs don't struggle as much with Typst because the language is relatively simple, and there is little bad and outdated content about it online, so they weren't trained on it. I assume that the API probably hasn't changed as much either and there haven't been many compatibility issues, so it's not as important which version the LLM was trained on.

s777 1y ago

The online editor is extremely useful for quick projects with other people where real-time editing works better than git, and where people don't want to download tools.

weinzierl 1y ago

Speaking of core product and online editor: Over the decades many of the products I worked on developed some form of reporting feature. Not alway, but often they required PDF output. Not always, but often they ended up being LaTeX based, with all the nice and some of the ugly consequences. Especially the security story was never great. Does anyone know how hard it would be to integrate the Typst renderer into an existing Rust product?

tugten 1y ago
I embed the typst binary in a go binary deployed to cloud run. I use this to generate pdfs on the fly. I need to generate a 2 page invoice and i can generate it under 100 ms. IIRC, it's easier to integrate with rust. Since the pdf rendered is written in rust
lonjil 1y ago
Not particularly difficult. The main Typst crate should have you covered. I've seen quite a lot of projects that do it already.

jadbox 1y ago

I LOVE Marp! Why do you like Typst more than Marp for presentations?

optionalsquid 1y ago
I much preferred Marp to PowerPoint, but there were several parts of it I wasn't fond of: - Using CSS for formatting resulted in a lot of one-off rules, and was a lot noisier and less readable than the equivalent in Typst. - The use of CSS for formatting also meant that the Marp compiler couldn't catch most of my silly mistakes. With Typst the compiler will catch those mistakes. - Using a plugin to selectively highlight lines required writing a custom "engine" in JS, which was a pain to get working. Using a package in Typst is extremely simple. - And I had to use npm to install the plugin in the first place. Typst comes with a package manager built-in. - Generating PDFs required that I installed Chrome/Chromium. Typst does that out of the box. The only place, that I can think of, where Marp is ahead of Typst, is with regards to generating HTML based presentations. But that probably won't be the case forever, and I personally always use PDFs for the final presentation, since that means that a lot less can go wrong. Especially so if I am not using my own PC when giving the presentation

setopt 1y ago

> I originally picked up Typst as yet another replacement for PowerPoint I’ve also mainly used it for slides so far. Can recommend Slydst for that.

optionalsquid 1y ago
I've been using touying so far. It took some effort, since I was learning Typst at the same time, but I was able to convert our "official" PowerPoint template to a toying template that I am quite happy with. From what I can tell, Slydst seems intended for more minimalist slides. But it looks nice, so I'll have to keep it in mind for cases where I don't need the above template

dev_l1x_be 1y ago

How do you translate a bit more visually complex presentation to Typst? Should I create my iconography in SVG and try to position those?

optionalsquid 1y ago
What do you mean by a "more visually complex presentation"? Typst has some built in support for drawing shapes [1], but if you need more complex figures then cetz is also an option [2]. But if you mean animations (including animated transitions), then I do not believe that it is possible in Typst, since the output it outputs PDFs. I also do not believe that it is possible to embed multimedia in a document. [1] https://typst.app/docs/reference/visualize/ https://typst.app/docs/reference/visualize/ [2] https://typst.app/universe/package/cetz/ https://typst.app/universe/package/cetz/

culi 1y ago

isitreallyfoss.com did a break down on typst that goes more in-depth https://isitreallyfoss.com/projects/typst/ https://isitreallyfoss.com/projects/typst/ It seems mostly fine except for this bit: > The compiler includes a package manager “Typst Universe” that may connect to servers owned and operated by Typst GmbH

Aaron2222 1y ago
So do most package managers...
- echoangle 1y ago
  I think most package managers take the repository urls from config, with typst its hardcoded in the binary (right?).

__mharrison__ 1y ago

Converted to Typst last year from LaTeX for book authoring, invoices, and slides (was using a hand-rolled rst2ppt tool for slides). Happy to never touch LaTeX again. Typst is that good.

paradox460 1y ago

Did you ever use beamer? I've done a few presentations with it, and while I wouldn't call it great, I preferred it to PowerPoint or keynote