Yes! Here's what I want in a modern successor to LaTeX:
- Default output is PDF (DVI is a port on my computer :) )
- Optional DOC/DOCX output (even if it supports just a subset of the program's capabilities)
- Bibliography management built-in (no separate ancient BibTeX)
- Command-line searching and importing from Pubmed / Google Scholar / etc. built-in
- Bibliography styles can be created/edited by normal humans
- Syntax closer to Markdown or reStructuredText, to enhance readability of source file (and maybe shrink the learning curve)
- Program is smaller than 1.6 GB (the size of the default MacTeX distro).
I've played with writing something like this for a while (in Python). The hardest part for me has been dealing with bibliography data - there's always one more weird Pubmed record that breaks my XML parser. Makes me really appreciate Knuth/Lamport/Patashnik and their successors.
Some answers:
- Default output to PDF has been there for years.
- The base .tex syntax will probably never change, but there is no reason why some tool/plugin/luatex extension couldn't read something else and convert as necessary. I used Deplate and Pandoc for a while.
- AFAIK ConTeXt has some integrated replacement for bibtex
I don't think we need a successor to LaTeX. The base is solid and ready to be built on, especially now with a sane programming language in the core of LuaTeX.
1. Default output is PDF (DVI is a port on my computer :) )
Pdftex (the default Tex engine) supports this. Both Xetex and Luatex do as well, and both of these additionally assume UTF8 as the input encoding and allow you to use True Type and OTF fonts directly.
2. Optional DOC/DOCX output (even if it supports just a subset of the program's capabilities)
igneous4 mentioned Pandoc, which supports RTF as an output format, which is as good as doc/docx for importing text with basic formatting into Word. Pandoc also supports Context. If you want to move the other way, there is docx2tex, which is the best Word to Latex converter.
3. Bibliography management built-in (no separate ancient BibTeX)
I think there's nothing satisfactory here for Latex. You might like to look at Jabref. With Context, the automatic build process makes the invocation of Bibtex invisible. There are many make-like tools for Latex, none are seamless.
4. Command-line searching and importing from Pubmed / Google Scholar / etc. built-in
Again, nothing built-in, but Zotero will do what you want.
5. Bibliography styles can be created/edited by normal humans
Again, nothing adequate here. Try looking at Biblatex. I hand/regex edit .bbl files if I have special bib style needs.
6. Syntax closer to Markdown or reStructuredText, to enhance readability of source file (and maybe shrink the learning curve)
Tex's markup is actually nice. I often wish I could use Texisms when I am editing Markdown, etc. Pandoc allows you to convert between all of these.
7. Program is smaller than 1.6 GB (the size of the default MacTeX distro).
Most of which is fonts. If you have less than voracious font needs, or use TTF/OTF (via. Luatex/Xetex), you can get away with a small fraction of this. Try a more lightweight Texlive installation, and find out what you need.
The hardest part for me has been dealing with bibliography data - No surprise. Bibliography management used to be a relative strength of the Tex family, because the competition was so extremely shoddy. Now it is a weakness; Word 2010 with Endnote is actually very nice here. It's a shame that relatively few Latex hackers appreciate how far behind Tex&co have fallen.
Makes me really appreciate Knuth/Lamport/Patashnik - Knuth is inspirational, his code keeps on rewarding those who read it. Patashnik doesn't get much love from me: he held so many wrong opinions vehemently.
- Default output is PDF (DVI is a port on my computer :) )
- Optional DOC/DOCX output (even if it supports just a subset of the program's capabilities)
- Bibliography management built-in (no separate ancient BibTeX)
- Command-line searching and importing from Pubmed / Google Scholar / etc. built-in
- Bibliography styles can be created/edited by normal humans
- Syntax closer to Markdown or reStructuredText, to enhance readability of source file (and maybe shrink the learning curve)
- Program is smaller than 1.6 GB (the size of the default MacTeX distro).
I've played with writing something like this for a while (in Python). The hardest part for me has been dealing with bibliography data - there's always one more weird Pubmed record that breaks my XML parser. Makes me really appreciate Knuth/Lamport/Patashnik and their successors.