LaTeX, MS Word, asking questions, LyX (was Re: [OS X TeX] 1/2" margins)

[Simon Spiegel]

On 13.10.2006, at 14:10, Claus Gerhardt wrote:

> I have to defend latex (tex). The basics of  latex are not hard to  
> learn: after two weeks of reading George Grätzer's "Math into  
> Latex" and some typing, one should be able to write (=type) a  
> paper. That stage I would describe as using latex light.
>
> After a month one should be able to  set the margins to 1/2in by  
> looking in the Latex Companion, look up margin in the index.
>
> Over time one will mature, and someone like me is going to use  
> latex standard, which offers brilliant typesetting with ease. If in  
> the future I should want to accomplish something that my current  
> knowledge of latex doesn't allow me to do, I am pretty sure that a  
> look in the Latex Companion, Googling, reading manuals, trial and  
> error, or, as a last resort, asking this list will give me the  
> necessary answers.
>
> If people, especially math students, have unsurmountable  
> difficulties with latex, then they probably have more severe  
> problems which are unrelated to latex.

Although I'm not a math but a humanities student I have to second  
this. I'm not saying that things couldn't and shouldn't be more  
streamlined, but IME this is not the main hurdle.

simon


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Simon Spiegel
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