A WYSIWYG Document Editor to Solve the Issue of Writing Documents with Math Elements and Avoid the Steep Learning Curve of a Plain LaTeX Editor
Qinzhi Li, Ang Li · 2024
This project addresses the issue of needing a fast and simple document editor that provides more functionality than Notepad and is less complicated than Microsoft Word, also supporting writing math equations with LaTeX [4]. Existing simple document structures like Markdown might have a learning curve for inexperienced users due to the lack of a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) interface [6], and documents written on pure LaTeX have an even steeper learning curve [4]. In this paper, we present the QuickQuill editor, a WYSIWYG document editor than produces document that can be converted into LaTeX. By breaking down content into different nodes in a tree structure, the QuickQuill is a web-based editor that enables efficient rendering and editing of different elements. Math elements are managed with an interface like Desmos [7]. In this paper, we discuss our ways to handle: (1) synchronization between the internal JavaScript Object and the user-modified DOM with a JSON [5] based schema; (2) ensure data integrity; (3) maintaining user friendly editing interface; and (4) handling inconsistence between browsers. This paper will also discuss using ProseMirror [14], a popular rich editing framework.