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In the last three decades of having the opportunity to learn and use TeX, i have managed to avoid it. In the same time i've helped a friend with word processing

by Tepix 4y ago

In the last three decades of having the opportunity to learn and use TeX, i have managed to avoid it. In the same time i've helped a friend with word processing for her dissertation. I'm still not sure how we managed to get it to work with all the horror stories about data loss and Microsoft Word at the time. But it did its job and I'm still in the WYSIWYG camp. Maybe in another life...

tomtomistaken 4y ago
I have the exact opposite story to tell. A friend of mine asked me to convert a 300 pages Word document to LaTeX, because Word couldn’t handle it. It was text, mostly, so it worked out quite well.
dev_tty01 4y ago
I find Word is only tolerable when used like Latex. I.e., extensive use of Styles. Define a Style for every object type in your doc. Also, carefully choose the Next Style option. Define Sections if columns or pagination vary across the document. With that in hand, it is now just a matter of plugging in text and images. If something isn't working quite right, edit the Style instead of macdinking the text on the screen. You are still left with formatting equations, but Word lets us use Latex-ish syntax for that now, so you can keep the fine control of Latex within the GUI context. Don't get me wrong, I hate Word, but it is required in many environments. Adopting a rational use strategy helps a bit. https://www.wordsense.eu/macdink/#English https://www.wordsense.eu/macdink/#English
- Tepix 4y ago
  Indeed, using styles is the (only) way to manage any significant document in Word.
ska 4y ago
People write dissertations in Word all the time. How painful it is depends a bit on how complicated the dissertation is as a document. This is of course only an anecdote, but I know many people who started in word, gave up on it and moved to Tex/Latex, but nobody who went the other way (that is to say, I know people who tried to give up on Tex, but eventually went back - not anyone who actually published with it). This might have quite a bit to do with subject matter - Word has always been an awkward fit for mathematics.

by Tepix 4y ago

tomtomistaken 4y ago

I have the exact opposite story to tell. A friend of mine asked me to convert a 300 pages Word document to LaTeX, because Word couldn’t handle it. It was text, mostly, so it worked out quite well.

dev_tty01 4y ago

I find Word is only tolerable when used like Latex. I.e., extensive use of Styles. Define a Style for every object type in your doc. Also, carefully choose the Next Style option. Define Sections if columns or pagination vary across the document. With that in hand, it is now just a matter of plugging in text and images. If something isn't working quite right, edit the Style instead of macdinking the text on the screen. You are still left with formatting equations, but Word lets us use Latex-ish syntax for that now, so you can keep the fine control of Latex within the GUI context. Don't get me wrong, I hate Word, but it is required in many environments. Adopting a rational use strategy helps a bit. https://www.wordsense.eu/macdink/#English https://www.wordsense.eu/macdink/#English

Tepix 4y ago
Indeed, using styles is the (only) way to manage any significant document in Word.

ska 4y ago

People write dissertations in Word all the time. How painful it is depends a bit on how complicated the dissertation is as a document. This is of course only an anecdote, but I know many people who started in word, gave up on it and moved to Tex/Latex, but nobody who went the other way (that is to say, I know people who tried to give up on Tex, but eventually went back - not anyone who actually published with it). This might have quite a bit to do with subject matter - Word has always been an awkward fit for mathematics.