I have been using LaTeX for about a year now. I don't consider myself an expert at LaTeX but I know my around it enough to get things done. One of my colleagues, whose background is entirely non technical, wishes to learn LaTeX so that he can switch from using Open Office. He uses computers for browsing and preparing documents in a word processor. Please advise on how to introduce LaTeX to him (without making it sound like rocket science) and any material that is available online (like a LaTeX simple guide) for this purpose.
[Tex/LaTex] How to introduce a non-technical person to LaTeX
teachingtutorials
Related Solutions
How about the papertex class? This is designed for a making a newspaper, but that only allows you to do more than what you want. After a quick scan of one of the data-sheets you linked, it seems that it would be rather painless to subvert papertex to your liking.
Hope it works for you!
An interactive version with beamer may be constructed along the following lines:
\documentclass{beamer}
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}[fragile]%
\begin{semiverbatim}
\frametitle{Input \&\ Output}
\#include <cstdio>
\only<1>{(1)?}\only<2->{int main() \{}
\only<3>{(3)?}\only<4->{long a,b,c;}
\only<4>{(4)?}\only<5->{std::scanf("\%ld\%ld", \&a, \&b);}
\only<5>{(5)?}\only<6->{c = a * b;}
\only<6>{(6)?}\only<7->{std::printf("\%ld\textbackslash n", c);}
\only<2>{(2)?}\only<3->{return 0;}
\}
\end{semiverbatim}
\end{frame}
\end{document}
Best Answer
I have introduced LaTeX into our organization and quite a number of other people at a personal level over the years. In academia it is almost tradition that LaTeX is introduced via word of mouth and that the person that made the introduction helps with the first steps.
Most "non-technical" people use Windows or maybe Macs and probably are not old enough to remember operating a computer via a command prompt. You can assist your friend tremendously by helping to install a full MikTeX installation. If you noticed I mentioned full, as the biggest frustration of new users is setting up everything and is best to avoid errors due to missing packages at the beginning. MikTeX can update on the fly, but on a slow internet connection, it often fails. Use the default Texworks editor, as spell-checking and highlighting are good.
Provide an empty template, with maximum one or two packages. Provide also a reasonably sized document that works (must have an index and contents) and relates to their work.
Give them a bit of a coaching how everything works and help them put their first document together. Newcomers get very excited when they see the first document with contents, index and footnotes. Most non-technical people find it almost impossible to do this with Word or Libre Office.
Introduce images early and the idea of floats. Leave tables as the last item under discussion and well after the newcomer has done a bit of LaTeX work.
I think we are the only Construction Company that uses LaTeX for our reports. Most users have an Engineering background and some of them have good computer skills. As they are a mix of 32 nationalities skills vary tremendously. Strangely enough one of our secretaries took to it very easily but not our IT guy.
As to your question about introductory material, the best is a good book (after you have whetted their appetite a bit to want to use LaTeX to its full capacity).