a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment by zebra2
zebra2  ·  2586 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hubski, what app do you use to write?

It's interesting seeing LaTeX thrown around here a lot. I've heard of it but never really looked into it, so I looked at the site for it just now. I've got to admit it looks like a nightmare. They say upfront that they want to "let authors get on with writing documents" but then show and example where it looks like you're writing code? How is that better than the straightforward example they give first, which they describe as "wasting time"? What am I missing here?





veen  ·  2586 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I have worked with LaTeX and the idea is that you codify the elements in your writing. So you type out \chapter{title} and it'll apply the proper widths, margins, font sizes and other formatting elements that you might want. It's used a lot in the hard sciences because it makes writing long, difficult equations a breeze.

Devac  ·  2586 days ago  ·  link  ·  
This comment has been deleted.
dublinben  ·  2586 days ago  ·  link  ·  

LaTeX lets you logically describe what you're writing, and leave the presentation up to a template/designer. It is similar to the relationship between the content of a webpage and the CSS that makes it look a certain way.

You may find the online https://www.sharelatex.com/ editor an easy way to get started. As a writer, I find it much more pleasant than Word or any other bloated text editor. As a reader, it will truly produce the most beautiful documents you've ever laid your eyes on.