>> ...so LaTeX is better than WYSIWYG for exactly the same reason that SDL 
>> is "better" than a traditional modeller then? [i.e., you can easily 
>> script in new behaviours to add features that aren't already there.]
> 
>   I suppose that's basically it. LaTeX is a bit like a scriptable HTML on
> steroids.

Of course, what that also ends up meaning is that only one program can 
understand it. (Only POV-Ray really understands SDL, and only TeX really 
understands TeX files.) OTOH, HTML can be parsed and manipulated with 
tools like XSLT by a miriad of programs... For example, Google can take 
a HTML document and figure out what useful content is in it in order to 
index it, traverse linkes, etc.

>   What I like about LaTeX, something which I can't find eg. in OpenOffice
> Writer, is that it allows generating much nicer page layouts for many
> things.

Indeed, TeX has a very nice formatting engine. I could go on for hours 
about all the various features it offers and all the sophistication 
involved, but the basic end result is that, without *doing* anything in 
particular, you tend to more or less automatically end up with a pretty 
good layout.

[Altough there are a few places where it routinely goes wrong. For 
example, TeX really doesn't like narrow boxes very much...]

I am *told* that M$ Word has a feature ("orphan protection"?) that's 
supposed to prevent a title and its body from being seperated. But 
that's just one possible kind of undesirable seperation. And I suspect 
you have to use styles correctly for it to even work properly anyway. 
Which just brings us back to the fact that Word is fundamentally 
designed to be a structureless WYSIWYG editor, whereas TeX and HTML are 
both structural...

Other things I like about LaTeX are

- It typesets mathematical formulas. [I can hear your gasps of surprise...]

- The default typeface is delicious.

- The end result just looks more "formal" and arguably "professional" 
than something thrown together with Word [yet takes about the same 
amount of effort].

(Of course, it only looks professional until you notice that you just 
spelled "funtcion" wrong... And since only TeX can read TeX, good luck 
trying to spell-check your work!)

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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