[OS X TeX] Who should use (La)TeX - who is able to use it?

[Alain Schremmer]

My only experience has been with LyX which, indeed, I didn't like but 
mostly because it didn't follow the Mac interface. I have not tried 
Scientific WorkPlace/Word which, by the way, says that "a click of a 
button allows you to typeset your document in LaTeX".

In any case, I doubt that, 25 years ago, people could have imagined what 
today's desk computers can do. We were overjoyed with MacWrite and 
couldn't believe it when the first Laserprinter came out. In fact we 
couldn't believe the output of the Applewriter (?) to begin with. So, 
the fact that many people have tried does not seem to me to be a 
convincing argument.

Re. "The syntax and meaning of typesetting languages like TeX are too 
rich and subtle for simple-to-use visual metaphors". Maybe, I certainly 
wouldn't know, but what about a /subset/ thereof? Many people would be 
happy to settle for a "lite" version. If only to get started.

By the way, just before the Mac came out, I used to hear the same kind 
of things about why there could be nothing but command language on 80 
character lines and raw dot matrix printers. I know because a friend and 
I were trying at the time to get into small press publishing, couldn't 
believe it and kept looking. And then there was Xerox' star system which 
we couldn't afford and, eventually, the Mac 128 which couldn't do much 
of anything but made us wait a bit more and the Mac 256 we bought a 
couple of.

Regards
--schremmer

Fernando Pereira wrote:

>
> On Nov 15, 2004, at 5:23 PM, Alain Schremmer wrote:
>
>> Re. Making LaTeX simple enough. I am simply not convinced that it is 
>> not feasible.
>
>
> Many smart people have tried to put WYSIWYG front-ends on typesetting 
> languages for over 25 years. They all failed. The reason is that the 
> syntax and meaning of typesetting languages like TeX are too rich and 
> subtle for simple-to-use visual metaphors. sooner or later, and 
> typically sooner, the underlying language "leaks out" from under the 
> visual interface.
>
> -- F
>
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