Package: readme2tex
Renders LaTeX for Github Readmes\begin{equation*}
\huge\text{Hello \LaTeX}
\end{equation*}Make sure that pdflatex is installed.readme2texis a Python script that “texifies” your readme. It takes
in Github Markdown and replaces anything enclosed between dollar signs
with rendered\(\text{\LaTeX}\).In addition, unlike the other Github TeX renderers,readme2texensures that inline mathematical expressions are properly aligned with
the rest of the text to avoid giving a “jumpy” look to the document.Examples:Here’s a display level equation\begin{equation*}
\frac{n!}{k!(n-k)!} = {n \choose k}
\end{equation*}The code that was used to render this equation is just$$
\frac{n!}{k!(n-k)!} = {n \choose k}
$$Note: you can escape $ so that they don’t render.Here’s an inline equation.It is well known that if\(ax^2 + bx + c =0\), then\(x = \frac{-b \pm \sqrt{b^2- 4ac}}{2a}\).The code that was used to render this is:It is well know that if $ax^2 + bx + c = 0$, then $x = \frac{-b \pm \sqrt{b^2 - 4ac}}{2a}$.Notice that the equations line up with the baseline of the text, even
when the height of these two images are different.Sometimes, you might run into equations that are bottom-heavy, like\(x^2\sum\limits_{3^{n^{n^{n}}}}\). Here,readme2texcan compute
the correct offset to align this equation to the baseline of your
paragraph of text as well.InstallationCurrently, you just need to havereadme2texon your python-path, and
you can callUsagepython -m readme2tex --output README.mdIt will then look for a file calledreadother.mdand compile it down
to a readable Github-ready document.In addition, you can specify other arguments torender.py, such as:--readmeREADOTHER.mdThe raw readme to process. Defaults toREADOTHER.md.--outputREADME.mdThe processed readme.md file. Defaults toREADME_GH.md.--packages...A list of addition packages to use during\(\text{\LaTeX}\)compilation. This is optional.--svgdirsvgs/The directory to store the output svgs. The
default issvgs/--branchmasterExperimentalWhich branch to store the svgs
into, the default is just master.--usernameusernameYour github username. This is optional, andrender.pywill try to infer this for you.--projectprojectThe current github project. This is also
optional.--nocdnTrueTicking this will use relative paths for the output
images. Defaults to False.--htmlizeFalseTicking this will output aX.md.htmlfile so
you can preview what the output looks like. Defaults to False.--valignFalseTicking this will use thevaligntrick
(detailed below) instead. See the caveats section for tradeoffs.Technical TricksHow can you tell where the baseline of an image is?By prepending every inline equation with an anchor. During
post-processing, we can isolate the anchor, which is fixed at the
baseline, and crop it out. It’s super clowny, but it does the job.CaveatsGithub does not allow you to pass in custom style attributes to your
images. While this is useful for security purposes, it makes it
incredibly difficult to ensure that images will align correctly to the
text.readme2texcircumvents this using one of two tricks:In Chrome, the attributevalign=offsetworks forimgtags as
well. This allows us to shift the image directly. Unfortunately, this
is not supported within any of the other major browsers, therefore
this mode is not enabled by default.In every (reasonably modern) browser, thealign=middleattribute
will vertically center an image. However, the definition of the
vertical “center” is different. In particular, for Chrome, Firefox,
(and probably Safari), that center is the exact middle of the image.
For IE and Edge however, the center is about 5 pixels (the height of
a lower-case character) above the exact center. Since this looks
great for non-IE browsers, and reasonably good on Edge, this is the
default rendering method. The trick here is to pad either the top or
the bottom of the image with extra spaces until the baseline of the
equation is at the center. For most equations, this works great.
However, if you have a tall equation, like\(\frac{~}{\sum\limits_{x^{x^{x^{x}}}}^{x^{x^{x^{x}}}} f(x)}\),
you’ll notice that there might be a lot of slack vertical spacing
between these lines. If this is a deal-breaker for you, you can
always try the--valignTruemode. For most inline equations,
this is usually a non-issue.