Re: [PATCH] Add margin option to float for figure in ox-latex.el

[Thomas S. Dye]

Aloha Kyle,

This patch produces a LaTeX environment, marginfigure, that isn't 
part of the standard.  AFAIK, marginfigure is defined in the 
sidenotes package and separately in the tufte-latex class, neither 
of which Org mode loads by default.  If the patch is applied, then 
one of these packages should be added to the list of default LaTeX 
packages so ox-latex doesn't export code it is unable to compile.

My takeaway from the discussion surrounding ox-tufte-latex several 
years ago is that support for non-standard LaTeX constructs should 
not be part of Org mode core because they complicate maintenance 
unduly.

I haven't used ox-tufte-latex since I last used paper handouts at 
a presentation several years ago, so I don't know if it still 
works.  However, it really was cobbled together, a process that 
involved copying big chunks of Org mode code.  I knew then this 
approach is sub-optimal, but never found the time to puzzle out 
how to turn it into advice that could sit on top of a possibly 
changing code base.

Also, FYI, I found the tufte-latex class a bit difficult to use. 
Objects in the margin can easily overwrite one another and the 
author has to fix these manually, which can be tricky.  The upside 
is that when everything is right, the output can be terrific to 
look at.

All the best,
Tom

Kyle Meyer writes:

> Pablo Palazon writes:
>
> > I've created a path to add a new option to float properties for 
> > figures on
> > latex. This is my first change for org-mode, and I don't really 
> > sure if
> > this is the correct way to do it.
>
> Thank you!
>
> > * lisp/ox-latex.el (org-latex--inline-image): Include margin 
> > option
> > to create marginfigure environment for figures. It's useful for 
> > tufte
> > latex class, where with this environment shows the figure in 
> > the margin.
>
> I wondered if something like this had been proposed or discussed 
> before.
> Searching the list, I see a patch [0] very similar to yours from 
> a
> couple of months back that didn't get a response (author added 
> to cc).
>
> Further back, there is a thread about an exporter Thomas Dye 
> (+cc) wrote
> to handle marginfigure and some other Tufte-y things [1].  It 
> looks like
> the code is available at 
> <https://github.com/tsdye/tufte-org-mode>,
> though I'm not sure if it still works with the current Org.
>
> As for the proposed patch, while I think the specific code 
> change itself
> looks fine, skimming through the above thread makes me think 
> that adding
> marginfigure to ox-latex.el without considering similar cases 
> may not be
> the right approach.  What do others think?
>
>
> [0]: 
> https://yhetil.org/orgmode/address@hidden/
> [1]: https://yhetil.org/orgmode/address@hidden/


--
Thomas S. Dye
https://tsdye.online/tsdye