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LaTeX & Typst (papers, theses, resumes and slides) Module 5

Figures, floats and drawing interview questions

Interview questions on figures, floats and drawing: short warm-ups, then what each harder question tests, the first step of a good answer and its follow-ups.

12 questions: 4 warm-ups and 8 with model answers · Levels: Fresher to senior

Warm-up questions

Short questions with short answers, each answered in full.

Fresher to mid

How does a figure's caption differ from its alternative text?

Answered in the lesson Images, figures and alternative text
Fresher to mid

What does [htbp] mean on a LaTeX figure, and what does LaTeX do with [h] alone?

Answered in the lesson Floats, placement, captions and subfigures
Fresher to mid

Why keep a paper's diagrams as TikZ or CeTZ code rather than as pictures from a drawing program?

Answered in the lesson Drawing basics: TikZ and CeTZ
Fresher to mid

When would you draw a plot in pgfplots or lilaq rather than in Python or R?

Answered in the lesson Flowcharts, trees, graphs and data plots

Questions with model answers

What each question tests, the first step of a good answer and the follow-ups to expect.

Fresher to mid

A university's accessibility check rejects your LaTeX thesis because its 40 figures have no alternative text. Some are charts made in Python, some are photographs, a few are decorative rules. How do you add the text, and how do you show that every figure has it before you submit again?
What it tests

Switching tagging on, the alt and artifact keys, writing descriptions by kind of image, long descriptions for charts, and checking the built PDF's structure tree rather than the source.

First step

Switch tagging on first: without \DocumentMetadata{tagging=on} the alt key is ignored and the PDF has no tags at all. Build once with LuaLaTeX and collect the warnings "Alternative text for graphic is missing". They list the figures to fix, each of which the tags currently name by its file name.
Follow-ups
- How do you write the text for a chart whose data matters?
- Which images do you mark as artifacts, and how do you decide?
- How do you show the portal that every figure has text?
From the lesson Images, figures and alternative text
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In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 3 minutes
Mid to senior

A co-author sends 15 diagrams as SVG files for a paper that a build server compiles with pdfLaTeX, and the build stops at the first one. How do you get them into the PDF so that they stay sharp and searchable, and the build stays repeatable?
What it tests

pdfLaTeX's graphics extensions, converting SVG to PDF, keeping text as text, the svg package's dependence on Inkscape, and making a conversion part of a build that gives the same result every time.

First step

Read the error first: "Unknown graphics extension: .svg" means pdfLaTeX cannot read the format at all, so the fix is a conversion, not a path or an option. Convert one diagram to PDF, include it, and check with pdftotext that its labels are still text before you convert the other 14.
Follow-ups
- Why not convert the diagrams to PNG?
- Should the build convert the SVG files, or should the PDFs be committed?
- What changes if the paper moves to Typst?
From the lesson Images, figures and alternative text
Model answer, Pro.
In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 3 minutes
Fresher to mid

In a 150-page LaTeX thesis, figures appear two to five pages after they are first cited, and two of them land in the next section. How do you find the cause and fix it, without forcing every figure into place with [H]?
What it tests

How LaTeX places floats, the order rule that makes one stuck figure hold back the rest, the size limits for top floats and pages of floats, barriers at section boundaries, and measuring the result instead of eyeballing it.

First step

Find the first figure that is late: every later figure of the same kind waits behind it, so the first late one is usually the cause. Look at its letters and its size. A figure taller than about 0.7 of the text height, written without p, can wait to the end of the chapter and take the rest with it.
Follow-ups
- Why do figures that are correctly written also end up late?
- How do you keep figures out of the next section?
- How do you check all 150 pages without reading them?
From the lesson Floats, placement, captions and subfigures
Model answer, Pro.
In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 3 minutes
Mid to senior

A two-column conference paper needs one diagram across both columns at the top of a page, and a figure of four panels whose parts are cited as Figure 4b and Figure 4c. How do you build both, in LaTeX and in Typst, and what do you check in the PDF before you submit?
What it tests

Full-width floats in two-column LaTeX, Typst's placement and scope, subfigures with labels in both systems, and checking references, placement and tags in the built PDF.

First step

Separate the two problems. The wide diagram is a float that must span both columns: figure* in LaTeX, a floating figure with scope "parent" in Typst. The panels are one figure with lettered subfigures, each with its own label. Build each in a minimal file before you place them in the paper.
Follow-ups
- Where can a figure* go on the page, and what if it must be at the bottom?
- How do the references 4b and 4c stay right when a figure is added before them?
- What do you check in the PDF, and with which tools?
From the lesson Floats, placement, captions and subfigures
Model answer, Pro.
In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 3 minutes
Mid to senior

A thesis with 60 TikZ figures takes four minutes to build, and co-authors have stopped building it before they commit. How do you make the build fast again while keeping the figures editable, their words searchable and the PDF accessible?
What it tests

Measuring where build time goes, stand-alone figure files built once, TikZ's externalisation and its shell-escape cost, letting a build tool rebuild only what changed, and keeping alternative text on included figures.

First step

Measure before changing anything: build once with the figures and once with them replaced by empty boxes, or time one figure on its own. If the figures account for most of the four minutes, the fix is to stop drawing all 60 on every run, not to make each one faster.
Follow-ups
- Why not use TikZ's external library?
- How do co-authors still edit a figure and see it in the thesis?
- What happens to the figures' alternative text?
From the lesson Drawing basics: TikZ and CeTZ
Model answer, Pro.
In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 3 minutes
Mid to senior

The same block diagram must appear in a LaTeX paper, a Typst report and a web page, and stay identical in all three as it changes. How do you produce and maintain it, and what do you check in each output?
What it tests

One source for a figure, cropped PDF and SVG exports, what each SVG export keeps (text, styles, size), fonts across outputs, and alternative text in each medium.

First step

Choose one source and generate the rest: either a TikZ stand-alone file, built to a cropped PDF for the paper and converted to SVG for the report and the web, or a CeTZ file, compiled to PDF and exported to SVG by Typst. Two hand-kept copies of one diagram will drift apart.
Follow-ups
- Which SVG export do you use for the web page, and why?
- How do you keep the fonts the same in all three?
- Where does the description of the diagram live in each output?
From the lesson Drawing basics: TikZ and CeTZ
Model answer, Pro.
In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 3 minutes
Fresher to mid

A journal asks that every figure read in greyscale and for readers with a colour vision deficiency. Your paper has eight pgfplots figures with four coloured lines each and a legend. How do you fix them, and how do you check the result before you submit?
What it tests

Using marks and dash patterns as well as colour, choosing distinct combinations for many series, legends and direct labels, and checking a plot's PDF rather than looking at it on one screen.

First step

Give every series two signs that are not colour, a mark and a dash pattern, chosen so that no two series share both. With four series, four marks and three dash patterns are enough. Set them once in a cycle list or a style, so the eight figures change together.
Follow-ups
- How do you choose combinations for twelve series?
- Is the legend enough, or should lines be labelled directly?
- How do you check the figures without trusting your own eyes?
From the lesson Flowcharts, trees, graphs and data plots
Model answer, Pro.
In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 3 minutes
Mid to senior

Your thesis plots come from 3 GB of experiment logs, read by pgfplots through large CSV exports, and a full build now takes ten minutes. How do you restructure the pipeline so that the plots stay reproducible and the build is fast?
What it tests

Separating analysis from typesetting, summary tables written by scripts, when to include a finished figure, keeping the pipeline reproducible, and matching fonts between scripts and the thesis.

First step

Measure which plots cost the time, then move the reading of raw data out of the thesis: a script reads the logs once and writes for each figure the small table it shows. The thesis plots those tables, so its build no longer depends on the size of the logs.
Follow-ups
- When should the script draw the whole figure instead?
- How do you keep the figures reproducible from the raw data?
- How do the script's figures keep the thesis's fonts?
From the lesson Flowcharts, trees, graphs and data plots
Model answer, Pro.
In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 3 minutes

The lessons of this module

Images, figures and alternative text Free lesson, Pro answers: 25 minutes
Floats, placement, captions and subfigures Free lesson, Pro answers: 25 minutes
Drawing basics: TikZ and CeTZ Free lesson, Pro answers: 20 minutes
Flowcharts, trees, graphs and data plots Free lesson, Pro answers: 20 minutes

All LaTeX & Typst (papers, theses, resumes and slides) interview questions · The LaTeX & Typst (papers, theses, resumes and slides) track

Warm-up questions

How does a figure's caption differ from its alternative text?

What does [htbp] mean on a LaTeX figure, and what does LaTeX do with [h] alone?

Why keep a paper's diagrams as TikZ or CeTZ code rather than as pictures from a drawing program?

When would you draw a plot in pgfplots or lilaq rather than in Python or R?

Questions with model answers

A university's accessibility check rejects your LaTeX thesis because its 40 figures have no alternative text. Some are charts made in Python, some are photographs, a few are decorative rules. How do you add the text, and how do you show that every figure has it before you submit again?

A co-author sends 15 diagrams as SVG files for a paper that a build server compiles with pdfLaTeX, and the build stops at the first one. How do you get them into the PDF so that they stay sharp and searchable, and the build stays repeatable?

In a 150-page LaTeX thesis, figures appear two to five pages after they are first cited, and two of them land in the next section. How do you find the cause and fix it, without forcing every figure into place with [H]?

A two-column conference paper needs one diagram across both columns at the top of a page, and a figure of four panels whose parts are cited as Figure 4b and Figure 4c. How do you build both, in LaTeX and in Typst, and what do you check in the PDF before you submit?

A thesis with 60 TikZ figures takes four minutes to build, and co-authors have stopped building it before they commit. How do you make the build fast again while keeping the figures editable, their words searchable and the PDF accessible?

The same block diagram must appear in a LaTeX paper, a Typst report and a web page, and stay identical in all three as it changes. How do you produce and maintain it, and what do you check in each output?

A journal asks that every figure read in greyscale and for readers with a colour vision deficiency. Your paper has eight pgfplots figures with four coloured lines each and a legend. How do you fix them, and how do you check the result before you submit?

Your thesis plots come from 3 GB of experiment logs, read by pgfplots through large CSV exports, and a full build now takes ten minutes. How do you restructure the pipeline so that the plots stay reproducible and the build is fast?