4 ms·

People use things like LaTeX exactly because of this problem. Word processing software brought the problem of inconsistent formatting and layout within the gras

People use things like LaTeX exactly because of this problem. Word processing software brought the problem of inconsistent formatting and layout within the grasp of everyone and boy! ...did they grab it with both hands. Systems based on plain text allow the author to concentrate on content only, without the need to format. Personally I find LaTeX misses the mark. Too much markup is needed and it detracts. I'm a fan of asciidoc though. I just wish the templating was a little better though.

throwaway81523 3y ago
TeX documents have a distinctive look because of their typography. Back when printed resumes were a thing, whenever I saw one done in TeX, I would recognize the CM font right away. I'd then look at the resume early, since I knew that it came from a nerd. Mine was of course also done that way.
- jll29 3y ago
  It's ideal for hiring - you immediately know which resumes to read and which one to dump into the trash.
  - yashrk 3y ago
    So CVs from folks who know LaTeX good enough to change Computer Modern to something else will be dumped into the trash…
  - throwaway81523 3y ago
    I wouldn't dump a non-TeX one in the trash. It's just that a TeX one tends to draw my interest right away.
- riwsky 3y ago
  Unless you’re looking for Haskell nerds, in which case you should prioritize Comic Sans.
  - throwaway81523 3y ago
    There is also Coq's documentation system, which has its own distinctive look: https://softwarefoundations.cis.upenn.edu/lf-current/Basics.html https://softwarefoundations.cis.upenn.edu/lf-current/Basics....
  - Quekid5 3y ago
    Simon PJ glares :) For those not in the know, Simon Peyton Jones is one of the originators of Haskell, and sort-of-but-not-quite BDFL of Haskell... and he uses Comic Sans for all his presentations because it filters out people who will complain about font choice for a presentation.
    - adastra22 3y ago
      I write code in Comic Sans, so I'm not one to judge :)
sam_bristow 3y ago
My personal sweet-spot for writing technical documents these days is Asciidoctor with semantic line breaks [1]. There are some warts in the asciidoc syntax but it covers a lot more of the features I need for the types of documents I'm writing compared to Markdown. [1] https://rhodesmill.org/brandon/2012/one-sentence-per-line/ https://rhodesmill.org/brandon/2012/one-sentence-per-line/

throwaway81523 3y ago

TeX documents have a distinctive look because of their typography. Back when printed resumes were a thing, whenever I saw one done in TeX, I would recognize the CM font right away. I'd then look at the resume early, since I knew that it came from a nerd. Mine was of course also done that way.

jll29 3y ago
It's ideal for hiring - you immediately know which resumes to read and which one to dump into the trash.
- yashrk 3y ago
  So CVs from folks who know LaTeX good enough to change Computer Modern to something else will be dumped into the trash…
- throwaway81523 3y ago
  I wouldn't dump a non-TeX one in the trash. It's just that a TeX one tends to draw my interest right away.
riwsky 3y ago
Unless you’re looking for Haskell nerds, in which case you should prioritize Comic Sans.
- throwaway81523 3y ago
  There is also Coq's documentation system, which has its own distinctive look: https://softwarefoundations.cis.upenn.edu/lf-current/Basics.html https://softwarefoundations.cis.upenn.edu/lf-current/Basics....
- Quekid5 3y ago
  Simon PJ glares :) For those not in the know, Simon Peyton Jones is one of the originators of Haskell, and sort-of-but-not-quite BDFL of Haskell... and he uses Comic Sans for all his presentations because it filters out people who will complain about font choice for a presentation.
  - adastra22 3y ago
    I write code in Comic Sans, so I'm not one to judge :)

sam_bristow 3y ago

My personal sweet-spot for writing technical documents these days is Asciidoctor with semantic line breaks [1]. There are some warts in the asciidoc syntax but it covers a lot more of the features I need for the types of documents I'm writing compared to Markdown. [1] https://rhodesmill.org/brandon/2012/one-sentence-per-line/ https://rhodesmill.org/brandon/2012/one-sentence-per-line/