Enable inline LaTeX equations in Substack

Recent signers:
Steve Powell and 19 others have signed recently.

The Issue

Substack de-facto bans technical content by not allowing inline LaTeX.

They already allow entire-line equations. But this isn't enough - you can't refer to variables in the equation in your paragraphs, something that any technical text does a lot.

Ideally, they should allow an option where content between $-signs gets automatically converted into LaTeX (e.g. $x^2$). But it would even be fine if they simply added an inline LaTeX feature along with their entire-line LaTeX feature.

Countless technical writers are currently forced to either ditch Substack, ditch maths, or settle for clunky, garbage writing and/or typesetting.

What's Substack's excuse?

"The only hard part is that we’d have to do inline image rendering for the email versions of the posts and that’s a nightmare"

It's very possible to do this though! There are simple add-ons that let you include LaTeX (visible to the receiver without extensions) in emails.

Even a hacky solution would be fine. "Move Fast and Fix Equations!" - Mark Zuckerberg (IIRC).

We need to show Substack that we care about high-quality, typeset technical writing. Donald Knuth did not toil in vain!

avatar of the starter
LRudL .Petition Starter

106

Recent signers:
Steve Powell and 19 others have signed recently.

The Issue

Substack de-facto bans technical content by not allowing inline LaTeX.

They already allow entire-line equations. But this isn't enough - you can't refer to variables in the equation in your paragraphs, something that any technical text does a lot.

Ideally, they should allow an option where content between $-signs gets automatically converted into LaTeX (e.g. $x^2$). But it would even be fine if they simply added an inline LaTeX feature along with their entire-line LaTeX feature.

Countless technical writers are currently forced to either ditch Substack, ditch maths, or settle for clunky, garbage writing and/or typesetting.

What's Substack's excuse?

"The only hard part is that we’d have to do inline image rendering for the email versions of the posts and that’s a nightmare"

It's very possible to do this though! There are simple add-ons that let you include LaTeX (visible to the receiver without extensions) in emails.

Even a hacky solution would be fine. "Move Fast and Fix Equations!" - Mark Zuckerberg (IIRC).

We need to show Substack that we care about high-quality, typeset technical writing. Donald Knuth did not toil in vain!

avatar of the starter
LRudL .Petition Starter
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106


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Substack
Substack
Substack, Inc.

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Petition created on July 21, 2024