• The text editor has unlimited undos, but it is important to note that the undo buffer is flushed when the "Clear" or "Apply" command buttons are depressed.

• If no area of the editor is highlighted, copy/cut will copy/cut the entire content of the editor. This can be a good way to copy a formula for the creation of a new object.

• For the "edit" short-cut keys to work (i.e. cntr-z, ...), the editor must be active (black outline of editor indicates this.). Drop menu "edit" commands works in either case.

Click into editor and type the text "c = a + b".	Place cursor after of letter "a". Click the superscript icon button in the math tab menu. The LaTeX superscript tag will appear after the letter "a". Repeat these steps with the letter "b".
Type the number 2 inside the superscript tags.	Highlight the right hand side of the equation. Then, click the square root icon button in the Math tab menu. Note that the LaTeX square root tag enveloped the highlighted area. If text is not highlighted, the square root LaTeX tag appears at the cursor.
Click any position in the editor to ensure that no text is highlighted. Now, click the math mode icon button in the Math tab menu. Note that the math mode tags envelop the entire content of the editor. If text is highlighted, the math mode tags will envelope the highlighted area.	Click the Font tab and the Font tab menu will appear. Highlight the letter "c". Scroll the icon buttons in the Font tab menu until you see an icon button with a red letter "a". This is the math mode text color icon button. Click the text color icon button and the LaTeX text color tag will envelop the letter "c". If text is not highlighted, the text color tag appears at the cursor.
Place the cursor in the first argument of the text color LaTeX tag. Select the Symbol Helper menubutton, select "Dvips 68 Colors". Use the mouse pointer to click any of the color swatches. The color's Dvips name will appear in the LaTeX text color tag's first argument. This example shows the color "Bittersweet".	Highlight the letter "c". Click the math mode bold icon button. The LaTeX math mode bold tag will envelop the letter "c". Click the "View" command button, the formula should display in the PS viewer. Finally, click the "Apply" command button and move the mouse over the Skencil canvas and place the object.

Fig. 1 Final Result Display preview (left) and Skencil canvas preview (right) shown.

Click into editor and type the right side of the equation and the equal sign. Then for the left side of the equation type the numerator of the fraction.	Now highlight the section of the numerator that will be under the square root. Click the square root icon button of the Math tab menu. As before (example 1, above) the LaTeX tag will envelope the highlighted area.
Now highlight the entire numerator of the fraction from right to left (starting from "}" and ending at "-".). Then click the fraction icon button in the Math tab menu. The LaTeX fraction tag will envelope the highlighted area with the highlighted area as the first argument (and with the second argument empty.).	Move the cursor to the second argument of the LaTeX fraction tag. Type the denominator of the fraction. Click the LaTeX math mode icon button to surround the entire content of the editor with the LaTeX math mode tags. The formula is now ready to view and place.
Alternatively, the denominator could have been typed first rather than the numerator. Here, type the left side of the equation, the equal sign and then the denominator of the fraction.	Highlight the denominator of the fraction. This time, highlight from left to right (starting from the "2" and ending at the "a".) Click the fraction icon button in the Math tab menu. The LaTeX fraction tag will envelope the highlighted area with the highlighted area as the second argument (and with the first argument empty.).
Now type the numerator of the fraction in the first argument of the LaTeX fraction tag. Finally click the math mode icon button, the "View" command button and "Apply" command button.

Fig. 2 Final Result Display preview of final results using either method. Note that the "stackrel{}{}" and quantum brakets also have this "right-left/left-right" behavior.

To make a fixed width multi-line text box, first click the "text" tab to view the text buttons. Next, use the mouse pointer to click the top first button on the tab menu. This will create a LaTeX mini page environment. This tag will envelope the entire content of the text editor. Again, if text is highlighted, the mini page environment would envelop the highlighted text.	Type the size of the mini page inside the mini page environment argument. The example shows 3.5 inches.
Type any text within the mini page environment. You may type multiple lines and include formulas. Click the "View" button to preview the text. Then, click the "Apply" button the place the text on the Skencil canvas.

Fig. 3 Final Result Display preview (top) and Skencil canvas preview (bottom) shown.

SkLaTeX allows you to customize your LaTeX preamble. The built in options include AMS symbols, AMS Eufrack, AMS Eucal, color (with Dvips names), and plain color (user defined). Simply select or unselect these options using the checkbuttons. Note the default skLaTeX preamble includes AMS symbols, AMS Eufrac and color with Dvips names. AMS Eucal is not default because it overrides the standard LaTeX mathcal. You may select AMS Eucal if you choose to use it in your document. SkLaTeX provides a text box for which the user may add preamble includes (see Figure 3).

After you create your custom preamble, click the "Set" button to make the packages available. If you want to change the preamble of an existing object, you must click the "Set" command button to set the preamble, then the "Apply" command button to update the object.

Fig. 4 Changing Preamble Here the Waldis symbol fonts are added to the preamble, "Set" and then used in skLaTeX.

Naturally, performance of any script depends on the processor speed and RAM of the user's computer. But the performance on the tested computers where drastic enough to warrant comparison. The below list gives a good idea of what to expect in terms of performance when using skLaTeX.

• Slow - 270 MHz Ultra Sparc IIi Processor, 128 MB RAM
  
  • 19 to 20 seconds for initial start-up.
  • 7 to 8 seconds for initial formula view renderings. 7 seconds for subsequent updates.
  • 11 to 12 seconds for initial object placement. 11 seconds for subsequent updates.

• Good - 600 MHz Celeron Processor, 256 MB RAM
  
  • 9 to 10 seconds for initial start-up.
  • 3 to 3-1/2 seconds for initial formula view renderings. 3 seconds for subsequent updates.
  • 3 to 3-1/2 seconds for initial object placement. 3 seconds for subsequent updates.

• Excellent - 760 MHz Celeron Processor, 396 MB RAM
  
  • 6 to 7 seconds for initial start-up.
  • 2 to 2-1/2 seconds for initial formula view renderings. 2 seconds for subsequent updates.
  • 2 to 2-1/2 seconds for initial object placement. 2 seconds for subsequent updates.

Note that when you cut or copy and paste an object, the object recomputes (i.e. runs the external apps.). So the placing times above double as a cut/copy or paste time. To make a copy of an object, it is much faster to duplicate it (cntr-d). Duplicating an object is exactly twice as fast, because the copy/cut invokes a recomputing of the object and the paste also invokes a recomputing of the object.