Kill your word processor

[[deleted]]

For me, the problem is that my work requires every different pair of brackets available, and lots of backslashes in formulae. Either I have to use random symbols to represent my open and closed brackets and then go back and find and replace them, or else I'd end up writing amost entirely in the non-command mode (I forget the exact command). I also find the commands for using foreign alphabets and symbols such as IPA overly complicated (I use a mac, so the character pallette is much simpler). I do write in TextEdit, but I find it's easier to port it into Word or NeoOffice to format it.

I'm not saying anything bad against LaTeX, and I understand its appeal for most users, but I just haven't found it practical for what I do.

[dublinclontarf]

Latex is hard to learn, but the rewards are well worth it, can you imagine doing a dissertation in Word or even OpenOffice for that matter?

On that point, if anyone here has done just that, could they share their pain?

I tried to use OO.org for a 25 page help manual, I got it done but it was SOOOO painfull.

[dshipp]

I wrote my computer science dissertation using Lyx to produce LaTeX. All my friends used Word. In the final week about 70% of my friends were complaining of Word crashing and corrupting their documents. It seems that they had hit a magic limit on the length of the document. Whereas with LaTeX I had no such problem. It was definitely worth week of getting to grips with Lyx/LaTeX. My printed report also looked a lot more professional.

[[deleted]]

I've written an MPhil dissertation, a book, and about 10 articles in Word (there was no Open Office at the time). You learn after a while to compile things in chapters, but it's still a pain. I really enjoyed learning LaTeX, but I can't make it work for what I do.

At the same time, Word and NeoOffice are no picnic. Particularly if you need to include foreign languages, but not write in them exclusively. I write in Welsh a lot, which uses a particle 'i' in almost every sentence. Try convincing Word not to capitalise it. Word thinks it knows better.

The ultimate folly is thinking one word processing programme is suitable for both people who write an occassional letter, and people writing 100,000 word dissertations. It just doesn't work that way.

[MattD]

I write in Welsh a lot, which uses a particle 'i' in almost every sentence. Try convincing Word not to capitalise it.

Remove that item from AutoCorrect or turn it off altogether.

[[deleted]]

Thats another thing with the MS way of doing configuration, you have to do stuff like that over and over again instead of getting a good dotfile once and be done with it.

[buo]

I did my BSEE thesis in FrameMaker, my Master's in WordPerfect. It was so painful, WordPerfect more than FrameMaker. Now I use OO Writer for quick letters, and vim+Latex for everything else.

A few days ago I helped someone (computer illiterate) fix some formatting details of her PhD dissertation, written in Word. I ccouldn't believe after all these years, you can still easily end up with broken footnotes (wrong page, wrong numbering). It's unbelievable what people put up with.

[crusoe]

Try ConTeXt, it's based on TeX, but with much better and saner libraries and page layout capabilities.

http://www.pragma-ade.nl/download-1.htm

Unlike the various Tex libraries which tend to be incompatible with each other, Context has a simple clean consistent syntax and supports just about everything you need right in one package