Install an editor with GUI for LaTeX

We assume in this section that you have already installed your LaTeX distribution, say TeXLive or MikTeX.

The question is, how to prepare a LaTeX document and use it. LaTeX is like a programming language and based on certain commands in the file that we create, it will format the output file and deliver to us.

LaTeX documents starts with the declaration of the document type; article, book, letter, etc. It must have a \begin command, and an \end command. An absolutely simple, minimal latex file looks like the following:

\documentclass{article}
 

\begin{document}

Hello world! This is my first \LaTeX document.

\end{document}

So the first step is to create a file called sample.tex and save it, then issue the command

latex sample.tex

for compiling (creating the output file) it in your command line (cmd in windows, shell in Linux). The output file will be saved as a dvi file named sample.dvi. Open it using a dvi viewer Yap in windows / KDVI,Okular in Linux.

For tying the LaTeX file we can use any text editor like Notepad in Windows/gedit,Emacs etc in Linux. But never use MS Word or Open Office writer for creating .tex files as they will create binary files instead of text files which LaTeX may not be able to process.

There is something known as LaTeX editors which will give you a single GUI for typing/editing/compiling LaTeX source files. They will also provide a way to open the output DVI files directly from this interface. Most popular examples in Windows OS are WinEdt(Shareware), TeXMaker, TeXnic Center, etc. Linux, the popular editor is Kile.

Winedt is a shareware means that you can use it for 30 days as trial and after 30 days, for buying the software, a reminder popup will come up. (Here is a nice article on "how to disable this reminder popup in WinEdt"). TeXMaker and TeXniccenter are open source free softwares and so you can use it as long as you want.

Installing WinEdt/TeXmaker/TeXnic center is quite trivial. Just download the exe file from the respective sites, and double click to execute it and follow the on screen instructions. You are done!

You may see the download links for WinEdt - the most popular/comfortable LaTeX editor for windows on the right and bottom of this page.