tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5468631352102294695.post569733344981451843..comments2024-01-18T01:02:10.807-08:00Comments on Story colored glasses: InterventionCynthia Kurtzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16185088323080774635noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5468631352102294695.post-62167658952016370122014-03-27T07:39:47.483-07:002014-03-27T07:39:47.483-07:00Thanks, Sophie. I wrote this post back in October,...Thanks, Sophie. I wrote this post back in October, and now that it's March I've learned a lot about LaTeX. I totally agree that it has many advantages. It has some disadvantages too, but those are less important, and they have more to do with the history of the city that is LaTeX than anything wrong with its content, or community. Another thing I like about LaTeX is that it's a nice comfortable place for a programmer to be. I'd much rather write some code than struggle with a strange GUI element. It feels right to write text mixed with code, because that's how I think. I'm not sure it's as much fun for non-programmers, though. Thanks for the helpful comment! Cynthia Kurtzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16185088323080774635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5468631352102294695.post-80199945563388010782014-03-27T01:29:02.555-07:002014-03-27T01:29:02.555-07:00I will admit: I think LaTeX is an excellent tool. ...I will admit: I think LaTeX is an excellent tool. Not the easiest to use, and certainly far from a WYSIWYG editor, but it has several key advantages:<br />1) It consistently generates the same layout, formatting, regardless of who assembles the manuscript, and what operating system they have. It is also relatively easy to switch formatting templates.<br />2) It is very easy to find out what another collaborator changed, even if they didn't use 'track changes'.<br />3) You can put chapters into several files to make it easier to manage the scroll-down-until-infinity devil, and still have it compile to one PDF at the end.<br />4) It handles page breaks intelligently.<br />5) Paired with BibTex, it can handle citation formatting so that you don't have to make sure the references are consistently formatted.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08883512716367763986noreply@blogger.com