From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: tlaronde@polynum.com (tlaronde at polynum.com) Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2011 19:46:17 +0100 Subject: [9fans] troff macros for typesetting books/longer texts In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <20110322184617.GA2190@polynum.com> Topicbox-Message-UUID: beb454a4-ead6-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 On Tue, Mar 22, 2011 at 11:21:55AM -0700, Lyndon Nerenberg wrote: > [...] > > In either case, the customizations are locked in with the document source > and don't get distributed. Or they are so tied in with a specific document > that they're of no practical use as standalone tools. > > [...] This is a general pattern. I'm not a troff but a TeX user, and just seeing that learning how to use the full potential of TeX to match my own needs was easier, shorter in time, and less expensive---because of D.E. Knuth's TeXbook---than trying to learn how to _use_ some instance of LaTeX, I still don't understand why others... I know that it is less effort to climb a mountain via a lengther but less sloping road... but it must not be endless because flat and must reach the top. The best thing I learnt while aging is not how to do more efficiently, but how to have time doing knowing where to look for the needle stopping to search the internet hay stack. If there is no good short authoritative book on troff, and if you are not already proficient in troff, try TeX instead simply because of the TeXbook if not something else. -- Thierry Laronde http://www.kergis.com/ Key fingerprint = 0FF7 E906 FBAF FE95 FD89 250D 52B1 AE95 6006 F40C