CTAN update: beamer version 3.06 and pgf 1.00

[CTAN Announcements]

On Sun, 23 Oct 2005, Till Tantau submitted updates to the

  beamer and pgf 

packages.


PGF is a macro package for creating graphics directly in TeX and LaTeX. 
Its usage is similar to pstricks and the standard picture environment. 
Unlike pstricks, it produces both PostScript and PDF output and works 
together with latex, dvips, pdftex, and pdflatex. PGF is used extensively 
with beamer for production of presentations.

The beamer LaTeX class can be used for producing slides.  Its 
functionality is similar to Prosper but does not need any external 
programs and can directly produce a presentation using pdflatex. Beamer 
uses pgf for pdf/ps independent graphics. Frames are created using 
\frame{...}, and a frame can build multiple slides through a simple 
notation for specifying material for each slide within a frame. Beamer 
supports bibliographies, appendicies and transitions. Short versions of 
title, authors, institute can also be specified as optional parameters. A 
\plainframe{} allows a picture, for example, to fill the whole frame.  
Support figure and table environments, transparency effects, a 
\transduration command, animation commands, a pauses environment. Beamer 
also provides compatibility with other packages like prosper.


Here are the annoucements for the packages:

-- latex-beamer 3.06:
 
This release is now the official first version for use with the new pgf 1.00.
 
This combination is now quite stable, so users are encouraged to switch over
to 3.06.
 
However, this is not yet a real new version 3.10 since there are still too
many (known) problems. I'll try to work on these during the next months.

Note that you *need* pgf version 1.00 (actually, 0.95 will do, but then you
will *want* 1.00 instead) to use this version of beamer.

Changes since latex-beamer 3.01:

       - Fixed bug in drawing of buttons.
       - Version for use with pgf version 1.00.
       - Added color theme wolverine and presentation theme AnnArbor,
         submitted by Madhusudan Singh <madhusudan.singh at gmail.com>.
       - Added two screen options.
       - Added subsubsections (evil!).
       - Added \begin{frame}{Title}{Subtitle} syntax.
       - \setbeamercovered is now scoped.
       - Fixed location of navigation symbols on plain frames.
       - Fixed wrong frame number in conjunction with fragile option.
       - Fixed compatibility definitions like \beamertemplateballtoc.
       - Fixed compatibility definitions for \beamersetleftmargin.
       - Fixed wobbling height of frametitle in default theme.
       - Fixed problem with serif theme and "onlymath" option.
       - Fixed problem with >127 characters and fragile option.
       - Fixed problem with activation of Chinese characters
       - Fixed problem with spaces in semiverbatim.


-- pgf 1.00:

Compared to the last stable version of pgf, namely version 0.65, this is
almost a new program. The changes are so broad and fundamental that it does
not really make sense to list them all. However, despite all the changes,
this version should be fully compatible with the version 0.65.

Here is an overview of the most important changes since 0.65:

- The documentation is completely new and somewhat expanded.
- There is now a package called TikZ that makes using pgf really easy.
- pgf is no longer a pure latex package, it now also works with plain TeX and
(thereby) ConTeXt.
- pgf now supports not only pdftex and latex+dvips, but also dvipdfm, tex4ht
(where it produces svg output) and vtex.
- pgf is now layered and new backend drivers can be added much more easily.
- The power of pgf has been vastly increased. It can now has a sophisticated
coordinate system management, node management, supports opacity, has a new
arrow management, and more.

If you have been using versions 0.95 or higher, this is just the hopefully
quite bugfree version of the versions sind 0.95.
 
Note on the installation: Since pgf is no longer a latex package, it should
now be unpacked in the generic part of the texmf tree, that is, as
texmf/tex/generig/pgf. You *may* need to create a link in the latex part of
the texmf tree at texmf/tex/latex/pgf pointing to
/texmf/tex/generic/pgf/latex/pgf. This link is necessary if TeX finds an old
version of pgf instead of the current one.

Changes since pgf 0.65:

       - Added vtex support (finally!).
       - Added multi part mechanism to nodes.
       - Added very simple pgflibraryautomata.
       - Changed coordinate shape such that it now never produces a
         text label.
       - Renamed \pgfshapebox to \pgfnodeparttextbox (made necessary
         by the node part mechanism).
       - Added transparency to PGF (quite nice...).
       - Added foreach option to child path operation (also nice...).
       - Fixed problem with \\ in centered text.
       - Fixed problem with hyperlinks in nodes.
       - Fixed wrong arrows in trees.
       - Reorganised directory structure of documentation.
       - Added tree mechanism.
       - Added snake mechanism.
       - Added layer mechanism.
       - Added new shapes: cross out, strike out, forbidden sign.
       - Added some more documentation.
       - Added "none" drawing and filling colors.
       - Added pgflibrarytikzbackgrounds.
       - Changed syntax of \pgfqbox.
       - Changed syntax of several \pgfsys at xxxx commands.
       - Added SVG support / a tex4ht backend. (Complicated text
         inside svg graphics is not supported well, but that's mainly
         a shortcoming of the svg specification.)
       - Fixed spacing problem in dvips.
       - Changed syntax of plot and plot marks.
       - Changed syntax of ellipse and elliptical arc options.
       - Fixed baseline bug in tikz.
       - Fixed bug in pgfpages.
       - Introduced "every xxxx" styles, got rid of shape actions option.
       - Added "intersection of" syntax for coordinates.
       - Started revising the documentation.
       - Changed names of some pgfpages commands.
       - Changed syntax of parabola command.
       - Proof read documentation.
       - Introduced three layers: system, basic, frontends.
       - Wrote two frontends: TikZ (*most* useful!) and pgfpict2e (a
         demonstration).
       - Largely rewrote the basic layer.
       - Largely rewrote the system layer.
       - Completely rewrote the documentation.
       - Added two utilities: pgfpages and pgffor.
       - Made macro naming more consistent.
       - Added plain tex support.
       - Added dvipdfm support.
       - Restructured directory structure.
       - Zillions of small bugfixes.

--

Thanks for the upload.

For the CTAN Team
  Rainer Schöpf