> > [...] Evaluating a global metric like this can be potentially slow, which is why interactive programs like LibreOffice do not use this method. I suspect th

> > [...] Evaluating a global metric like this can be potentially slow, which is why interactive programs like LibreOffice do not use this method. I suspect that another reason for a WYSIWYG office suite to not use such global optimisation, is to avoid unpredictable changes to layout in response to seemingly unrelated changes by the user. If you get full reflows with figures moving around and headings flipping between the previous and the next page while you're typing a sentence, users will probably quickly punch a hole in their monitor. In (La)TeX this is less of an issue because of the delayed compilation, I guess. Also *TeX users are probably more tolerant to that kind of mess.