# We're Still Deciding This One

## Archive for June 2008

### Trying Out WordPress: Images and LaTeX

Posted on: June 6, 2008

## But First, Quotes!

Here are two quotes on writing by Isaac Asimov:

Plate glass…has no beauty of its own. Ideally, you ought not to be able to see it at all, but through it you can see all that is happening outside. That is the equivalent of writing that is plain and unadorned. Ideally, in reading such writing, you are not even aware that you are reading. Ideas and events seem merely to flow from the mind of the writer into that of the reader without any barrier between. I hope that is what is happening when you read this book.

Isaac Asimov, I. Asimov

Writing, to me, is simply thinking through my fingers.

Isaac Asimov (source unknown)

## Feature Tests

As a newbie I need to test some features.

1. Image upload and options—WordPress gives you 5GB of space absolutely free! (It’s not easy to use a large portion of it, though, without buying extra features. See the Upgrades page here.)
2. Attention all Math Enthusiasts: WordPress has a $\LaTeX$ renderer! See the documentation here: WordPress LaTeX FAQ
3. Embedded media—cool!—but I won’t test that now.

### Images

Image test: the Toco toucan, in a medium size, supposedly centered, clickable image:

### $\LaTeX$

Here is an example of the $\LaTeX$ engine at work:

$-\frac{\hbar^2}{2m}\nabla^2 \Psi + V\Psi=i \hbar \frac{\partial \Psi}{\partial t}$

Unfortunately since the output is rendered it does not scale. Fortunately, the WP engine is smart and determines the LaTeX colors based on the current theme.

At this point, I felt to include some some links to online LaTeX equation-editors:

(excerpted from a class e-mail, emphases added)

Well… actually that message was just an excuse to tell you about these online LaTeX equation editors. I’m just a bit excited because I was always looking for a tool to create individual LaTeX formulas for direct copying and pasting to, say, Powerpoint presentations, without dealing with a whole TeX document.

It’s also useful if you do a paper collaboration (as lame as it sounds, my IM conversations have lots of formulas…). Also, it looks great for learning LaTeX and for testing new commands you learn (without worrying about errors somewhere else in your code).

If you’re looking for the inverse problem (a graphical interface to write formulas that gives you the LaTeX code) you can use LyX, or download

http://www.dessci.com/en/products/texaide/

Anyway, sorry for the spam…! 🙂

### The Purpose of This Blog

Posted on: June 4, 2008

I created this blog:

• to understand how WP works, mainly to help my friend at http://www.hooftalk.com/ but also for myself;
• to learn, eventually, how to customize a free WP site to the extent that I could make it do anything I need, within the framework’s limits.

Once I learn how WP works (the basics aren’t hard, I know) I can teach my friend how to maintain his own blog.  (It’s at http://hooftalk.wordpress.com/ but it’s just a template so far.)

In time, I hope you find something useful, helpful, or enjoyable here!

### Blog Creation

Posted on: June 3, 2008