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How to create a simple article in Latex - basic latex structure explained and a minimal document created

This is the first tutorial in the video tutorial series on how to learn Latex. In this tutorial I will show you how to create a very basic Latex document.

In order to get started you need to download Latex on your machine (Windows, Mac, Linux). You can download the right package for you from this page.

Here is the code from the tutorial. The video is attached with explanation. Hope this will come handy to you.


\documentclass[8pt,letterpaper]{article}
%\usepackage[left=12mm, top=0.5in, bottom=5in]{geometry}
\begin{document}
\title{A sample /Latex/ article by 5 minutes of Latex}
\maketitle
\section{Introduction}
This is a smaple introduction section.\\
This is a second line in the introduction.\\
This is a third line.
\section{Motivation}
\end{document}
The motivation behind this tutorial is to share the knowledge for the benefit of everyone who wants to start using Latex.

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Comments

  1. DavisJanuary 22, 2012 at 12:48 PM

    Thanks for posting this video. Is there a LaTeX reference guide that provides with a comprehensive list of document classes and their associated commands, as well as a list of different packages and an explanation on how they can be incorporated into different document classes, somewhere on the internet?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dinesh AgarwalJanuary 22, 2012 at 3:57 PM

      Dear Davis,

      I am afraid there is no such comprehensive website. Everything is available in bits and pieces here and there.

      Regards,
      Dinesh Agarwal

      Delete
  2. DavisJanuary 22, 2012 at 2:10 PM

    Thanks! I guess I will have to resign to a slow trial-error learning process then. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dinesh AgarwalJanuary 22, 2012 at 3:57 PM

      I know, it sucks bad. That is one of the reasons why I started this as a way to fall back to what I have learnt when I myself need it.

      Delete
  3. DavisJanuary 22, 2012 at 6:01 PM

    I've actually managed to find a good .pdf manual with LaTeX document classes, commands etc. Here is a link:
    http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/info/latex4wp/latex4wp.pdf

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dinesh AgarwalJanuary 22, 2012 at 7:05 PM

      Awesome, this will be a great resource for anyone looking for a comprehensive LaTeX document. Thank you.

      Delete
  4. AnonymousFebruary 2, 2012 at 7:21 PM

    Great videos, learning lots (and quickly!).

    Had a warning about the 8pt when I used it; from what others have wrote seems like {article} only supports 10, 11, and 12 pt. Just in case others run into the same warning as I did.

    Keep up the great work Denish and thanks again for the videos.

    Martin

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dinesh AgarwalFebruary 3, 2012 at 6:15 PM

      Thank you Martin for those nice words. I am glad my efforts are useful to you all.

      Regards,
      Dinesh Agarwal

      Delete
  5. AnonymousJune 28, 2012 at 10:52 PM

    Hi
    Could some pass me the link for complete latex.i had downloaded latex with texworks and then latex with winedit.All seem to work with editing but there is never a run option or the run option never generates d pdf i require.Could some one advice.
    Thanks
    Sonia

    ReplyDelete
  6. newmanJuly 12, 2013 at 3:18 AM

    anyone please share link to download free latex software

    ReplyDelete

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