I’m confused on the metadata for MMD3 and using it in Scrivener.
I don’t have metadata defined except from within Scrivener (author, etc). I just added a page before my DRAFT in Scrivener and include it as-is. TeXShop compiles it into a PDF, so am I missing something by excluding the metadata from a page in Scrivener? Is my approach of including a preamble in Scrivener correct?
Are you using MMD3 or 2? If the former, a better way is to put your preamble into a .tex file by itself and then use \input{} to include it. You can use the dedicated MMD3 meta-data key “LaTeX Input” to insert inputs, turning the meta-data block into a little document designer. Basically:
LaTeX Input: header.tex
Title: xxxx
Author: xxxx
Etc…
LaTeX Input: document_begin.tex
LaTeX Footer: footer.tex
You’d insert those either into the compiler, as an initial document in the draft called “Meta-Data”. One or the other, not both.
If the latter, see how article.xslt is formed in your MultiMarkdown support folder. This is a good example of a “wrapper” XSLT that isn’t doing much except for describing its own custom document container code, including preamble.
I think I’m using MMD3 – I loaded it on my Mac with the extras package, so Scrivener should “see” it, right?
I guess I’m still not seeing the advantage of using the Metadata vs a preamble that has the document parts, etc. I’ve downloaded a bunch of MMD and LaTeX references, so I’m digging through them now. If you could point me to a good reference on the topic I’d appreciate it.
Thanks again.
Yes, the support package is the one that installs some helper scripts in a location that Scrivener monitors.
I’m not so sure if it is an advantage per se, what advantage there is to it is less obvious in Scrivener, but keep in mind MMD wasn’t design for Scrivener, but rather as a pleasant way to write plain-text files in a way that can be output to nice looking or useful formats. So it was designed to keep clutter down to a minimum and present a readable alternative to bunches of codes and such at the top of the document to set things up. It’s easier to hide that kind of stuff in Scrivener, so that particular aspect isn’t quite as strong. As one who writes directly in the MMD format in plain-text editors for a good solid chunk of every day, I can tell you I appreciate that it has a meta-data system for assigning document layouts. It means the document does not have a raft of alternates for different formats at the top. LaTeX code in a file that might more often be heading for HTML, or HTML in a document that is mostly used for OTF, etc. Meta-Data is clean, often abstracted from format, and easy to switch up.