Event after developing LaTeX2Web for several years, I realize I still have habits when reading a document that originate from decades of reading PDF documents.

The first thing is that I still scroll the document to read it. My brain has been trained for that, and, before using PDF files, I did that for traditional print.

The main difference in LaTeX2Web is that the content is dynamic.

Collapse, expand

If the document is more than a few multiples of the window size, I suggest that, before starting your reading, you start by collapsing all of the sections in the document view. This is easily accessed from the "View" menu. This view menu is really your toolbox for reading the document. On mobile, while all the other menus are collapsed into a "hamburger" menu, the "View" menu is always accessible.

You can collapse or expand sections individually by clicking on the title. The caret at the left of the title reflects the expansion status of the section.

Now that you have collapsed the sections, what you see is the main layout of the document. In general, the first item is the abstract of the paper. Click on the abstract title, and you can see the content of the abstract. Nice.

Now that you have read the abstract, you can collapse it because, most probably, you will not read it a second time. Next, there is probably an introduction, and you may want to read it. Expand the introduction section. Now is time to save your reading layout.

Save and restore the layout

At this stage, if you are a registered user (remember, it's free), you can save your document layout from the View menu. This layout will be linked to you, the user, and to the document you are reading. Once you have saved the layout, whatever the device or browser, this layout state will be restored when you load the document again. This way, your reading focus state is preserved on all devices. You can also restore the layout from the View menu.

References in the focus

Let's go back to the introduction section. Most introductions feature a bibliographical overview. In a static layout, the citations point to the bibliography section, which is out of focus. In LaTeX2Web, this is not an issue. Clicking on the citation number will display the bibliography entry just below the current paragraph. Naturally, if there is a link in the entry (a DOI for instance), clicking the link will open the target in another tab. When you are done with the reference, you can dismiss it either by clicking on the citation number, or on the entry body itself.

After the bibliographical content, there is often a preview of the document organization. This is where typically the main document sections are presented with a short description of their purpose. Naturally, these sections are out of focus. In a PDF, if you want to have a look at the section itself, you will have to use what I call "the doom PDF shuttle". This means that you have had a look at the section, you have to go back to the introduction. And this happens all of the time, even outside the introduction.

Fortunately, the content is dynamic in LaTeX2Web documents. If you click on the section number, what happens is that a preview of the section is displayed below the current paragraph in a specific block with a gray background.

At this stage, it is probable that this important section that is referenced in the introduction has itself subsections, which results in a lengthy content. And, you know what ? You can collapse subsections in the preview itself. Click on the subsection titles to collapse or expand the subsections.

With that feature, the overview of the paper is really an overview because you can preview all the sections with the comfort of LaTeX2Web reading enhancements.

When you are done with the introduction, collapse it by clicking on its title and expand the next section of your choice. Every time that you have decided to focus on some content of the document, save the layout from the document View menu. This will ensure that your next reading session will start in the state where you left it.

Assumptions and theorems

There is probably a section in the document where the main result is presented. Maybe you have read everything that comes before the result, or maybe you just want to have a quick glimpse of it.

Chances are that the main result uses some assumptions that have been presented before. What were these assumptions about, by the way ? Simple ! Click on the assumption reference, and it will be displayed below the running paragraph. Everything together !

You might say, why would the assumption not be in the theorem ? Well, it often happens that the assumption is used more than once in the paper, so instead of writing the same assumption over and over again, it is only referenced in the various results. And this makes sense ! In this way, the reader is informed that it is always the same assumption that is used. In LaTeX2Web, you have the best of the two options : the reference is always the same, and you can bring its content right to the theorem. As usual, when you are done with the reference content, click inside it to dismiss it.

Proofs, lemmas and computations

Now, there is the proof of this big theorem. Chances are, proof will use some lemmas that have been presented before. What were these lemmas about, by the way ? You know the answer : click on the lemma number, and the lemma will be displayed below the running content.

Oh, and there may be some complex computations in the proof that might say, for instance "inserting equation x and equation y into equation z yields equation a". Needless to say, LaTeX2Web lets you gather all the information in one place to make it easier to check if the computations are right or not.

Use mobile, use mobile, use mobile

Let us say that you are waiting for an appointment or in public transportation. Why not resume your reading in this spare time ? If you have saved your reading layout, you can continue your reading on your smartphone the document you have begun reading on your computer.

And, believe me, the LaTeX2Web reading features are all here to make the mobile experience valuable. And there is the extra benefit that, on a small screen, the content is not lost among the rest of the text, which is often more a nuisance than a help.

Quite often, once I have published a paper on LaTeX2Web, I have a look at it on mobile during my spare time. And it's amazing how things become clear when you have only a little bit of info to process at the same time.

Reading documents on mobile is not only a convenience, it's a whole new experience that is worth it by itself.