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I hate latex - I am not sure how much I will be down-voted on the internet but in the academic world saying those words will you give you cold harsh looks. I h

by 1971genocide 12y ago

I hate latex - I am not sure how much I will be down-voted on the internet but in the academic world saying those words will you give you cold harsh looks. I have switched to using HTML/CSS for creating my docs. It works !. It took a while to set it up but I love using it. If similar effort was put into making HTML useable for academic work, we would have been in travelling in interstellar space ! Anyway use the tool that your heart wants. PS : The writer of Games of Thrones uses terminals from the 1960s ! So I don't think these questions matter.

wodenokoto 12y ago
Latex seems to be the best for math which is why things like markdown with math typically uses latex for the math (and I suspect your system does too) It would be cool if you shared your system - does it produce print quality?
- 1971genocide 12y ago
  I use Katex https://github.com/Khan/KaTeX https://github.com/Khan/KaTeX It renders client side and its pretty fast. The only problem is matrix notation and latex macros. I been trying in my free time playing with parsers like peg.js to find a way to create a robust system. but My knowledge in parsers is limited as an engineering student.
  - 1971genocide 12y ago
    http://joykrishnamondal.github.io/Sustainability/index.html http://joykrishnamondal.github.io/Sustainability/index.html Here is a project that I created. I feel reluctant to share my real name but since you think it might be useful.
  - Derbasti 12y ago
    I want to like KaTeX so much, but without `\begin{cases}` or `\begin{align}`, it just can't typeset some of the equations I use. I'll keep an eye on it though. Maybe they'll implement those things some day.
    - 1971genocide 12y ago
      I have been thinking of writing a canvas based rendered for equations in latex.
seanmcdirmid 12y ago
CSS doesn't print very well, the best reason to use latex is professional grade typesetting. George RR Martin uses DOS based word processor from the 80s, not...60s...wordstar.
- JasonFruit 12y ago
  I've experimented with WeasyPrint[0], which does a really good job (in my opinion) of making HTML and CSS work for print. I've even used it to to generate a good-sized parallel-text book, and it did a fine job — as good as I'd expect from any tool. [0] http://weasyprint.org/ http://weasyprint.org/
tomjen3 12y ago
LaTeX has a bunch of benefits to it, one of those is its output quality. I don't how your system can equal that unless you are going to write your own render system. Also GoTs is years behind its schedule, but I wouldn't hold that up as evidence of anything.
- 1971genocide 12y ago
  I just save the webpage as .pdf and have a seperate stylesheet for printing. I have printed my docs and there seems to be no difference between them that I can notice with my naked eyes.
dalke 12y ago
People also write books by hand, and with a typewriter. (And as seanmcdirmid pointed out, 1980s, not 1960s; and it's not a terminal but a personal computer.) The thing is, book publishers have people who will re-typeset a manuscript. Especially if written by a best selling author whose next books will sell in the millions. By comparison, the academic press shifts most of that work on the authors. Academic authors don't get paid to write content and sometimes have to pay, don't get paid for typesetting, don't get paid for peer reviews, etc. (And Elsevier, one of the big academic presses, had a profit margin of 36% in 2010.) If your heart wants to get published in an academic journal, then you may end up using a different tool than if your heart wants to publish on the web, or wants to publish a best-selling novel. By analogy, if my heart is set on doing Python programming, I won't be doing much microcontroller work. If my heart is set on optimizing the performance of dense linear solvers, then I likely won't do it in Python.
omaranto 12y ago
I'm curious: what reasons for hating LaTeX do you have that don't also apply to HTML & CSS?

wodenokoto 12y ago

Latex seems to be the best for math which is why things like markdown with math typically uses latex for the math (and I suspect your system does too) It would be cool if you shared your system - does it produce print quality?

1971genocide 12y ago
I use Katex https://github.com/Khan/KaTeX https://github.com/Khan/KaTeX It renders client side and its pretty fast. The only problem is matrix notation and latex macros. I been trying in my free time playing with parsers like peg.js to find a way to create a robust system. but My knowledge in parsers is limited as an engineering student.
- 1971genocide 12y ago
  http://joykrishnamondal.github.io/Sustainability/index.html http://joykrishnamondal.github.io/Sustainability/index.html Here is a project that I created. I feel reluctant to share my real name but since you think it might be useful.
- Derbasti 12y ago
  I want to like KaTeX so much, but without `\begin{cases}` or `\begin{align}`, it just can't typeset some of the equations I use. I'll keep an eye on it though. Maybe they'll implement those things some day.
  - 1971genocide 12y ago
    I have been thinking of writing a canvas based rendered for equations in latex.

seanmcdirmid 12y ago

CSS doesn't print very well, the best reason to use latex is professional grade typesetting. George RR Martin uses DOS based word processor from the 80s, not...60s...wordstar.

JasonFruit 12y ago
I've experimented with WeasyPrint[0], which does a really good job (in my opinion) of making HTML and CSS work for print. I've even used it to to generate a good-sized parallel-text book, and it did a fine job — as good as I'd expect from any tool. [0] http://weasyprint.org/ http://weasyprint.org/

tomjen3 12y ago

LaTeX has a bunch of benefits to it, one of those is its output quality. I don't how your system can equal that unless you are going to write your own render system. Also GoTs is years behind its schedule, but I wouldn't hold that up as evidence of anything.

1971genocide 12y ago
I just save the webpage as .pdf and have a seperate stylesheet for printing. I have printed my docs and there seems to be no difference between them that I can notice with my naked eyes.

dalke 12y ago

People also write books by hand, and with a typewriter. (And as seanmcdirmid pointed out, 1980s, not 1960s; and it's not a terminal but a personal computer.) The thing is, book publishers have people who will re-typeset a manuscript. Especially if written by a best selling author whose next books will sell in the millions. By comparison, the academic press shifts most of that work on the authors. Academic authors don't get paid to write content and sometimes have to pay, don't get paid for typesetting, don't get paid for peer reviews, etc. (And Elsevier, one of the big academic presses, had a profit margin of 36% in 2010.) If your heart wants to get published in an academic journal, then you may end up using a different tool than if your heart wants to publish on the web, or wants to publish a best-selling novel. By analogy, if my heart is set on doing Python programming, I won't be doing much microcontroller work. If my heart is set on optimizing the performance of dense linear solvers, then I likely won't do it in Python.

omaranto 12y ago

I'm curious: what reasons for hating LaTeX do you have that don't also apply to HTML & CSS?