On Thu, Apr 2, 2009 at 10:03 AM, Rich Shepard <[email protected]> wrote: > Not too many folks -- except the serious masochists -- write in TeX. > That's like writing a computer application in assembly code rather than a > higher level language.
I just have to chime in again and make sure it's clear that TeX != LaTeX. (I'm sure Rich is aware of this--just for general clarification.) I've never met a pure TeX user, and I only know of one by name (Knuth). LaTeX is a large step up in usability, but it's similar in spirit. (They are both textual markup languages, as opposed to LyX, which is a graphical WYSIWYG-ish tool.) --Rogan >> My experience with Word and OO makes me cringe at the thought of trying to >> get 100's of pages error-free out of either of them. > > There's more than that involved. LyX/LaTeX allows the writer to focus > strictly on content and leaves typography and page layout decisions to the > professionals who have designed the classes. My book used the > Springer-Verlag monograph class. Their TeXpert had be globally change all > /textellipse instances to /ldots. When I looked at the differences I found > they were so subtle that most of us mere mortals would never see them unless > we specifically looked. But, /ldots are the European typographic standard, > so that's what I used. > > I cannot stand to write more than a page in OO.o Writer. It's a time > consuming hassle. And the differences in the printed output are striking. > Write the same page of text in OO.o and in LateX, export both to .pdf and > look; you'll immediately see the differences. > > Word processors use the line as the unit with which they work. TeX uses > the paragraph and the page. TeX also adjusts kerning on the fly rather than > the word processors' adjustment of inter-word spacing. Many (most?) readers > will not be consciously aware of the differences, but the typeset output > from TeX makes a subconscious impression of professionalism and quality. > I've had people comment on the appearance of a typeset report; that never > happened with a word processed document. > > But, John's correct. It takes someone willing to learn and not just click, > drag, and wear out a mouse pointing everywhere. It's not for everyone. > > Rich > > -- > Richard B. Shepard, Ph.D. | Integrity Credibility > Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc. | Innovation > <http://www.appl-ecosys.com> Voice: 503-667-4517 Fax: 503-667-8863 > _______________________________________________ > PLUG mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug > _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
