A Quick Look Plugin for txt2tags
07 December 2008
Txt2tags is a lightweight markup language that can be converted into many different formats. I have been experimenting with it as a way of simplifying this site since I am uncomfortable with the idea that all of my content is stored in a remote database in some unknown format. I'll describe more about my experiences converting this site to txt2tags in future blogs; in this blog I thought I would share a Quick Look plugin I wrote to make txt2tags seem like less of an outsider on OS X.Read more...
Improving Your MATLAB Figures
05 March 2008
I admit it - I'm lazy when it comes to reading technical papers. I usually do a four step approach: abstract, figures, conclusion, and then the whole paper if I'm still interested after the first three steps. But too often the figures are so poorly made that I can't understand them without reading the paper. Many people make plots in MATLAB and it can be challenging to make the plots look good since the default settings are fine for the screen, but not for print. In this post, I describe some simple techniques for improving MATLAB figures and provide an example figure with code.Read more...
A Thesis Template
31 August 2007
A major milestone for a Ph.D. student is the point when he or she begins writing (or is given permission to begin writing) the dissertation. At this point, a good part of the work is complete (and hopefully published) and the task is to take this work and put it together into one document. As I began to compile my publications and organize them into a dissertation, I looked around for thesis templates that conformed to Dartmouth's specifications. I don't think I found anything, which is why I am posting this template.Read more...
Creating a Scientific Poster with LaTeX and OmniGraffle
05 May 2007
Some might accuse me of doing things the hard way, and I suppose they might be correct. Recently, I had to make a poster for a poster session and I was faced with the problem of choosing the appropriate tool for the job. Most people would probably use PowerPoint, but I've never been pleased with equations in Microsoft products. I've also had issues in the past with PowerPoint converting pdf figures into bitmap images. Adobe InDesign was also an option, but I decided it was too much for this job - I'd spend more time learning to use the program than actually making the poster. In the end, I settled on tools I'm familiar with: LaTeX and OmniGraffle. Perhaps a more complex solution than simply using PowerPoint, but the equations look good and the layout was simple.