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Message-ID:  <32224.1288248799@cl.cam.ac.uk>
Date:         Thu, 28 Oct 2010 07:53:19 +0100
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From: Robin Fairbairns <Robin.Fairbairns@CL.CAM.AC.UK>
Subject: Re: New "interfaces" package
To: LATEX-L@listserv.uni-heidelberg.de
In-Reply-To:  Your message of Thu, 28 Oct 2010 16:12:16 +1030. 
              <C375E494-10D0-47E9-8B30-97FED78F51F2@gmail.com>
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Status: R

Will Robertson <wspr81@GMAIL.COM> wrote:

> There's an interesting new package on CTAN called "interfaces"
> (http://ctan.org/pkg/interfaces) that does the sort of thing I've been
> thinking for a long time now would be useful (or at least interesting)
> for LaTeX.

thanks for picking that up: i was quite excited when it came for
installation, but feel inhibited about being the first to praise...

> What it does is take a large selection of non-related packages and
> apply a consistent interface on top of them all. E.g., enumitem,
> titlesec, fancyhdr, and so on, are all given wrappers with keyval
> options for their use.
> 
> I think it's an interesting idea to "endorse" a particular set of
> well-used packages, although long term I'd prefer for the packages
> themselves to offer such an interface natively. This is also an
> interesting project because it maps out the scope of what requirements
> might be necessary for a possible future LaTeX3 "document
> specification". (Also see ConTeXt MkIV which would make for a good
> comparison here.)

it occurs to me (only now, reading your post) that since i've long felt
the need for a keyval interface to footmisc (at least) and that since
interfaces is a more convenient way to achieve that (by comparison with
what was impeding my will to "get on with it"), i've really no excuse
for not "getting on with it.

robin

(development of footmisc started over christmas 1993, using the first
beta-release of latex 2e, which didn't manage the Ł symbol...)