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Have you actually tried LaTex? Because I found it quite easy to learn and to adapt. I mean, yes, there are nasty edge cases, when you want to achieve sth which

Have you actually tried LaTex? Because I found it quite easy to learn and to adapt. I mean, yes, there are nasty edge cases, when you want to achieve sth which is not so standard (but often you should not really do that anyway). But you can very much also just avoid them, and then I think it's pretty simple and just works. I don't really know any other solution, so I cannot really compare. But I would assume that for any other solution, you also would have to learn how to handle it, and not sure if that is really simpler and less effort than LaTeX.

cpach 7y ago
LaTeX is nice for some use-cases. It works quite well for academic papers. Especially if the journal has a standard template to use. But probably not so nice in other cases. I’m not sure it would be so convenient to layout a brochure or a book in LaTeX. (And I mean LaTeX, not TeX or ConTeXt.)
- capnrefsmmat 7y ago
  With books, you want lots of control over page size and headers and the styling of section breaks and so on. Often that leads you down the path of importing sixteen different packages to try to get the control you want. The memoir document class, on the other hand, combines everything you’d need for a book into one place with a consistent interface and excellent documentation. Want to do a book in LaTeX, I think it’s memoir that would make it easy.
  - fiddlerwoaroof 7y ago
    Yeah, I’ve done a bunch of program-style booklets in Latex (including some with side by side translations) and it’s really a nice environment for that sort of thing. It’s a bit tricky figuring out all the moving parts but, once you have, it’s straightforward to just drop the text in, edit it a bit, and print out something that looks professional.
bayesian_horse 7y ago
I have used LaTex, though I can't proclaim to be very proficient in it. At best it is extremely different to HTML+CSS+JS, which I know much better. At worst I did have trouble going beyond templates/packages other people created. Subjectively I'd much rather generate reports/bills/etc through HTML than LaTex, though it is undoubtedly possible.

cpach 7y ago

LaTeX is nice for some use-cases. It works quite well for academic papers. Especially if the journal has a standard template to use. But probably not so nice in other cases. I’m not sure it would be so convenient to layout a brochure or a book in LaTeX. (And I mean LaTeX, not TeX or ConTeXt.)

capnrefsmmat 7y ago
With books, you want lots of control over page size and headers and the styling of section breaks and so on. Often that leads you down the path of importing sixteen different packages to try to get the control you want. The memoir document class, on the other hand, combines everything you’d need for a book into one place with a consistent interface and excellent documentation. Want to do a book in LaTeX, I think it’s memoir that would make it easy.
- fiddlerwoaroof 7y ago
  Yeah, I’ve done a bunch of program-style booklets in Latex (including some with side by side translations) and it’s really a nice environment for that sort of thing. It’s a bit tricky figuring out all the moving parts but, once you have, it’s straightforward to just drop the text in, edit it a bit, and print out something that looks professional.

bayesian_horse 7y ago

I have used LaTex, though I can't proclaim to be very proficient in it. At best it is extremely different to HTML+CSS+JS, which I know much better. At worst I did have trouble going beyond templates/packages other people created. Subjectively I'd much rather generate reports/bills/etc through HTML than LaTex, though it is undoubtedly possible.