alexleonard said:

alexleonard

Why is word processing so god damn awful. I've tried many different word processors & they're all crap. Numbered lists? Completely cocked!

10 months, 2 weeks ago.

20 comments so far

  • Adventsparky

    Pen and paper works well ;)

    10 months, 2 weeks ago by Adventsparky

  • FyreFiend

    One of the reasons I learned LaTeX. If it's going to be a pain in the ass to do it should at least look good

    10 months, 2 weeks ago by FyreFiend

  • myrtti

    LaTeX <3 (if you can't be arsed, then give LyX a try)

    10 months, 2 weeks ago by myrtti

  • alexleonard

    I really was tempted to do the numbered lists in HTML, just because I know I could get my indents right, but I wasn't sure what I'd do with it then. Importing it into word would probably make a complete balls of it.

    I'm writing our hosting terms and conditions. It's not a fun way to spend the evening..

    10 months, 2 weeks ago by alexleonard

  • alexleonard

    Apparently "Party" doesn't mean a good laugh with all your mates, it actually means "a party to this Agreement"

    10 months, 2 weeks ago by alexleonard

  • alexleonard

    I hate legal speak.

    10 months, 2 weeks ago by alexleonard

  • Bishop

    And make sure you pronounce LaTeX properly. :)

    10 months, 2 weeks ago by Bishop

  • bogart

    +1 LaTeX

    10 months, 2 weeks ago by bogart

  • myrtti

    you should give LaTeX a try. I do it for work and I love it.

    \begin{enumerate}

    \item item

    \item item

    \begin{enumerate}

    \item item

    \item item

    \end{enumerate}

    \end{enumerate}

    #List_Structures" target="_new">http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/Formatting#List_Structures

    10 months, 2 weeks ago by myrtti

  • alexleonard

    I thought LaTeX was just for coding mathematical formulae.

    I mean, it's not that complicated really. Number, level 1, number level 1.1, number level 2, level 2.1, level 2.1.1 etc

    The tab spacing is going mental, it's just all over the fucking place.

    BAH!

    Will LaTeX not cause confusion though as well? Being that I've never used it?

    10 months, 2 weeks ago by alexleonard

  • matnel

    @alexleonard: everything will cause confusion... The guestion is what causes least.

    10 months, 2 weeks ago by matnel

  • bogart

    LaTeX is basically a typesetting language. Sure, it has a strong focus in correctly displaying mathematical formulae (you think numbered lists are difficult!) but I used it in college to write papers for my English classes because the UNIX labs were nearly always empty and there was an hour-long wait for the Mac/PC workstations.

    It's really pretty similar to HTML. At least for basic documents.

    10 months, 2 weeks ago by bogart

  • alexleonard

    Hmm, sounds pretty interesting right there.

    I think I have at this moment gotten round my issues with the word processor though (fingers crossed) and am forging ahead with the basic layout shit. After that it'll be time to move on to exciting editing of terms and conditions. Bleh.

    10 months, 2 weeks ago by alexleonard

  • topyli

    I never do math, which is good for both me and math. However, I write everything in LaTeX (LyX really). Saves me a lot of time and pain. Also, BibTeX makes sure my references are sane in long documents.

    10 months, 2 weeks ago by topyli

  • ymb

    i switched from Word to Notepad/Vim and writing in HTML, then sending MHT files around. This is much faster than trying to fight the Word layout stuff and i can concentrate on the content rather than how it looks.

    HTML has everything i need (lists, bold underline, headings, embed images), and has only a small syntax for those things.

    I think there are also a good set of HTML->LaTeX converters out there

    10 months, 2 weeks ago by ymb

  • alexleonard

    Well I got it to behave long enough to get 15 pages of unordered lists working, but I'm definitely going to have a look at LaTeX now.

    You can integrate LaTeX with OpenOffice correct? Although does that defeat the purpose of it?

    10 months, 2 weeks ago by alexleonard

  • myrtti

    you can make OpenOffice save in LaTeX, but I'd use it only as a base for editing by hand/proper LaTeX editor.

    10 months, 2 weeks ago by myrtti

  • alexleonard

    Thanks - I'll look into it at some point.

    First up I have to consider installing xubuntu on my desktop, but on a spare drive, and see if I can get the 4 screens working...

    10 months, 2 weeks ago by alexleonard

  • bogart

    Windows LaTeX options include the cygwin port and one called MikTeX (I think). Also, emacs runs on windows, but that might be a lot to learn at once.

    There are a couple different frontends. Lyx being the most popular or well-developed, but anything that hilites markup should be good with options like editpad and notepad+

    10 months, 2 weeks ago by bogart

  • alexleonard

    Deadly, cheers @bogart :)

    Some day I'll just leave word processors behind. I'm happier in notepad anyway.

    I've been liking Editra on Linux, and have been a long time user of Notepad++ on windows.

    10 months, 2 weeks ago by alexleonard

Sign in to add a comment