Word or LaTeX?

groff -mm

>>59858717
I already use Latex to keep women from getting pregnant. Why would I use it for writing shit?

LaTeX has a higher learning curve but the end results look much better. I made the switch years ago to LaTeX and glad I did

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>>59858717
LaTeX, Word can't even compete, especially if you write a lot of math.

>>59858717
WordPad + RTF, times new roman for the body and Comic Sans for the titles

>>59858784
Which is which? They both look shitty desu

>>59858776
I wouldn't say the learning curve is that high. It's more that it's a totally different way of thinking about formatting documents. If you spent your whole life formatting documents through markup then were sat down in front of a WYSIWYG you'll have just as much confusion.

In fact I'd say that the confusing would be greater since there's no invisible syntax like there is with WYSIWYG word processors.

>>59858717
I don't understand why is LaTeX as popular as it is. Getting downloaded template to work is pretty much like doing one yourself, whats the point. God forbid you have to use non-ASCII text, good luck making it work with everything else.

>>59858867
>having problems with non-ASCII text
>half a decade since the Year of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ two thousand and twelve
lurk moar ms shill

>>59858867
It's awesome for doing formulas and making pretty resumes. I wouldn't use it for day to day note keeping.

>>59858771
As if you get any.

>>59858919
He means so as not to get cum inside his cotton waifu

>>59858952
ah.

>>59858894
> I wouldn't use it for day to day note keeping.

No, you would use a sheet of paper and a pen for that.

>>59858885
>>59858867
>having problems with non-ASCII text
Protip for noobs if using pdfLaTeX:

\usepackage[T1]{fontenc} 
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}

Yes, in that order.
Or use XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX

>>59858784
Microsoft Word has ligatures too, you have to enable them though.

>>59858756
I know you're being sarcastic, but in a sane world most people would be able to get away with word processing that simple.

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>>59859025
It still won't improve typesetting much.

Word, as my supervisor uses that and if he can't make comments and corrections he will not be happy.

>>59858717
LaTeX, my job requires it...

>>59858717
If you're doing a lot with mathematical formulas, LaTeX is better. Otherwise word is fine.

>>59858776
You can make word documents look just as good. You just need to learn how to do it, too.

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>>59859522
>You can make word documents look just as good. You just need to learn how to do it, too.
There is a limit to how good looking can you make Word documents. And with tools like Lynx, ShareLaTeX or Overleaf there is little reason to use Word. Even if you need to create simple documents there is Pandoc or Org, you don't even have to write plain LaTeX, just simple Markdown. One thing to consider is file formats. LaTeX and Markdow are plain text, which means you will be able to open them anytime in next 100+ years. Can you say that for .docx? Plain text is the format for writers, distraction free. George R. R. Martin still writes his works in WordStar running on DOS.

>MS Word was a nightmare by comparison, made perhaps for students and men who liked to 'play' with a mouse. Learning it was like learning something thrown together by maniacs.
t. Anne Rice

>>59858717
>normie
word
>cheap normie
libreoffice
>retard
openoffice
>writing scientific or academic papers
latex

>>59859801
I used ShareLaTeX recently for a report. It was pretty good and it was seamless to write with multiple people.

>>59858717
>quick memo or note which doesn't require any formatting or shit formatting is fine
Word

>Any serious paper such as academic papers, a long report and so on
LaTeX

>>59858717
>Should I use a piece of semi-frozen shit with a hole in it to get myself off, or should I make sweet love to my smart, pretty and always horny wife?

Its not even a comparison.
LaTeX all the way, not just for math, science, engineering, presentations, CVs, Books, articles, letters...

Dont listen to the pubscrubs who cannot do certain things in it: They do not deserve to be able to do those things.
Always remember: Everthing is possible in LaTeX, literally everything you can do with Word or Libreoffice, its just a question of using the right commands.

>>59859801
I save all my things in plaintext, even using converters to get it like that. Using groff you can actually make some really pleasant looking plaintext files, including page breaks, tables of contents, headers and footers, and everything else you'd expect from a "real" document.

I'm a big fan of plaintext and how you can do so much with it despite being so simple.

>>59858717
Is the document simple?
>Yes
>>>Word

>No
>>>LaTeX

I don't know much about Word, but the thing I love about LaTeX, and the thing most of my uninitiated friends are most intrigued by, is how you can work on your documents in a modular way. Divide up the code for different sections into different files, compile only the parts you need to look at. No more huge docx files that make your computer lag.

Google "modular documents latex" and click the firsr link. Really a game changer.

>>59858867
I'd strongly would advice anybody who's planning to use Latex for a larget document to not use a premade template. If you don't set it up by yourself you tend to be pretty lost when sth. goes wrong.

>>59861135
This isn't anything new.

cat file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt > file4.txt

>>59858717
Latex.

>>59859801
Neal Stephenson write Cryptonomicon in emacs.

>>59861210
If I'm supplied the template and I'm expected to use it... Should I kill myself or what? Premade template should work anywhere without issues period.

Word because no one uses LaTex here.

>>59861258
I'm not saying it's new, it's just something surprisingly many don't learn early enough. And it's integrated in LaTeX, you can do it on Sharelatex.

>>59859193
pdf format supports comments. I use them regularly. Is there something specific he wants to use them for that it can't do?

>>59861258
thats not what he meant Im sure.
With that you cannot compile parts of documents, only all of them or none.
After all you need to have some sort of header in LaTeX documents, if you just cat them, either some docs wont have a headers or the resulting file will have more that one

>>59858717
LaTeX for anything involving math, figures, many citations, or static format with updating data (e.g. resume).
Word for quick documents, papers, letters, etc.