Thursday, February 28, 2013

Microsoft Word, or my Love/Hate Relationship With It

There are several ways a person may choose to type up a document (assuming you are NOT using a typewriter) such as a WYSIWYG editor such as Word or a simple text editor that as far as I'm concerned, only appeals to the nerdy types. So let's assume that Microsoft has taken over the world and everyone used Word. If you use LaTeX and no one else does, good luck collaborating with others. I can see the simplicity of LaTeX where "it is based on the philosophy that authors should be able to focus on the content of what they are writing without being distracted by its visual presentation" but this blog is about Word! 

What's to love? Well, you get what you see and Microsoft Word is really popular. What's not to love? There is an entire host of capabilities available that unless you are specifically schooled in how to use, may not be that simple, such as numbering figures and having them auto update when you change one. Or, dealing with a table of contents or index. And then there are various issues that come up that just befuddle you and you want to smash your computer because you can't figure out why you document isn't doing what it should....

 I think Word is just fine for the vast majority of people composing a simple document, as in under 50 pages.
The more I read about LaTeX, the more interesting it sounds. Oh, I digress! This is about Word. Yes, Word. How easy I forget. 

Use Word! Mr. Gates approves!
Use Word! It's available pretty much everywhere.
Use Word! It's like playing the guitar where anyone can pick it up and learn the basics rather easily
Use Word! Because you are the document designer! Unless you are much cooler than I am and have someone who can do you document design for you, you are on you own.

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