[XeTeX] XeLaTeX and math --- a structural design query

[Shrisha Rao]

El jun 18, 2009, a las 9:04 a.m., Nicolas Vaughan escribió:

> Hello,
> I have been commissioned by a university to design a collection of  
> monographs on mathematics. I should be providing a class file, a  
> user manual and a typeset example.
> At the outset, I decided to work in XeLaTeX, since this is the  
> system I have been working with lately, and with which I feel quite  
> comfortable.
> However, some folks have told me that, since I know not what the  
> precise content of the monographs will be (apart from the usual  
> LaTeX packages and AMS commands and environments), there is a risk  
> there might be a clash between XeLaTeX and the content (e.g., with  
> commutative diagrams, perhaps?).
> What do you suggest? Should I stick to plain old LaTeX, or should I  
> go all the way through with XeLaTeX?

I don't see any particular merit to preferring XeLaTeX over LaTeX in  
mathematical writing, since the main advantage gained is ease of use  
of different text fonts, which is at best a minor virtue in  
mathematics.  Perhaps when there are good math Unicode fonts, such a  
choice will make sense.

It has also been my (admittedly limited) experience that publishers  
and fellow-authors are sometimes uncomfortable with XeTeX/XeLaTeX, and  
have difficulty working with such source files.  This is also  
something I would consider in making a switch.

Regards,

Shrisha Rao

> Thanks for any ideas.
> Cheers!
> Nicolas Vaughan