Added chapter on outlines

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Kenneth John Odle 2024-07-02 17:21:16 -04:00
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commit 4ec046d0bb

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%% Just for Issue #005 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %% Just for Issue #005 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\usepackage{outlines}
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@ -382,6 +383,84 @@ Dependency hell is suppposed to be a thing of the past, so I'm not quite sure wh
It's possible that the snap was configured wrong. It's also possible that I borked\footnote{I.e., I misconfigured or broke something.} something without realizing it when I was doing something else. (I do have a tendency to tinker with things under the hood.) Unlike the days of old I did not have to spend hours or days trying to figure this out. A couple of quick web searches got me up and running again. It's possible that the snap was configured wrong. It's also possible that I borked\footnote{I.e., I misconfigured or broke something.} something without realizing it when I was doing something else. (I do have a tendency to tinker with things under the hood.) Unlike the days of old I did not have to spend hours or days trying to figure this out. A couple of quick web searches got me up and running again.
\chapter{Easy Outlines in \LaTeX{}}
Ever since I first learned about outlining in high school (or was it earlier?) I've always loved being able to organize information hierarchically. The irony is that I also love biology and the natural world does not necessarily organize itself in a hierarchical way. Cross-pollination and inter-species breeding is a thing.
You can use the built-in \texttt{enumerate} environment to create outlines, but it requires lots and lots of embedded environments. (\texttt{html} is the same way—an occupational hazard, I suppose.) I grew up using a typewriter, so I've always been looking for something simpler.
Loading it is pretty easy, as it has no options. You just add this to your preamble:
\begin{Verbatim}[]
\usepackage{outlines}
\end{Verbatim}
and then you use the \texttt{outline} environment like this:
\begin{Verbatim}[frame=lines, numbers=left, xleftmargin=5mm, framesep=3mm, breaklines=true, label=\fbox{outlines Example}]
\begin{outline}
\1 First Item
\2 First sub-item
\2 Second sub-item
\1 Second Item
\2 Another sub-item
\2 A fourth sub-item
\3 A sub-sub-item
\3 Yet another sub-item
\end{outline}
\end{Verbatim}
which gives us this beautiful bean footage:
\begin{outline}
\1 First Item
\2 First sub-item
\2 Second sub-item
\1 Second Item
\2 Another sub-item
\2 A fourth sub-item
\3 A sub-sub-item
\3 Yet another sub-item
\end{outline}
The indents in your source code are absolutely not necessary, but you can indent with tabs or spaces to help you keep visual track of things. The levels are controlled by the number after the backslash.
A couple of caveats: First, you are limited to four levels of indentation. (This is a part of \LaTeX{}.) But you can always introduce a normal, non-itemized paragraph into your list by using \verb|\0| as a list item, which prevents you from having to end a previous environment and creating a new one.
\begin{Verbatim}[frame=lines, numbers=left, xleftmargin=5mm, framesep=3mm, breaklines=true, label=\fbox{outlines Example with Normal Paragraph}]
\begin{outline}[enumerate]
\1 First Item
\2 First sub-item
\2 Second sub-item
\0 This is a non-itemized, non-indented paragraph
\1 Second Item
\2 Another sub-item
\3 A sub-sub-item
\3 Yet another sub-item
\end{outline}
\end{Verbatim}
gives us this:
\begin{outline}[enumerate]
\1 First Item
\2 First sub-item
\2 Second sub-item
\0 This is a non-itemized, non-indented paragraph
\1 Second Item
\2 Another sub-item
\3 A sub-sub-item
\3 Yet another sub-item
\end{outline}
This also resets all the counters after that normal paragraph. I think this is fairly typical behavior for outlines, however.
I also passed the \texttt{[enumerate]} option to the environment, so that instead of symbols, it uses numbers and letters to label the list items, rather than symbols. I like this.
\chapter{Coda} \chapter{Coda}
\section{What I Learned About \LaTeX{} While Creating This Issue} \section{What I Learned About \LaTeX{} While Creating This Issue}