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Project ideas from Hacker News discussions.

Show HN: TeXbrain, a LaTeX editor that runs pdfTeX in the browser via WASM

Original Article

Hacker News Discussion

📝 Discussion Summary (Click to expand)

Theme 1: Enthusiasm and Praise
- copperx: "Well done!"
- Gualdrapo: "This is super cool."
- raybb: "I love this use of wasm!"

Theme 2: Compatibility Issues and Troubleshooting
- kccqzy: "Does this work on Firefox or Safari? … I can’t get this fallback to work."
- zahrevsky: "I'm on Safari, and it seems you can open your local LaTeX file to use the tool. It's an “Open file” button at the top."
- kccqzy: "I copy‑pasted a random LaTeX doc … got the error … Font OT1/cmr/m/n/10.95=cmr10 at 10.95pt not loadable: Bad metric (TFM) file."

Theme 3: Feature Requests, Alternatives, and Related Tools
- thangalin: "I wrote a Markdown → ConTeXt → PDF editor that may interest you. https://keenwrite.com/"
- kccqzy: "I usually use pandoc for converting my Markdown, which goes via LaTeX. Is there a specific reason you picked ConTeXt?"
- apetresc: "Anyone know if this includes TikZ?"
- raybb: "I've really enjoyed Typst the past few years and even made a few books with it. Have you ever tried that or have thought on it?"

🚀 Project Ideas

Generating project ideas…

ConTexEdit – Cross‑Browser WASM LaTeX/ConTeXt IDE

Summary

  • A browser‑based IDE that compiles LaTeX and ConTeXt via WebAssembly, with a robust fallback to IndexedDB/service‑worker storage for Safari and Firefox.
  • Core value: zero‑install, instant compilation with clear, inline error diagnostics and one‑click TikZ preview.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Academics, technical writers, students who need LaTeX/ConTeXt editing without a local TeX install
Core Feature WASM‑powered TeX Live engine + live PDF preview + error‑highlighter
Tech Stack Rust compiled to WASM (TeX Live core), React/Vue frontend, CodeMirror, IndexedDB fallback, Web Workers
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Hobby

Notes

  • Quote: kccqzy: “I wish there was something like this for ConTeXt too.” and “fallback to a virtual filesystem” issues.
  • Potential for discussion: could become a go‑to tool for teaching LaTeX, open‑source contributions, integrates with GitHub Gists.

Markdown‑to‑ConTeXt Flow – Live Markdown editor with ConTeXt export

Summary

  • A web app (and optional VS Code extension) that lets users write in Markdown, instantly see a ConTeXt‑rendered PDF preview, and export to .tex or .pdf.
  • Core value: bridges the Markdown writing experience with ConTeXt’s superior typography, eliminating the need for manual pandoc chains.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Writers, bloggers, researchers who prefer Markdown but need ConTeXt output
Core Feature Markdown parser → ConTeXt translator + live preview via WASM ConTeXt engine
Tech Stack React, CodeMirror, marked.js, custom translator, WASM ConTeXt engine (shared with ConTexEdit)
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Hobby

Notes

  • Quote: thangalin: “I wrote a Markdown -> ConTeXt -> PDF editor that may interest you.” and keenwrite.com.
  • Potential: Could be packaged as a VS Code extension, attract academic writers, spark discussion about workflow improvements.

TeXLogLens – Inline LaTeX/ConTeXt error interpreter for web editors

Summary

  • A lightweight library that parses TeX log output, highlights the offending line in the editor, and suggests common fixes (missing packages, font errors, capacity exceeded).
  • Core value: turns cryptic log messages into actionable feedback, reducing debugging time for browser‑based TeX tools.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Developers of web LaTeX editors, educators, power users struggling with obscure errors
Core Feature Log parser + UI overlay that maps log positions to source code, with auto‑suggested fixes
Tech Stack TypeScript, Web Workers for parsing, integrable with CodeMirror/Monaco
Difficulty Low‑Medium
Monetization Hobby

Notes

  • Quote: kccqzy: “I got the error … not clear where the error was coming from.” and “TeX capacity exceeded… again unclear line 39 of which package.”
  • Potential: Could be offered as a plugin for existing tools like latex.to, Overleaf, or Keenwrite, sparking discussion about improving UX.

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