[Tex/LaTex] As an expert, can you always use TeX for (nearly) any kind of document

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I am just beginning to learn TeX. Coming from web-development, I find separating content from style very sensible, and I like the logic behind it. To me it looks that having control over formatting is very convenient and it makes TeX superior to other Word processing programs like OpenOffice or Word, even when making 'simple' documents. As I am just a beginner, I am wondering what the experts do when having to write a simple letter, or any small document that really does not require any advanced typesetting. Do you fall back to a Word processing program, or do you stick with TeX, even though it might implicate a bit more hassle to get your final document?

In other words, do you find TeX can replace any type of document creation in everyday use, or is it overkill for simple documents?

Best Answer

For my personal documents, I use LaTeX for all purposes, since

  • It's easy if you are a routine user, you know the common packages.

  • Basic page layout is quickly done with typearea or geometry.

  • After some time you've got a lot of documents to use as a template or as a start for a similar document.

  • My 16 years old documents still work, such as older articles, letters, CV. If I would have used a word processor with any format other than plain text, I'm sure they wouldn't be usable for me today.

On rare occasions, where I never made a certain kind of document, I take some minutes to create one, such as recently a leaflet for my girlfriend promoting an event. It took an hour, but looked great - with all the implicit advantages of LaTeX, such as nice justification even in narrow columns, also thanks to microtype.

I don't like to install the huge OpenOffice or LibreOffice suite, or Abiword, for a small purpose. And I don't buy Word - and don't copy it. I must admit, that I have to use it at work.

A TeX distribution is also not small - but I already have it installed, and the experts you asked for sure have it as well. I run it on my netbook, a laptop, a desktop, and have a TeX installation on a server where I can access it via SSH and FTPS from everywhere.

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