How you can help in the TeX community

First, one way to help that we can recommend to everyone is to join TUG or another TeX user group. This helps support the infrastructure of TeX and the TeX world.

The other items on this page are specific tasks we know of that need volunteers. If you have time and willingness to help with one, please get in touch at the indicated address. Thanks.

Documentation

Email karl@tug.org if you are interested in these:

• We'd like to collect small sample documents for the standard and other popular LaTeX classes, and for ConTeXt documents too. If you have any to share, please let me know. Several other template collections are available.
• We'd like to have an ‘introduction to LaTeX’ document that falls somewhere between the brevity of sample2e.tex and the completeness of A Not So Short Introduction, with a strong focus on examples rather than discursive explanations.
• The hyperref manual needs a thorough updating. The present maintainer has carefully documented changes in the NEWS file and sources, but the main manual lags behind.
• The dvips manual could use a systematic description of the specials that are accepted (and examination of the source code to find out what they are). Quite a few are documented, but not all. Other updates are probably needed too.
• The unofficial LaTeX reference manual needs much expansion and filling out.

Fonts

• Make a bold variant for the Concrete font family. There are substitutes but a true boldface would, in addition to making this font more widely useful, also increase the number of complete font families usable for mathematics. (Possibly an approach like the one taken by Ulrik Vieth of making changes to the parameters in the Metafont files would produce a solution.)
• Many interesting freely available fonts lack (La)TeX support. FontForge and ttf2pt1, otftotfm, and perhaps other tools can do most of the work. Email tex-fonts@math.utah.edu.

TeX programming

• Write something for plain TeX (ideally running on pdftex and luatex) to support font expansion and margin kerning as in the LaTeX microtype package. Supporting Computer Modern alone would be useful. This could be used for TUGboat and Texinfo, among others.
• The Lucida macros and documentation need an ongoing maintainer to fix bugs and make improvements. Email lucida-admin@tug.org.
• We can use endless help with TeX4ht in fixing bugs, adding features, improving the documentation, and everything else. Email tex4ht@tug.org.

C programming

• Supporting OpenType and perhaps TrueType in the long-standing but still active dvips program would be great, i.e., at least conversion to Type42. Perhaps some of the code from pdftex could be adapted. Email tex-k@tug.org.
• Also dvips: support PDF graphics.
• Also dvips: use subset tags in output font names (see whole thread).
• Windows: port Y&Y TeX tools such as Dviwindo and Dvipsone to current Windows TeX distributions, or incorporate their features in current software. Or, conversely, revamp and update Y&Y TeX itself for current systems and TeX.

TUG web site

Email webmaster@tug.org about these:

• The Converters between LaTeX and PC Textprocessors pages need a new maintainer, as detailed there.
• The TeX resources on the web page has grown wildly and haphazardly. Systematically checking links and organizing the entries would be great. This would best be done a little at a time, not in one giant effort.
• The mysterious TeX errors page needs some introductory text and general organization.

If you'd like to add an item to this page, or have other questions and suggestions, mail webmaster@tug.org. For general questions and discussion about TeX and related programs, mail texhax@tug.org.