Platypus is an easy-to-use page layout and typesetting system.

Inspired by technologies such as TeX, Platypus adds new features and, especially, ease of use to the generation of documents of all kinds. Input consists of text files with embedded formatting commands. These files are converted by Platypus to PDF. HTML has been added on experimental basis with the current version. e-Book and word processing formats are scheduled to be added.

Platypus is available at no charge under the Apache open-source license. See the download links to the left. It requires only Java 6 to run.

Features in the current release include:

• support for all TrueType and OpenType fonts
• bold, italics, underline, strikethrough
• numerous symbols and foreign characters
• left, center, right alignment and justified text
• nested bullet list with selectable bullet character
• embedded URLs (raw or with cover text)
• customizable page size
• customizable margins
• multiple customizable columns
• indented/unindented paragraphs
• page-number footer
• special support for source code and listings
• debugging features

If you would like to be advised about milestone releases, place yourself on the announcement mailing list (fewer than 8 emails/year) by sending a request to: platypus @ pz.org.