About
PTXprint is developed by SIL International and is free to use by language communities around the world and by other partner organizations providing services to them.
The challenge to build this tool came from a growing realization that far too many translation projects were struggling to format USFM scripture for their own local needs. A printout for reading aloud, a booklet for the Translation Impact Committee to check and provide feedback, a well-formatted booklet complete with pictures, maps and supplementary materials such as glossaries which could be printed locally and tested within the community.
PTXprint is built on the solid foundation laid by Jonathan Kew (author of XeTeX and the original sfm2pdf macros). Recent developments to make the macros more accessible via a friendly user-interface began in September 2019, with most of the work carried out by SIL in Thailand and South Asia. Later another TeX specialist based in Romania joined the small team of developers. It has since become an international effort with user acceptance testing being carried out in the US, and early-adopters assisting with beta-testing around the world. Special mention must go to those who have worked on localization so that PTXprint is also available in French, Spanish and Indonesian. The first public release was in July 2020.
SIL International is a faith-based nonprofit organization committed to serving language communities worldwide as they build capacity for sustainable language development. SIL does this primarily through research, translation, training and materials development. SIL works alongside ethnolinguistic communities and their partners as they discover how language development addresses the challenging areas of their daily lives—social, cultural, political, economic and spiritual.
SIL Language Technology supports these activities by developing software, fonts and keyboards. To find out more about our work follow the links at the bottom of this page.