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Martin Brandenburg (Feb 18 2025 at 22:23):During the winter vacations I wanted to code something for fun with Svelte 5, and I also reminded myself that I always wanted to have a basic visual diagram editor that generates tikzcd code and which is intuitive and easy to use*. So I made the tikzcd creator. Please check it out and let me know what you think! The idea of the user interface is to make it dead simple and also enjoyable to use. Even on mobile. The diagram is generated step by step.
The code is on GitHub, where you also find some demos. :technologist:
*Nothing against quiver, but for me it's a bit too complex :face_in_clouds: . Notice that the tikzcd creator is way less advanced than quiver!
PS: I was not so sure if this is the correct channel to announce such projects. I saw the clowder project has been announced here. But there is also "community: our work" and "practice: software". Please let me know if it is more appropriate there. Then my next big announcement ( :shushing_face:) will be there. ;)
John Baez (Feb 18 2025 at 22:51):Hi! I like your thesis!
If you post to "community: our work" the tradition would be for you to start a thread called "Martin Brandenburg" and occasionally tell us what you're doing.
I forget what people do on "practice: software", but that might be good too.
Nathanael Arkor (Feb 18 2025 at 23:03):(For what it's worth, if there are aspects of quiver that you find make it difficult to use, I would like to hear about them so I can improve the experience.)
Mike Shulman (Feb 19 2025 at 01:46):The tikzcd creator is neat!
I find it a little unintuitive that (if I understand correctly) it forces you to proceed step by step, first creating all the nodes, then all the arrows, then all the labels, etc. At first I thought it was just walking me through the steps in the tutorial, but if so I can't find a way to get out of the tutorial.
Martin Brandenburg (Feb 19 2025 at 02:14):Mike Shulman said:
The tikzcd creator is neat!
I find it a little unintuitive that (if I understand correctly) it forces you to proceed step by step, first creating all the nodes, then all the arrows, then all the labels, etc. At first I thought it was just walking me through the steps in the tutorial, but if so I can't find a way to get out of the tutorial.
Thanks for the feedback!
Yeah that's basically the whole idea of this application: to develop the diagram step by step. The reason is that personally (!) I am overwhelmed with a menu where I can do everything at a time (that would be kind of the alternative I guess), and I wouldn't know immediately what to use which for. So my idea was to focus just on one task. And let the UI guide you.
Maybe it isn't working for everyone, though.
I also noticed that this approach works best if I already have a diagram on paper and would like to TeX it.
Developing a new diagram with my editor is unfortunately a mess because for these diagrams you will most certainly not do all the nodes, all the arrows, etc. but rather jump between the steps.
Maybe I should add breadcrumbs or something like that so that jumping is easier.
Or just ditch the whole step by step approach :laughing:
Martin Brandenburg (Feb 19 2025 at 02:25):Or maybe both. I could keep the current "tutorial" (as you name it), and once it's finished, don't show this type of UI again, but rather a menu which makes it possible to edit everything at once. I will think about it.
Martin Brandenburg (Feb 19 2025 at 02:27):Nathanael Arkor said:
(For what it's worth, if there are aspects of quiver that you find make it difficult to use, I would like to hear about them so I can improve the experience.)
Alright, will do that! I think I will choose the existing quiver conversation for that. But as mentioned, these might be things that aren't necessarily relevant for all users.