[ILUG] LaTex

[Liam McDermott]

that main advantage, as far as i am concerned,

i that with latex you can use a style file which will define all
formating so that different docs written by different people will look
the same when the same style file is used.

this is similar to templates in word, except in word you had to start
the doc using the template where as in latex you can use the style
file after writing the doc, you just have to include it at the top

liam

On 7/25/05, Mel Gorman <mel at csn.ul.ie> wrote:
> On Mon, 25 Jul 2005, Karl Carlile wrote:
> 
> > What exactly is the function of LATEX. Is it used to polish up text files
> > prodcued, by a simple text editor?
> 
> Google for a comprehensive answer, but at a very basic (and probably
> incorrect) level, it is a markup language for documents. You write in a
> plain text file what the content of the document is, and LaTeX decides how
> to lay it out.
> 
> So, in OpenOffice/Word/WYSIWYG editor, you would start a section by
> choosing a larger found, typing the title and going back to a normal font.
> In LaTex, you would do something like
> 
> \section{This is my new section}
> 
> This is text within the section
> 
> LaTeX will take this, choose a font for you, format the page and whatever
> else is required to make it look good.
> 
> In other words, LaTeX lets you focus on what the document is, where as
> OpenOffice/Word/Whatever make you focus on what the document looks like as
> well as what it is. Frequently, it is stated that LaTeX is generally used
> for Maths but I have used it for almost all document writing for the last
> 5 years without complaint.
> 
> --
> Mel Gorman
> Part-time Phd Student                          Java Applications Developer
> University of Limerick                         IBM Dublin Software Lab
> --
> Irish Linux Users' Group
> http://www.linux.ie/mailman/listinfo/ilug/
> 
>