[OS X TeX] Semi-OT
Frederick Hoyt
fmhoyt at mail.utexas.edu
Sat Jan 22 19:00:07 CET 2005
I use Latex for the following reasons:
(1) I work in formal linguistics, so I make use of a lot of complex,
math-like graphic elements which are a nightmare to typeset in Word,
Nisus, and any other WYSIWYG program;
(2) The output is so easy to read and pleasant to look at;
(3) Numbering and bibliography creation are so easy;
(4) Typesetting phonetic characters (using tipa.sty) is very easy, and
doesn't require learning an intricate keyboard layout or wasting time
inserting symbols with from a symbol table;
(5) Format is portable - I can work on my Mac at home, and on the unix
machines at school without having to worry about whether formatting and
fonts will transfer;
(6) I find that having gotten the hang of it, Latex is generally a much
more efficient way to work. This is especially the case since I have
learned to write my own commands and abbreviations. I take lecture
notes in latex, including tree diagrams and the like, and faster than I
would be able to writing long-hand;
(7) It's fun and satisfying;
Fred Hoyt
On Jan 22, 2005, at 9:31 AM, Jason Davies wrote:
> I have been asked to lead a discussion for students and staff about
> presenting documents. I doubt very much that any will be inclined to
> use
> LaTeX but what would be useful is an overview of why we use it - in
> terms of aesthetics, readability etc (why those large margins? kind of
> thing.) I think the idea is that people may consider applying such
> principles to (presumably) Word documents (eg choice of fonts, width of
> page, number of lines etc).
>
> I realise that this may or may not be of wider interest to the list so
> I
> also ask that if anyone has strong feelings about it not being
> appropriate, a brief message to the list can steer these to me
> personally. But then again, we might all learn something...!
>
> thanks.
> --------------------- Info ---------------------
> Mac-TeX Website: http://www.esm.psu.edu/mac-tex/
> & FAQ: http://latex.yauh.de/faq/
> TeX FAQ: http://www.tex.ac.uk/faq
> List Post: <mailto:MacOSX-TeX at email.esm.psu.edu>
>
>
>
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"Email is a wonderful thing for people whose role in life is to be on
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concentration."
-Donald Knuth
Frederick M. Hoyt
Linguistics Department
University of Texas at Austin
--------------------- Info ---------------------
Mac-TeX Website: http://www.esm.psu.edu/mac-tex/
& FAQ: http://latex.yauh.de/faq/
TeX FAQ: http://www.tex.ac.uk/faq
List Post: <mailto:MacOSX-TeX at email.esm.psu.edu>
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