On Mon, Jun 28, 2004 at 12:07:37PM +0100, Jon Dowland wrote: > On Sat, 26 Jun 2004 23:21:41 -0500, cecil <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > Someone told me today at lunch that what with my "wierd obsession", as > > he called it, to perhaps go without a gui(X), I should try "that latex > > thingie". My buddy is a real wordmaster. LOL. I did some reading up on > > it; it's interesting. I never knew that you could do all that with no > > window system. Does anyone here use it on a regular basis, and if so, > > how hard is it to use, setup, print, etc? > > I used it to write up my 3rd year project, and I think it probably > ended up being as useful as writing it in microsoft word (not taking > into account of course the unavailability of word for linux). >
Word does have most of the features of latex if you are very careful, use it correctly and _really_ know what you are doing (i.e styles) and still the output always seems to come out looking less professional. Somehow word seems to end nowhere, it supposedly gives you complete control over the graphics appearance (as a knowledgeable typesetter would need) but it keeps trying to do what it wants instead of what you want assuming that it knows better what you want it to do. Latex doesn't give you full control directly (unless you know tex and aren't scared to dirty your hands) but it also doesn't pretend to do it and then insist on doing something else behind your back. If you want to write professional looking documents, latex is the tool, for typesetting (most people don't need this) use tex and the like (there are probably graphic tools), for graphical page layout, you need freehand and the like. Word is good for writing short notes with a little more control then latex and less head ache then tex, but will generally take you more time and effort for anything serious then latex will and still look worse. > Much of the power that latex has exists now in word: e.g. automatic > contents building. I used bibtex for references which was a blessing > and a curse. The appearance was significantly more attractive than > anything I could concoct in word; and the typesettings is second to > none. However some of the limitations/annoyances really built up and > got on my nerves. > > I adopted a vim script called `vim-latexsuite' mid way through and > found it very helpful; especially `auto-folding' which collapses each > section up until you ask it to be expanded. > > Find and print out a good reference sheet and try out vim-latexsuite, > an emacs equivalent if thats your poison or an environment such as > kile or lyx. > > -- > Jon Dowland > > > -- > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ > This Mail Was Scanned By Mail-seCure System > at the Tel-Aviv University CC. > -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
