Use-cases

[rorybyrne]

What are the intended use-cases for this? A few come to my mind:

1. A user has LaTeX files on their machine. When they run notpaper, a local server is started at localhost where they can browse their files (like Jupyter Notebooks). The files will be automatically rendered when the user opens them in the web interface.
2. A user finds a LaTeX (or PDF?) file online. They visit a dedicated website and enter the link to the file. The website then renders it for the user.
3. A user wants to find new research. They visit a website which is backed by a database of LaTeX files. They can browse the contents of the files in a non-linear manner.

Is there another intended use-case I'm missing?

The user personas of 1, 2 and 3 are quite different and have potentially conflicting implications for the tool's design. It would be wise to narrow down "who" has this problem, and what specifically the problem is, before trying to design a solution.

[thesamovar]

At the simplest, anything to do with just a lower effort way of reading a paper. Could be done locally or run remotely.

Stepping up, you could imagine journals switching to this as the primary way of reading a paper.

Stepping up more, it could be the basis of a more open science thing, where all papers are naturally interlinked.