[Tugindia] tugindia Digest,

[Nina Mazumdar]

On Wed, May 14, 2008 at 4:17 PM, sudheer <sudheer108 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear All,
> hai. I am new LATEX user. I am in dilema whether LATEX will be easy or word
> will be easy for formatting.
> Can any one of you please resolve my confusion?

Depends on many factors like what you want to accomplish with your
software and how do you see software at large.

If you are an author who wants to concentrate on writing without
breaks in your train of thought, TeX and friends are the ideal medium
for your document preparation because TeX will take care of the
formatting while you can concentrate on your writing.

If your content is more technically oriented with lots of math, cross
referencing, etc., obviously TeX will make your life much more easier
than any other.

If you want your source files sleek and not bound to any operating
system or devices, TeX is the best option.

If you want several things to happen automatically, like multiple
indices, list of tables, list of figures, table of contents, etc., TeX
is best at all these.

If you want to make your document input without the fear of an
impending system crash or freeze, please go for TeX.  I have heard
that docs with a lot of maths tend to crash/freeze more often than you
expect.

If you want your document sources to live a longer period, go for TeX.
 Even after a decade from now, you can typeset your document to
generate the same output as today.

If you are averse to learn a few new things and new ways of creating
your document, TeX is not your friend.

If you do not care about software freedom and want to dance with the
dictates of proprietary companies like Microsoft, avoid TeX.

Best

-- 
Nina