On 08.08.2011, at 13:30, Sebastian wrote: > Thanks for all the advice! :) > > I have downloaded the biblatex package and I am able to open all the files > in that folder, but I have no clue what to do with it. Is this a "normal" > program, like TeXShop, BibDesk or Pages that I can double click to open a > new window where I can click on what I want to happen next? Or does this > rather work in the background? How do I work with it than? > > My question probably shows how new I am to LaTex and related stuff. On the > web I could not find a step by step users guide for dummies that explains > how to get started. Also the long pdf manual that comes with the package, > seems to assume, I already know where to open and how to use this.
The best way to start is probably still the «The Not So Short Introduction to LATEX2ε» which can be found here: http://tobi.oetiker.ch/lshort/lshort.pdf. I try to give a very compact to your questions though: LaTeX is markup language. You normally have .tex files which are really just plain text files which are then processed by the LaTeX program (most of the times this will be the pdf(la)tex implementation). This then produces a pdf. TeXShop is just one possible interface for this workflow: Here you have a text editor, various tex engines (among them pdflatex) and PDF viewer integrated into one app. In a latex document you call, according to your needs, different packages which will expand the abilities of LaTeX. Biblatex is a relatively new and very versatile package which helps with bibliographic data. > > I am also confused about the relationship of biblatex, biblatex-biber and > biber. Are these alternatives, or different things that I all need? Now, we come to the bibliographic part: In the past the setup was the following: You have a .tex file which is your main document, you have .bib file which contains your bibliographic data. The specific bibliographic entries will be called by various \cite commands in the tex file. This calls are written into a separate .aux file which is in turn read by the bibtex program. The bibtex program will look in the .bib for the entries written in the .aux file and write them to yet another another file, a .bbl file. The next time you run LaTeX on your .tex file, the data in the .bbl file will be output in the final pdf. The way the bibliographic data is handled is defined in the bibtex styles which come as so called .bst files. BibDesk is just a (very good frontend) for .bib files which can also generate pdf previews by going the route described above. While this bibtex/bst setup has worked well for more than two decades, it has several limitations. This is where biblatex comes in. In the beginning, biblatex was "just" a package which got rid of the .bst files. The whole formatting of the bibliographic data is done in .bbx and .cbx files which are pure LaTeX. The .bib file itself was still handled by the bibtex program. Since bibtex (the program) has several severe limitations, the biber program was written. It's a replacement for bibtex especially designed for biblatex which is, among other things, fully Unicode compliant and allows complex sorting. At the moment, biblatex can be used with both bibtex and biber, although there are already several features which are biber-only. In the not too distant future, biblatex will completely drop bibtex as backend. This was a lot of information in a very compact way and I don't expect you to fully understand it. So, if you have questions, please ask. Just one piece of advice: In my experience, the first LaTeX are best undertook under the guidance of someone experience with LaTeX. Two or three hours with someone in the know can replace a lot of reading and experimenting. Simon -- Simon Spiegel Steinhaldenstr. 50 8002 Zürich Telephon: ++41 44 451 5334 Mobophon: ++41 76 459 6039 http://www.simifilm.ch „Jeder von uns muss noch ein bisschen was dazulernen.“ Helmut Schmidt ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ BlackBerry® DevCon Americas, Oct. 18-20, San Francisco, CA The must-attend event for mobile developers. Connect with experts. Get tools for creating Super Apps. See the latest technologies. Sessions, hands-on labs, demos & much more. Register early & save! http://p.sf.net/sfu/rim-blackberry-1 _______________________________________________ Bibdesk-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bibdesk-users
