[lug] Typesetting Programs

[Dhruva B. Reddy]

Assuming you want to create/edit the document in Vim...

LaTeX works great for this, although there is definitely a learning curve.
I have found that I can create professional-looking documents with a
minimum of effort (much better looking with far less effort than with a
word processor).  There are several tools that can generate PDF from LaTeX
(pdflatex, dvipdfm, etc.).  There is also at least one tool (whose name
eludes me) that will generate HTML--the result looks like most HOWTOs.

One could always use LyX(sp?) until they are comfortable hacking(?)
a LaTeX document.

The only thing that has frustrated me about LaTeX is the inability to go
from it to an M$ Word-compatible format, but you don't appear to be
concerned about that.

-d

On Thu, 12 Dec 2002 at 13:01 -0700, David Morris soliloquized thusly:
> I was wondering what people out there use for typesetting?
> I am looking for a program to create nice formatting for:
> 
>     (a) manual text editing using VIM
>     (b) Automatic documentation generation
> 
> Note that the end product in both cases will be a printed
> hardcopy *and* a PDF file.  The ability to easily put the
> same document onto a web page is a bonus, but not
> required....a tools that offers more options/better
> formatting that does not have HTML support will be chosen
> over a lesser tools that does.
> 
> I have looked at groff/troff, but documentation seems to be
> a bit thin, and generally aimed more at creating man pages
> (and similar) than pretty documents.
> 
> TeX/LaTeX was the next obvious choice, and I am slowly
> working through documentation to find out if it will do all
> I need.
> 
> Anyone have any recommendations?  Good documentation is a
> must as for the auto-documentation task, other people will
> have to make modifications to the generation process.
> 
> --David
> 
> 

-- 
"Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish
we didn't." Erica Jong (b. 1942); US author