Version history:
- April 10, 2023, added more questions
- April 16, 2023, increased questions to 70+
- April 23, 2023, increased questions to 80+
- May 5, 2023, increased questions to 90+
- May 25, 2023, increased questions to 100+
Please answer the following 100+ questions from the perspective of an LaTeX expert!
1 General
- Is there a built-in spelling correction?
- Can the hyphenation be deactivated?
- How many disc space is needed for a LaTeX distribution on the hard drive?
- Does the BibTeX format supports Unicode characters?
- Is LaTeX standardized?
- What is the preferred output media (e.g. physical paper, screen, mp3 audio)?
1a Programming
- In which programming language was the TeX software created?
- Which amount of programming skills are required to create LaTeX documents?
- Are programming skills required to create LaTeX packages from scratch?
- Are you using self created undocumented TeX macros within the document?
- How complicated is it to learn the MetaPost language?
2 File export
- Can MS-Word open a LaTeX document?
- Is it possible to export into the PDF/A document format?
- Is it difficult to copy&paste text from a LaTeX generated PDF document into other programs?
- Is LaTeX a good choice for creating non-pdf documents like blog entries and API documentation?
- Can Lualatex render a .docx file into the pdf format?
- Which kind of layout bugs are visible after converting LaTeX documents into the docx format with pandoc?
2a Team work
- Is LaTeX recommended for interdisciplinary teams with a focus on high productivity?
- What is better: a poorly written dissertation formatted in LaTeX or a well written one typesetted in MS-Word?
- Is it easy for newbies to become familiar with LaTeX?
- Was the LaTeX system created for the masses, especially for computer newbies?
- Has LaTeX a built-in version control system to record and track changes?
2b epub
- How to export into the epub format?
- How important is a fully justified layout for ebooks (e.g. low, medium, high)?
- How many ebub books are fully justified?
- Is the Plos One megajournal formatted in fully justified mode?
2c Lyx
- Is the "track changes" option in Lyx the same as the "track changes" menu in the Overleaf editor?
- Can a .lyx file be edited in a normal text editor?
- Is it possible to open a Lyx file from someone else on the local computer?
- Is Lyx better than MS-Word?
2d DVI
- Is the xdvi viewer able to render .docx files?
- Is there a DVI previewer for ecomstation (OS/2 Warp) available?
2e MS Word
- Does the average audience prefers MS Word or LaTeX generated documents?
- Do you know a Word template which imitates LaTeX?
- How does a LaTeX document looks different from a template based MS-Word document?
- What is the typographic quality of justified paragraphs in MS Word (e.g. poor, medium, perfect)?
- Suppose a dissertation thesis was written in MS Word, is the layout left-aligned or fully justified?
3 GUI
- Is there a GUI for entering mathematical equations?
- Can a table be created graphically?
4 Fonts
- Is it possible to use fonts from the operating system?
- Which steps are required to activate the Linux Libertine Font?
- Is a font size of 10.5pt possible?
- What is wrong with Computer Modern (e.g. not available as Type1, was dismissed over Times New Roman)?
4a Images
- Is it possible to position images manual?
- Can an image be positioned over existing text?
- Can pdflatex handle SVG images?
- What is the purpose of floating an image in the text?
4b Columns
- Is there a three column mode?
- Are the columns register true?
4c Layout
- Does a LaTeX formatted document looks cleaner than the MS-Word counterpart?
- Is it possible to create documents which are looking different from a LaTeX paper?
4d Glue
- Does optimized vertical space between paragraphs improves the layout?
- Are micro typographic extensions a must have?
- Is it possible to implement the Knuth Plass algorithm outside of TeX in a different software?
- Is there an implementation available for the Knuth Plass algorithm in the stack based Forth83 language?
5 Publishing houses
- Is LaTeX used by professional publishers?
- Is LaTeX superior over Adobe Indesign?
- Is the workflow the following: An author sends a Word document to a publisher and then the publisher converts it into Latex to streamline it with the internal workflow?
- Is it normal, that a journal asks the author for substantial rewriting?
5a Preprint server
- Is it easy to submit a LaTeX formatted document to a preprint server?
- What is your opinion about preprint servers which accepting only MS Word docx files?
- Can you name three papers at Arxiv, not created with LaTeX?
- How many academic papers are created with LaTeX (e.g. 30%, 60%, 90%)?
- Is the citation count for LaTeX formatted documents higher than for MS Word equivalents?
5b Document format
- How to make a peer review for a LaTeX document?
- is the .tex file format a zip container which can store text and images both?
6 Justified paragraphs
- How to activate left aligned paragraphs in LaTeX?
- Why is LaTeX recommended, if the rule is to format the manuscript left aligned?
- What is harder to realize from a technical perspective: left aligned paragraphs or fully justified text?
- Does a justified column needs less space, than the left aligned counterpart?
- Can a fully justified column be realized without adjusting the inter word spaces and without hyphenation?
- Has the PDF format the ability to store different word spaces which is needed for a justified line of text?
- Do justified paragraphs are looking great on a smartphone?
6a Sorting game
Please sort the following items by their typographic quality from low to high:
- MS Word fully justified, LaTeX left aligned, LaTeX fully justified, MS Word left aligned.
- Adobe indesign left aligned text, Quarkxpress left aligned text, MS Word left aligned text, LaTeX left aligned text
6b Reasons for justified text
- Is the idea behind the LaTeX software to imitate the Berthold diatronic typesetting machine including it's ability to produce justified text?
- In the time until the year 1990, which percentage of printed newspapers were using justified paragraphs (e.g. 30%, 60%, 90%)?
7 Accessible typography
- Is there a study available which proofs, that fully justified text is easier to read than left aligned text?
- Are documents with a complex layout (multiple columns, justified text, small font size, difficult language, serif fonts) a sign of excellence?
- Was the DVI format created to display text on different screen sizes which includes smartphones and Desktop PCs with flexible line breaking?
- Is a justified paragraph including hyphenation compatible with screenreaders like Jaws?
- is the PNG Graphics format the optimal output device for a LaTeX document (e.g. dvipng -D 300 main.dvi)?
- Does it make sense to use hyphenation on smartphone displays?
7a Checklist for accessible PDF documents
- Are the paragraphs left aligned?
- Was hyphenation deactivated?
- Is it a single column layout?
- Is there a 12pt sans serif font combined with 1.5 linespacing?
- Is the language simple English without complex vocabulary?
7b pdftohtml
- What is the result of using "pdftohtml in.pdf out.html" for a LaTeX generated pdf file (e.g. looks nasty, looks great)?
- Is the pdftohtml tool able to detect multiple columns, removes the hyphenations and fixes the interword spacings of LaTeX so that the generated html file looks great?
- How to convert a random pdf file from Arxiv into plain text?
7c LaTeX and Accessibility
- Can pdflatex generate a PDF/UA file?
- What is the quality of the CTAN accessibility package (e.g. low, medium, high)?
- If LaTeX is only a printer driver and the generated documents do not include structure and tagging, what does it mean for accessibility?
- Which OCR software can convert a pdf document into a LaTeX file?
8 Print typography
- Which program will produce the better print typography (e.g. MS-Word, LaTeX)?
- Which percentage of Arxiv papers are getting printed on physical paper?
- Are printed academic journals the preferred media for knowledge distribution?
- What are the costs to print out a single copy of a book which has 300 pages?
8a Web typography
- Is LaTeX trying to produce web typography which looks great on computer screens?
- Is LaTeX ready for digital publication in the PDF format?
8b Wall of text
- Which paragraph formatting will produce a wall of text (left aligned or fully justified)?
- Can a LaTeX document can have images to reduce the amount of text?
- What is the reader experience for a wall of text (e.g. easy to read, hard to read, unreadable)?