Layout Tools
Tools
Below is a listing of free software layout tools.
Canvas based (GUI)
Web based (web-to-print)
- your browser (based on CSS Paged Media): use CTRL+P/CMD+P
- Weasyprint https://weasyprint.readthedocs.io/
- Paged.js https://www.pagedjs.org/
- wkhtmltopdf https://wkhtmltopdf.org/
- OSPKit (CSS Regions legacy support!) http://osp.kitchen/tools/ospkit/
- genzine https://github.com/munusshih/p5.genzine by Munus Shih and Iley Cao
Python based
- rinohtype http://www.mos6581.org/rinohtype/master/
- ReportLab https://www.reportlab.com/
- Flat http://xxyxyz.org/flat/
- PyX https://pyx-project.org/ (outputs to PostScript, PDF and SVG)
TeX based
- TeX https://tug.org/ + https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TeX
- LaTeX https://www.latex-project.org/
- ConTeXt https://wiki.contextgarden.net/
- texinfo https://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/manual/texinfo/html_node/Short-Sample-Texinfo-File.html
- tectonic https://tectonic-typesetting.github.io/
- lyx https://www.lyx.org/
XML based
- speedata https://showcase.speedata.de/en/
Misc
- groff https://www.gnu.org/software/groff/
- SILE https://sile-typesetter.org/ (LaTeX-like)
- typst https://typst.app/ (custom markdown syntax)
- SATySFi https://github.com/gfngfn/SATySFi (LaTeX-like + OCaml-like)
- Patoline https://patoline.github.io/ (wiki/LaTeX/Ocaml-like)
Readings
- Awkward Gestures, Femke Snelting, 2008
- CREATION, TOOLS, RESEARCH GRAPHISME EN FRANCE, 2022 + French version
- Composer avec les technologies du web (PhD thesis), Julie Blanc, 2023
- Designing Design Tools (PhD thesis), Nolwenn Maudet, 2017
- BLIND MAPS AND BLUE DOTS (PhD thesis), Joost Grootens, 2020
See also
- Category:PagedMedia
- Category:FLOSS design
- Web-to-print
- https://polytype.dev/ (a rosetta's stone for typesetting tools, quick demo's of many different typesetting tools)