Feature set for LaTeX order of worship project

On my netbook, tapping out ideas while my home desktop computer finishes updating the latest version of Ubuntu Linux. That massive software project makes me think about the little, somewhat procedural and documentation-focused project I’ve started. To recap, I want to help automate the production of orders of service using LaTeX, a typesetting language more associated with mathematical journals or scientific dissertations than anything religious.

So here are the features I want to see in this project, both to cultivate some interest and to guide my work.

  1. select correct standard LaTeX document style, as project basis, if one exists
  2. project creates makes 5.5 by 8.5 inch pages
  3. prints in selected typeface
  4. set up LaTeX file with comments to allow easy editing
  5. prints lines where half of the content is forced left, flush left and the rest is forced right, flush right
  6. can print as a booklet with pages in the correct order
  7. associate the correct package to allow her/his and he/she pronouns within a service automatically
  8. link file to data source, to create “mail merged” output
  9. insert an image of music, generated from a text file, such as ABC notation
  10. associate correct heading levels with sections within a customary order of worship
  11. insert hooks to pull repeated (“ordinary”) liturgical fragments

By Scott Wells

Scott Wells, 46, is a Universalist Christian minister doing Universalist theology and church administration hacks in Washington, D.C.

2 comments

  1. New visitor to your blog. I gotta say, I was really intrigued by your post’s title and wondering about a latex worship service, but I see that this is not the kind of latex I thought it was.

    Actually, that’s kind of good that it wasn’t what I thought.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.