Editorial Wish List

This "wish list" was first published in TUGboat 14(4), December 1993, and you may click here for the complete article. You, the readers, probably have some suggestions too and you might also consider becoming an author or volunteering in some other way. Send in your suggestions, or declare your intentions, in a message to TUGboat@tug.org.

Looking for Authors

These are some of the topics on which the editor is looking for authors. Add your own suggestions or volunteer! Send e-mail to TUGboat@tug.org with details.

• help with the interview series with people who have influenced TeX and TUG
• real product reviews of both commercial and PD TeX implementations and other software, also macro packages like pstricks, etc.
• surveys of TeX implementations for particular hardware/operating system combinations, with comparisons of features
• "road map" to the CTAN TeX areas
• more tutorials and expository material, particularly for new users and users who aren't intending to become TeX wizards; one possibility: answers to the "top ten" questions sent to comp.text.tex by people writing dissertations
• "how to" articles -- how to build your own style based on, say, article.sty, how to include an abstract and other stuff in the full-width block at the top of a two-column article, etc.
• comparative analyses of style files that address the same problem, e.g., crop marks
• crossword puzzles for the whole TeX community

Reminder to potential TUGboat authors

• Technical articles will be refereed.
• It's easier for the production staff if a submission has already been tagged according to TUGboat style. Retrieve the official and up-to-date plain and LaTeX style files for TUGboat. (They're on CTAN, and also in standard TeX distributions.)

  For authors without net connections, contact the TUG office for information on how to obtain the style files and instructions.

• Actually test the file(s) as submitted. If additional macros or style options are required, send them along, or say where you obtained the version you are using. The same goes for fonts. Nothing is more discouraging than trying to send a file through (La)TeX and finding out that something is missing, or a control sequence isn't defined (perhaps just because something is spelled wrong).
• An alternative to testing the files yourself is to ask a TeX friend, preferably one with a different TeX system, to run the article and read it before you submit it. This would not only shake out any site-specific constraints, but would give you the benefit of a second pair of eyes checking your spelling, the flow of ideas, and so forth. This isn't a replacement for the referee process, but a good test of portability and lucidity.

A brief comment on the level to which articles might be directed: contrary to popular opinion, the desired level is not "by some great expert, for the edification of other great experts" [Anna Russell, in her analysis of Wagner's Ring der Nibelungen]. I continue to hope for good introductory and elementary material, though no one seems to want to write it, at least not for TUGboat. I'd like to be proven wrong! Remember -- it isn't possible to publish something in TUGboat that hasn't been written or submitted.

Call for Volunteers

• Referees: If you are interested in reading submissions to TUGboat before publication, and "assist[ing] authors in creating articles that are of maximum value to the TUGboat readership," [Victor Eijkhout, TUGboat 11(4), p. 605] this could be a job for you. Send a message to the TUGboat@tug.org address stating your availability, listing your specific interests and experience, and identifying any restrictions.

• Columnists: TUGboat covers a wide variety of subject areas, only some of which appear in any particular issue. Yours truly comes across a lot of ideas through reading the TeX-related network discussions, but only rarely has time to follow them up. A volunteer with a strong interest in a particular subject and fewer distractions than the editor could follow up such leads and twist arms (gently, of course) to bring useful information into print.

  There are two tracks that a columnist can follow: actually writing a regular or occasional column, or, for someone with a particularly solid background in the area, tactfully persuading someone else to do the work, and acting as midwife until the article is delivered ready to publish. After a suitable internship, columnists of the latter variety may be promoted to associate editor (see the list on the reverse of the title page of the journal). If you are interested in either track, a message to TUGboat@tug.org would be welcomed.

• Production assistance: This is a more problematic area, as the successful production of an issue of TUGboat requires that every file and every font be available to and compatible with the equipment on which the camera copy is generated. However, sometimes it's useful to have someone to call on to generate fonts, vet macro files (I always assume that if the author doesn't specify otherwise, the current version on CTAN will work properly, an assumption that isn't always warranted), and help fight other fires. If you're an experienced (La)TeX user and are interested in this sort of challenge, send a message to TUGboat@tug.org with the details of the system you're working on -- computer, operating system, implementation and version of TeX and METAFONT, output device(s) available. Previous production experience is a big plus, and a direct Internet connection a necessity.