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BenefitsofLaTeXGettingtogripswithLaTeXAndrewRoberts

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GettingtoGripswithLaTeX
BenefitsofLaTeXtypesetting
IoriginallywrotethefollowingarticleforOSNewsin2005.(Youcanstillseetheoriginal
articleandfollowthelivelydebateafterwards.)Thevastmajorityofthecontentisstill
relevant,andprobablywillremainsoforalongtime.It'sworthnotinghowever,that
applicationssuchasMicrosoftWordhaveaddressedsomeoftheirshortcomingssince
2005andthereforenotallexamplesmaybeasrelevantastheyoncewere.E.g.,Word
2007andgreaternowhasbibliographytoolsbuiltin.

LaTeXisn'tforeveryonebutitcouldbeforyou
AnyonewhohasusedMicrosoftWordforareasonableamountoftimewillrecognisemy
veryownAndy'sLawsonWord:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Likelihoodofacrashisdirectlyproportionaltotheimportanceofadocument.
Likelihoodofacrashisinverselyproportionaltothetimeleftbeforeitsdeadline.
Likelihoodofacrashisdirectlyproportionaltothedurationsinceyoulastsaved.
Likelihoodofyouthrowingyourcomputeroutofthewindowisdirectly
proportionaltothenumberoftimesClippypopsup.
5. That'senoughlawsfornow...
Inallseriousness,I'vewrittenmanywordsinlargedocumentsusingMicrosoftWord.
Nowadays,IcanuseOpenOfficebecauseit'scomealongwayandreallyisadecent
product(thecurrentv2betaisverygood).However,eversincemyneverendingwoes
withWordduringmydegree,whenIstartedmyPhD,IdecidedtogoandtryoutLaTeX.
Actually,that'snotquitetrue,Iwantedtosubmitapapertoajournalanditonly
acceptedLaTeXdocuments.ThedeadlinewasthesamedayasIfoundoutaboutthecall
forpapers.Ijumpedstraightintothedeependwithbothfeet.Needlesstosay,Ihada
hardtimeofitandwasn'tLaTeX'sbestfanthatday.(Lesson:don'ttrytolearnsomething
newinarush!)
Undeterred,IstuckwithLaTeXandrealisedthatitwasn'tsohardafterall.Therewasa
learningcurve,butforthetypicaldocumentsthatIoftenwrote,therewasverylittleto
learn.I'mverygladIperseveredbecauseIwouldn'twanttouseanythingelseformy
papers/reportsanymore.I'mnottheonlyonewho'sgladtomoveawayfromthe
WYSIWYGworld.ThisarticlewillnotbeatutorialforhowtouseLaTeX,insteadan
overviewofitsbenefitsandwhyIthinkittrumpswhatwordprocessorshavetooffer.
WhatisLaTeX?
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In1978,DonaldKnutharguablyoneofthemostfamousandwellrespectedcomputer
scientistsembarkedonaprojecttocreateatypesettingsystem,calledTex(pronounced
'tech'),afterbeingdisappointedwiththequalityofhisacclaimedTheArtofProgramming
series.Around10yearslater,hefrozethelanguageafteroriginallyanticipatingspending
asingleyear!Texgaveextremelyfinegrainedcontrolofdocumentlayout.However,the
vastflexibilitymeantitwascomplex,sobythemid80sLeslieLamportcreatedasetof
macrosthatabstractedawaymanyofthecomplexities.Thisallowedforasimpler
approachforcreatingdocuments,wherecontentandstylewereseparate.Thisextension
becameLaTeX(pronounced'laytech').
LaTeXisessentiallyamarkuplanguage.Contentiswritteninplaintextandcanbe
annotatedwithvarious'commands'thatdescribehowcertainelementsshouldbe
displayed.TheLaTeXinterpreterreadsinaLaTeXmarkedupfile,rendersthecontentinto
adocumentanddumpsitanewfile.Therefore,it'snotaninteractivesystemthatisthe
defactomethodfordocumentcreationnowadays.
Separationofcontentandstyle
Notthemostobviousadvantage,possiblybecausealotofWordusersdon'tunderstand
whythissobeneficial.WhenproducingyourLaTeXdocument,youareconcentratingon
thecontentitself.YouintroducestructureexplicitlybytellingLaTeXwhenanewsection
begins,forexample,butyoudon'tthenfaffaroundtryingtodecidehowthesection
headersshouldlook.That'sdonelater.
ThisisopposedtotheaverageWorduser,whowillimmediatelyhighlightagivensection
headerandapplyformattingtoit:maybealargerfont,maybeunderline,etc.Thepointis
thatthiswillthenhavetobeappliedtoeveryheadermanually.LaTeXisbetterasitusesa
documentstyle.Thisdefineshowdifferentelementswithinyourdocumentshouldlook
(likeCascadingStyleSheetsdefiningstylesinHTMLpages).Ifyoufancyachange,you
onlychangethestyledefinitionsonce,thenthepresentationofthedocumentwillbe
updatedautomatically.Thisalsoensuresaconsistentlookingdocument(youwouldn't
believehowmanystylisticallyinconsistentWorddocsI'veread!)
WorddoesinfacthaveasimilarStylesfeature.However,becauseit'soptional,people
don'toftenknowitexists.LaTeXforcesyoutodeclarethedocumentsemantics(thisisa
GoodThing!),whichiswhyyoucanrelyonittoproduceaconsistentlookingdocument.
Portability
LaTeXportabilitycomesinmultipleways:
1. AnactualLaTeXfileismerelyatextfile,whichisjustaboutthemostportable
formatincomputing.
2. TheLaTeXsystemthatprocessesthetextfileandproducesthefinisheddocument
hasbeenimplementedonjustabouteverymainstreamplatformyoucareto
mention.
3. ThedefaultoutputfileformatforLaTeXisDVI(whichstandsfordevice
independent).ThiswasaroundwellbeforePDFwasdreamedupandthehigh
qualityfilescanbeviewedviasoftwareviewersorprintedout.DVIisanopen
standard,soonceagain,readersareextremelyportableandexistonmost

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operatingsystems.Admittedly,DVIishardlyubiquitousandnowadaysit'soften
bypassedinfavourforPDF(orit'sverysimpletoconverttootherformatslikePSor
HTML)
Flexibility
YoucangetLaTeXtodojustaboutanythingyoucanthinkof!Overtheyears,an
overwhelmingselectionofpackagestoextenditspotentialandmacrosthatcansimplify
complextaskshavecomeintobeing,mostofwhicharefreelyavailableonCTAN.For
example,LaTeX'smainusersarewithinacademiaandresearchinstitutionsandthey
benefithugelythankstotheBibtexpackagethatprovidesbibliographymanagementI
pitymyWordusingcolleagueswhosufferbyactuallymanuallywordprocessingtheir
bibliographies(unlessthey'veshelledoutforaprogramlikeEndnote).Thereareother
crazypackagesthatyoucaninstallwhichallowyoutotypesetmusicscores,chessboards
andcrosswords!CTANisthemainrepositoryoftheseresources.Mostarewell
documentedandasyoucanimagine,withLaTeXbeingaroundforsolong,thenumberof
extensionsisvast.Thechancesare,ifyou'restrugglingtodoatask,someonewillhave
undoubtedlywrittenapackagetosolveiteasily!
Control
Evenwithsimpledocuments,youcanquicklybecomefrustratedbyWord'srather
unintelligentinterference.Thehoursthatarewastedtryingtopositionthatimagewhich
youknowwillfitatthebottomofthepage,butWordrefusestoputitthere!Howmany
canrelatetothisexperience?Youhaveyour30pagedocumentwithtext,tablesand
images.Youjustspenttheeveninggettingitformattednicelyallyourfiguresintheright
placeandthenyounoticethatoneofyourparagraphsisn'tclearenough.Youaddone
sentence,whichthenpushesanimageontothenextpage,leavingamassivegapatthe
bottomofthatpagewhereyourimageoncewas.Thisthendaisychainsdown,knocking
othertablesandimagesoutofplaceallthewaytotheendofyourdocument!It'sareal
laugh.Fortunately,LaTeXismuchmorecleverinthisrespectandpositionsyourimages
andtableswithalotofcommonsense.So,ifyouwantyourimagetoappearatthe
bottomofagivenpage,it'llstaythere!
WhilstLaTeXmakesdecenttypesettingdecisionsforyou,ifyouwantto,youcanhave
totalcontroloverthepresentationofyourdocument.
Quality
It'sdifficulttodisagreethattheoutputfromLaTeXisfarsuperiortowhatWordcan
produce.Thisisemphasisedgreatestwhenitcomestodocumentswithhigh
mathematicalcontent,whichisamajorstrengthforLaTeX.Italsohasmuchbetter
kerning,hyphenationandjustificationalgorithmsthatsimplymaketheoutputfarmore
professionalthanwhatanywordprocessor.Itsalgorithmsforlayingouttextaremore
sophisticatedandextremelyfinegrained.Forexample,theaccuracyissohighbecauseit
usesameasurementknownasascaledpointwhichtranslatesas100thofthewavelength
ofnaturallight!
LaTeXworkswiththeconceptofniceness(well,Isupposetechnicallyit'sbadnesswhich
itworkstominimise).LaTeXhasalargesetofmetricsthatitevaluatesagainstwhen

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generatingyourdocument.Itexperimentswithvariouspermutationsofparametersand
determinestheonewhichgivesthe"nicest"output.Itcantakethetimetodothis
becauseitisn'tinteractive.Wordprocessorsdon'thavethecomputationalresources
available(yet)tocarryouttheequivalentcalculationsandstillremaininteractive.Also,
manypeopleforgetthattypesettingisactuallyaprofessionalskillpeopletrainforyears
tolearnhowtolayoutpublications.Yet,assoonasyouopenawordprocessor,yougo
aboutcommittingtypesettingsinsalltheway.Typesettersknowforexamplethatits
easiertoreadsentencesthatareapproximately66characterswide.Havealookinyour
booksandcounttheletters!Also,whydonewspapersandmagazineshavenarrow
columns?But,thedefaultlayoutofawordprocessorgivesanaverageof100wordsper
line.Isupposemanypeopledon'tmind,butyouwouldnoticeifyoureadalotoflarge
documents.
Aquickexample.ItookadocumentthatIhadusedpreviouslytodemonstratedocument
structureinLaTeX.IusedthesametextandloadeditintoWordandappliedthe
equivalentstyles.I'veuseddefaultsettingsthroughout.Worddidn'thaveastylefor
abstracts,soIputthetitleinbold.ViewtheLaTeXoutputtotheWordoutput.Thestyles
thatWordusesaren'tgreat.YoucouldmanipulatethedefaultstylesinWordtomakeit
lookmorereasonable,butI'veneverbeenbotheredbecauseevenifIcouldgetitto
matchLaTeXstylistically,IstillhavetouseWord,whichI'dratheravoid!
LaTeXhasbeenusedregularlytypesetentirebooks.Wordprocessorssimplyaren'tgood
enoughforthatjobtheyareusedbytheauthorstowritethecontentandthesefilesare
thenimportedintoprofessionaltypesettingsoftware.Ok,that'snotstrictlytrueyou
couldtypesetabookinWord,justlikeyoucoulddriveacarwithyourfeetit'snotagood
ideathough!
Output
Asmentioned,thedefaultoutputisaDVIfile.DVIwasacleverlittlestandardbut
unfortunatelydidn'ttakeoff.Ittakeslittleefforttoconvertyourdocumentintoa
PostscriptorPDFfile(infact,youcanjustusethe'pdflatex'commandinsteadofnormal
'latex'ifyouonlyeverwanttocreatePDFs).There'snoneedtobuyadditionalsoftware
suchasAdobeAcrobatlikeyouneedtodotoconvertaWorddocumentintoPDF.(At
leastOpenOfficehasits'ExporttoPDF'functionality!)
Scalability
Inmypersonalexperience,usingWordfordocumentswithmorethan20pageshasnot
beenapleasantexperience.Obviously,thatcouldbemyownbadluck,butthatisalsothe
impressionI'vegotfromotheruserstoo.
WithLaTeX,I'veneverfoundsuchproblems.Additionally,youarefreetosplituplarge
documentsintosmallerchunksandthenletLaTeXcombinethemaltogetherlater(like
onechapterperfile).Itcanalsocreatetablesofcontent,indexesandbibliographies
easily,evenonmultifileprojects.
Stability
OneofthereasonswhyperhapssomanypeoplestrugglewithWordwhencreatinglarge

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documents,isbecauseitispronetocrashes.'Documentrecovery'isnowahighranking
featureofWord.I'msurepeoplewouldpreferifMSwouldjustmaketheirsoftwaremore
stable!(NBstabilityissuesarenotnecessarilygeneralisable,soI'mspeakingfrom
personalexperience,andofmyfriendsandcolleaguesIdonotknowofasingleuser
whohasn'tlostworktoWord,butthat'snottosaythatsuchpeopledon'texist.)
BecauseLaTeXissomatureanddevelopedbyextremelycleverprogrammersbugsare
negligible.Andevenifitwerebuggy,thenthereisnoriskofyoueverlosingyouroriginal
sourcetext.WhereaswithWord,almostanytoolwithinitsintegratedenvironmentis
capableofcorruptingyourfileifitcausesacrash.
Oh,youdon'tneedtoworryaboutmacroviruseseither!
Cost
Well,thisisoneareawhereLaTeXwinshandsdown,sinceitisfree!Aswithmostopen
sourcesoftware,thephrase"yougetwhatyoupayfor"doesn'tholdtrue.Yougetan
extremelymaturesystem,thatisstillyearsaheadofitscompetition.
Whataboutspellchecking?
It'sagoodpoint.ThisisnotadeficiencyofLaTeX,becauseitjustprocessesthewordsyou
giveit.However,withinyourtexteditor,youdonotgetfancylineshighlightingyour
spellingerrorsorbadgrammarasyoutype,likeyougetwithWord,yetit'safeatureusers
havecometoexpectwhenwritingdocuments.
Forstarters,Idonotreallycareforagrammarcheckerandanyonewhoactuallyrelieson
itwhenusingWordwouldbebetteroffbuyingabook(orlookingatwritingstyleguides)
thantakingtheuselessadviceitprovides.
Secondly,the'autocorrect'featurewhilstlookinglikeagoodideaisnotbeneficialin
thelongrun.Sure,itcorrectsthecommontyposthatweallmake.However,theproblem
inmyopinionisthatitmeanswedon'tlearnfromourmistakes,e.g.,youwillcontinueto
type'teh'insteadof'the'becauseWordwillsortitoutforyou.Havingsaidthat,ifthat's
yourthing,thenyoucaneasilyconfigureanydecenttexteditortoperformthesametask.
(Youcould,ifyoureallywantedto,useyourfavouritewordprocessorasyourtexteditor
butthenyoubacktosquareoneonthestabilityissue.)
Andsoontospelling.Thegreatthinghereisthatyouhaveachoice!AspellandIspellare
themostpopularspellcheckersIknowof(bothopensource).Thesewillcheckanytext
fileyoucaretofeeditandyoucaneasilyconfigureadecenteditortointegrateits
functionalityfromwithintheeditoritself.Howtogetyourtexteditortoutilisethese
programsisobviouslydependentonyoureditorofchoice.Some,likeKate,interface
externalspellcheckingprogramswithoutanyeffort.Ipersonallyuse(g)vimwhichnow
comeswithitsownbuiltinspellchecker.
C'mon,befair!
Ok,Iamobviouslybiasedhere.However,Iamsomeonewhousesbothsystems.It's
perhapsnotreallyfairtocompareLaTeXandWord,becausetheyaredifferenttypesof
system,whicharesuitedtodifferentjobs.However,foraslongaspeopleareusingWord
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withinacademiaandresearchinstitutions,IfeelIshouldenlightenthemandletthem
knowwhattheyaremissingouton.
Sure,Wordcanbeextendedusingitsinbuiltscriptinglanguage.Italsohasdocument
managementfeaturestohelpwithlargedocuments.Asalreadymentioned,ithasstyles
thatcanensuremanageableandconsistentpresentation.Yetveryfewpeopleseemto
takeadvantageofthem.ThisisespeciallyworsenedbyUIimprovementsthatmeanWord
willhidefeaturesthatyoudonotuse,whichmakesitmoredifficulttorememberwhat
Wordcanactuallydo.
WordmayhavetheadvantageofaGUIwhichisgoodforbeginners.Itreducesthe
cognitiveloadasit'sacaseofrecognitionversesrecall.IfpeoplereallywantaGUI,then
thereareonesthatactasafrontendtoLaTeX.It'snotaWYSIWYGeditor,becausewhat
youseeonscreenisnotwhatyouwillgetwhenyouprintitout.Instead,youhaveWhat
YouSeeIsWhatYouMeaneditorsthatstillholdtotheidealsofLaTeXbykeeping
contentandstyleseparate.However,theyareenvironmentsthatallowamorevisual
approachtoyourcontent,whichishandyforproducingcomplexequations,forexample,
butwillpassyourcontenttoLaTeXforproducingthefinaldocument.Lyxisthebest
exampleandwasoriginallydevelopedbyMatthiasEttrich(yep,that'sright,thesameguy
whofoundedtheKDEproject).YoucanalsogetLaTeXeditors,whicharelikenormaltext
editors,inthatyouseealltherawLaTeXcommands,buttheycomewithadditional
featuresthathelpwithcreatingthatfile,liketablewizards,symboldatabases,etc.

Thelearningcurve
Thereasonwhyeveryoneisn'tusingLaTeXisbecauseyoucan'tjustloadupandgo,like
youcanwithawordprocessor.IconsiderLaTeXanalogoustoHTMLwithCSS.Youneed
toputsomemarkuparoundyourtextbeforeyourbrowserknowswhattodowithitand
thesameistruewithLaTeX.Ofcourse,nowadays,anyonecanknockupawebpage
thanksto,er,Word,andvariousothervisualHTMLeditorsandasaresult,theygenerally
lookpoor.So,youneedtoinvestabitoftimeinlearningsomebasiccommands,but
you'llsoonrealisethatit'sverysimpleafterwards.Here'saLaTeX"HelloWorld!"asan
example:
%hello.texHelloworldLaTeXexample
\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
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HelloWorld!
\end{document}

Thisthatgeneratesthefollowingoutput.Itwasn'tthatdifficult,wasit?Tocontinue
learningthebasics,herearethebestplacestogo:
TheNotSoShortIntroductiontoLaTeX[pdf]
GettingtoGripswithLaTeX
TextProcessingUsingLaTeX
SowhoisLaTeXgoodfor?
Quitesimply,anyonewhoiswritingnontrivialdocumentsandistiredofbeingletdown
bytheperformanceofthecurrentcropofwordprocessors.Ifyouareinacademia,you
reallyoughttobeusingit!Anybodywritinganythingmathsrelatedwillnotfindaricher
andbetterqualitysystem.Forexample,evenWikiPediauseLaTeXforrenderingany
formulasthatappearontheirsite.
LaTeXisn'tforpeoplewhoaretoolazyordislikechange!Ipersonallyfoundthe
investmentpaidoffbecauseLaTeXallowsmetoproducemydocumentsatagreater
pace.IknowthattheenterprisewillnotbeinterestedasWordissoingrained,even
thoughtheirbusinessreportswouldlooksomuchnicer.Theirloss!Foreveryoneelse,it's
timetogiveitafairtry,justsothatyoucompareandcontrast,thendecidewhichdoes
thejobbestforyourneeds.
Lastupdated:November5,2011
BacktoLaTeXtutorials.
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Jointhediscussion
paulsorenson 3yearsago

WhileIpersistwithusingLaTeXduetothepotentialofverynicelooking
documentsIfindcomparossuchasthisbiased.Atleastthisonementionsthat
Word/OOohaveastylefacility.
Forexampletheynevermentiontheunfathomableerrors(atleasttoanewbie)
andwarningsthatcomeoutofLaTeX.IsupposehavinganactiveIRCchannel
compensatesforthis.
AnotherexampleisthatwhenLaTeXdoesn'tdowhatyoumean(orthoughtyou
meant)thenyouenduphackingitanyway.AtleastwithWYSIWYGyoucansee
theresultsofthehackingrightthere.
IhaveusedBeamerforsomepresentationswhichIthinkhavelookedvery
professionalhoweverIstillhavenoideahowtoproducea"fullbleed"imageand
positiontextoverit.InPowerPointorImpressthatisveryeasy.
OntheothersideoftheledgerWordhasasignificantlearningcurveunlessall
youdoisopenitupandstarttyping.AlsoapetgripeofminewithWordiswhenI
amforcedtoeditsomeoneelse'sdocument,thestylesandstructurearetypically
acompletebollocks.
LaTeXdocumentsalsoseemtolookreally"oldschool"fineforstuffyold
academiabutwhataboutusofficejockeys?Howaboutsometopquality
typesetting*and*amodernfeel?IcreatedPDFoutputviaLaTeXforsome
SphinxdocstheotherdayandtheylookedveryprofessionalIsupposeIwill
justhavetocutandpastetheSphinxTeXoutput,...
AllinallIwouldsayLaTeXreqireslotsofcommitmentbutthepayoffisprobably
worthit.
3

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davgar51 ayearago

Ifindthisarticlebalanced,anditmatchesmyexperienceofWordwhichIuse
everydaysinceIstartedwithWord5.1in1992.
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everydaysinceIstartedwithWord5.1in1992.
Butitmissesoneofthebiggestdifferences:Wordcannottransferitscross
referencesandinternallinkstoPDFandWorddocumentpropertiesare
transferredtoPDFeither.
ThiscausesextraworkformeeverytimeIwriteadocument.
ButwithlaTeXandhyperrefitissoeasytomakeitwork.Atmostofthe
companiesIhaveworkedatinthelast20yearshavehadtopayextramoneyfor
toolsthatcanfixthisissueafterthePDFismade.
Wecouldalsoaddthataddingindexes,glossaries(autogenerated),listof
acronymsandcustomTOCsarealsoeasy.AndIhaveneverhadissueswith
TOCsnotbeinginsyncwiththedocumentasIoftenhavewithWord.
IhaveusedLyXsince2009anditisimprovingallthetimeandinfactithasmany
bitsoffunctionthatmakeitmuchmoreusablethanWord.Anexampleisthe
'backtopreviousedit'button.Thismakesiteasytoscrollthedocumente.g.,to
checkareferencedateandthenquicklygobacktowhereyouweretyping.
ThewaystylesaredoneinWordalsocausesmoreworkbecausepeople
sendingeditscancompletelychangeyourlayoutsbutchangingyourstylesor
reformattingoneexample(andthensaying'andmaketheotherslikethis').And
weshouldmentionthattemplatesarestoredlocallysodonotnecessarilymean
thesamethingondifferentpeopl'scomputers.Thiscanbeveryhardtotrack
downandfix.
1

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HasanJaffal 2yearsago

Thankyoufortheclearcomparisonandtheobjective
opinion,IbelievethatMicrosoftwordisbetterthanLaTEXwhenitcomesto
writingsimpledocumentswithgraphics.Andwhenwritingtechnicaldocuments
suchsoftwareandITdocumentation.IthinkLaTEXisbetterforresearchhouses
andmathematicaldocuments.AnywayIdidananalysisaboutLaTEXand
Microsoft
WordforITorganizationpleasehavealookonit:
http://www.jaftalks.com/wp/ind...
Iwillbewaitingforyouropinion,kindlypostyour
agreementinthecomment.
Thankyou
1

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MikefromShreveport 2yearsago

I'vefoundthatthedifficultiesofLaTeXjustmeltawaybyusingLyx.Theideal
stateofaffairsformewouldbetohaveVimbuiltintoLyx,forthebestofall
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worlds.
1

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MrD 3monthsago

IntheexampleWordvsLatexIprefertheWordversion:farmoremodernfont
andtheLatexversionsalwayslooklikepeoplecheatedincreatingmorepages
thenrequiredbyhavingoversizedmarginsandloadsofemptyspaces.Lookat
anymagazineorbookthesedays:definitlynotLatexview.StillIprefer
WordPerfect:)Withtherevealcodesicorrecteddozenofdocuments.AllLatex
docslookbasicallythesame:oldfashionedfont,waytoomuchemptyspace
aroundthetextandthetextiswaytoocompressedtoinvitereading.Including
pictureswhichslightlyoverlap,makingannotationsontop,...usingcolors...
IcanindeedspotaLatexdocfrommiles,butisthatgood?italwayslookslike
someoneprintedonthewrongpageformatorthescalingdidn'twork.Sureyou
caneasilycreatemorehorriblethingsinWord(andpeopledo)butyoucan
definitlymakefarbetterandfancierdocsaswell.LearnWord(orWordPerfect)
beforeusingitandwithallthestylesandfeaturesyou'lldomorethingsthanwith
Latex(creatinginvitations,..basicA4letters,...mailinglists,...)

Reply Share

bazz 8monthsago

TheNotSoShortIntroductiontoLaTeX[pdf]linkisbroken

Reply Share

davgar51 ayearago

ohandIshouldmentionthatusingLyXisliketheolddraft(normal)modein
Word.Alongscrollingpagewithnowidthorpagebreaksvisible.

Reply Share

Dmitriy 2yearsago

Thanxforanicearticle,evenifemotionalandbiasedabit:)Buttheauthoradmits
thebias,sohandsoff!
IwouldsaythatLyXisveryuserfriendly,alsohavingaveryniceusersmanual.
Recommendedtonovices.

Reply Share

AnneliseFreeman 2yearsago

Help!IhaveatextbookwritteninMicrosoftWord,200+pages.IhadtoPDFfor
printingandthatmessedupthepagenumbering.Ineedtodosomeeditsbut
changingonewordinWord(haha)cancausethefigurestolaunchthemselves
ontorandompagesandpilethemselvesontopofeachother.Theproblem
seemstobehandlingthehugenumberoffigures.IhavetriedtouseLaTeXand
amhavingtroublegettingittoworkforme.Istartedwiththetableofcontents,
andthefirstchapter,itwaseasytocutandpasteintoLaTeXbutthenIconverted
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andthefirstchapter,itwaseasytocutandpasteintoLaTeXbutthenIconverted
andimportedmyfirstfigure,easy,butIcannotgetthesecondonein.Isthere
anyoneouttherewhodoesthisforaliving?IthinkIneedtopaysomeonetoput
thisintotheLaTeXformatbythetimeIfigureitoutmanwillbecolonizingMars.

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MuhammadNaeem>AnneliseFreeman 2yearsago

Ifhavesortedoutyourproblemthenignoreit.
IhavebeenusingLaTeXfromawhile,itisaverycommonproblemwith
thebeginnersofLaTeX.Ifyouanswerthefollowingquestions,Icantryto
guideyoutocomeoutofthisproblem:1)Whichtypeofimagesyou
wannauseinLaTeX2)Areyouusingdifferentpathsforthoseimages
and3)Howareyoutexifyingyourdocument,i.e.,whichkeycombination

AndrewRoberts2014

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