Getting Started with PreTeXt

The simplest option. Send colleagues or students the github.io URL from Part 8. It works on any device, requires no login, and updates whenever you redeploy. This is the right choice for: a lesson you want students to read, a handout for an upcoming class, anything you’re comfortable having publicly indexed.

For contexts where a single portable file is better, use the PDF you built in Part 6. You can download it from the Codespace: right-click output/print/main.pdf in the file explorer and choose Download. Attach it to email, post it in your LMS, or print it. This is the right choice for: handouts, one-page worksheets, anything that needs to travel through email or be printed.

Most LMSs (Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle, Brightspace) let you add an external URL as a module item. Point it at your github.io URL and students get a native-looking link inside the course. Some LMSs also let you embed the page in an iframe; this works but can be visually cramped, and linking out is usually a better experience.

If a colleague wants to adapt your lesson for their own course, send them the URL of your repository on github.com, not the github.io URL. From there they can click Use this template and have their own editable copy in seconds. This is how open-source textbook collaboration actually works in practice.

If you need to deliver the whole lesson as a file bundle (for example, for an archive, or for a student without reliable internet), you can download the full output/web/ folder from the Codespace. Right-click it in the file explorer and choose Download. The resulting zip file can be unzipped anywhere; double-clicking index.html will open your lesson locally in a browser. Math rendering and interactives still work as long as the folder structure is preserved.

For a full course with exercises that track student progress, consider publishing your PreTeXt book on Runestone Academy. Runestone adds auto-graded exercises, a gradebook, and LMS integration via LTI. This is the most involved option of the bunch (it involves a separate account and a publication review) and belongs on your radar as a longer-term goal rather than something to try today.