Can you use TeX for any kind of document, or is it overkill for simple ones
Januar 24th, 2012 by Stefan Kottwitz
Untypical for a Q&A site, there’s currently an exchange of views on TeX.SX:
As an expert, can you always use TeX for (nearly) any kind of document?
“Yes, you can:”
- It’s easy if you are a routine user, you know the common packages.
- Typing a letter, for example, is just like 20 TeX commands added to the text.
- You get the best possible hyphenation and justification, and a professional consistent look - why to abandon it for a “simple” document.
- After some time you’ve got a lot of documents to use as a template or as a start for a similar document.
- Your, let’s say, 16 years old document still work today. Try documents made with a word processor 16 years ago - can you open it today with current software, without layout loss or change?
- TeX users naturally have TeX installed. Some have a dislike for installing a huge wordprocessing software or suite such as Open/LibreOffice or MS Office - this is overkill for simple documents.
“No, you cannot:”
- For typesetting music, TeX may not be the best choice. Though there’s MusiXTeX, Lilipond seems to be favored.
- TeX should not be used for documents intended for quick onscreen use, such as manual pages which should be readable in a text console window. mandoc and Groff are recommended.
There are 16 answers until know. Perhaps you have a new important point to add? See the original answers with further points.
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