Micha Feigin wrote:
I wouldn't use word even if I got a bug-free version, but it definitelyOn Mon, 28 Feb 2005 11:21:44 -0800 (PST) Rich Shepard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On Mon, 28 Feb 2005, Martin A. Hansen wrote:
i am also interested in strong pro/con arguments i can use (i am aware of
the feature list etc). please fill in below :o)
Martin,
pros:
free
well written and intelligent docs
superb bibliographies using bibtex
I'm an ecologist so perhaps my perspective is aligned with members of your group. There are many more reasons to use LyX/LaTeX than those you have listed. These include:
-- If you define departmental/group standards for reports and other documents then no one need pay any attention to formatting; it's done automatically for the writer.
-- The writer can focus on the content and leave the formatting and page layout to the software.
-- The printed results are typeset (the unit is the paragraph) rather than printed by a word processor (the unit is the line). This visual appeal makes the reader more accepting of the document.
-- Table of Contents, Lists (Figures, Tables) are automatically generated and updated when the author moves text within the document.
This can be done also with word using styles, although you still need to work on
the typesetting at the end, and it can be a real pain since word has a tendency
to mess things up (although working in layout view, IIRC how its called, make
that easier).
mess up at times. The university publishes a list of courses with descriptions
every year. Word is used for this, for some reason. One year the TOC was
fine up till page 3, then everything was listed at page 3. This year it stopped
at page 43 . . .
It is pretty bad for a program to even be _capable_ of such mistakes. Those
who made the list did not expect having to look out for such a mistake, and
they really shouldn't have to either. And how come they messed up
this year _knowing_ what happened the year before? They knew,
of course. They did proofreading. Then they changed something as they
obviously found errors in such a big document. A last-time change, and
suddenly the TOC got messed up. Lyx may give you an occational ugly line-
or pagebreak, but I have yet to catch it making a numbering error of any kind.
And then there is text getting the wrong style occationally, they way you quickly can spot ugly word documents by the default ragged right margin, the occational crashes people seems to think is "normal". :-(
The problem is more when you want people to be able to alter them while still see them in high quality while altering.
Have them use lyx too. It isn't much to ask of them, if they believe they can ask _you_ to use word...
Helge Hafting
