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[Jim Diamond]

On Fri, Aug  7, 2020 at 20:08 (+0100), Peter Flynn wrote:

> On 07/08/2020 18:49, Jim Diamond via texhax wrote:
>> [...] for any "default" that some LaTeX setup (document style,
>> packages, ...) gives you is not what you want, trying to change it
>> can take you down the rabbit-hole of completely inscrutable LaTeX
>> code, and trying to change it may be more work than if you had
>> learned (plain) TeX in the first place. (This was my experience, I
>> tried LaTeX before I started using plain TeX.)
> I went the other way round, having started using TeX before LaTeX
> came along.  And this was why I delayed so long before moving to
> LaTeX.  The documentation was mostly written for document class
> designers, not users, and packages were written to solve one highly
> specific edge case, rather than the generality of common cases.

> When that changed, and LaTeX 2.09 was replaced by LaTeX2ε, I felt
> it was right to move, as the vast majority of our work is very much
> middle-of-the-road publishing.

I'll take your word for it.  I maintain two latex thesis configs for
my university (honours and grad thesis specs are, of course (*cough*),
different), and I help people with the LaTeX from time to time, but I
still find LaTeX obtuse.  Chacun a son gout.


>> Having said that, there is always this nagging thought at the back
>> of my head to learn ConTeXt, since I think it may have the best of
>> both worlds.

> ConTeXt produces beautiful documents but it involves an even greater
> placement of trust in the authors.  It's a bit like using a Mac: does the
> job beautifully but only if you place your hand on your heart and
> promise faithfully that you will only ever want to do it their way.

Well that's depressing.  :-(
But, perhaps, a big time saver.

Cheers.
                                Jim