Re: getting out of LaTeX

"Ruud" == Ruud Harmsen <realemailonsite@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

Ruud> Tue, 29 Aug 2006 13:18:00 -0500: Alexander Magidow
Ruud> <amagidow@xxxxxxxx>: in sci.lang:

>> PS- I personally prefer latex to word in that less is hidden
>> from me. When I say, +AFw-section{Section Name}, I know exactly
>> what it will look like, and I know it will be 100% consistent
>> with every other sections header.

Ruud> In Word, the same can be achieved using styles. What's the
Ruud> difference? That most people don't use styles? Their
Ruud> problem, not Word's.

Word's interface has something to do with it. If you want users to do
the right thing, you should design the interface to guide users to do
right.

Word's interface makes the use of styles a very complicated task, when
compared to simply changing font size, typeface,
bold/italic/underline, etc. So, it is essentially encouraging users
to change font size and typeface etc. and discouraging users to use
styles.

StarOffice's interface is quite different. It opens a "style***
window" by default, guiding the users to use styles rather than change
font size/name directly.

LaTeX's (not TeX's) interface is much better. It discourages you from
change font size etc. and encourages you to use +AFw-section, +AFw-emph, etc.
Every LaTeX manual/tutorial/book teaches their readers to structure
their documents into +AFw-chapter (for book), +AFw-section, +AFw-subsection, etc.




--
Lee Sau Dan +Z05biGVm- +AH4-{@nJX6X+AH4-}

E-mail: danlee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Home page: http://www.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/+AH4-danlee
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