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I'm not quite sure who this is for. Markdown is for keeping things simple. There's plenty of of "proper" markup languages and full programming languages to ac
by tinthedev 1y ago
I'm not quite sure who this is for.
Markdown is for keeping things simple.
There's plenty of of "proper" markup languages and full programming languages to actually write code in.
Why do we need a hybrid program like this, which is not as simple as pure markup, and is not as powerful as a proper templating language?
I personally just run markdown -> HTML/CSS -> python templating (Jinja or something) -> PDF/HTML
As a dev, I find this works the best for me. But I also cannot imagine that learning Quarkdown would improve my workflow meaningfully, and I also cannot imagine recommending someone learn such a niche product instead of having them learn HTML/CSS and Python (Jinja if they need fancy). Seems like a comparable amount of effort.
- throwawaymaths 1y agoits for people who want latex but are mad that latex became c++
- nailer 1y agoLaTeX also has some bizarre defaults like bitmap fonts in a tool designed to allow people to create high quality typeset documents.
- throwawaymaths 1y agowhich is ironic considering at one time the appeal of LaTeX was "sane defaults". Don't get me wrong. The default choices were really the best choice at some point in the past. They just no longer are.
- Akronymus 1y agoAnd latex is one of very few programs where changing defaults would fundamentally undermine its very purpose (being able to recreate documents no matter how old)
- michal_h21 1y agoThis was true maybe 20 years ago, before TeX engines that output directly to PDF were created. Today, the recommended engine is LuaLaTeX, and it defaults to OpenType fonts.
- nailer 1y agoThanks for updating me. That corresponds with my own timeline where I last tried it 20 years ago.
- WillAdams 1y agoIf one just chooses a reasonable documentclass and if need be a few packages suited to the requirements of one's document, then it all "just works" with (mostly) sensible defaults and minimal configuration. Memoir hugely simplified my own work in LaTeX back when I was doing book composition. Or, just use LyX....
- sureglymop 1y agoWell, you'll have to install and keep those packages somewhere on your system. And maybe a few months from now after your latex distribution got updated by the system your document suddenly no longer compiles. What I want is something like npm-like package management for this, where the packages are just kept there next to the document. I don't care if I'll have a package 20 times on my system either, storage hasn't been a concern in many years.
- blenderob 1y ago> And maybe a few months from now after your latex distribution got updated by the system your document suddenly no longer compiles. I'm using LaTeX 2e for 25+ years. This has literally never happened to me. If that's not stability, I don't know what is. LaTeX documents I wrote in my grad days still compile for me. I just checked and it does. I do keep the dependency packages myself in my folder. Has this issue ever happened to anyone? Why would LaTeX distribution getting updated break my documents? It's still the same latex compiler and the same base styles and packages!
- WillAdams 1y agoThe only instance of a document not working right anymore for me was a really hacked book using an early/beta version of memoir --- there were (documented) breaking changes for the final release --- updated to match the new macro calls and it was back to working in short order.
- throwawaymaths 1y ago> I'm using LaTeX 2e for 25+ years it gets annoying when you use LaTeX once a year for 25 years.
- behnamoh 1y agowhen this tool has "FakeBold"[0] like Latex has, I'll make the switch. [0]: https://x.com/OrganicGPT/status/1920202649481236745/photo/1 https://x.com/OrganicGPT/status/1920202649481236745/photo/1
- kzrdude 1y agoIs there something like that for Typst?
- tempfile 1y agoWhat does that actually mean? The tweet is not very clear. Is it the bold in the header? What's special about it?
- robinsonb5 1y agoI'm assuming it's emboldening text by thickening up the strokes instead of using a (possibly non-existent) bold variant of the font?
- slashdave 1y agoBecame? When? I have latex documents written a couple decades ago that still render fine. What happens in 10 years to all the Quarkdown documents once this fad fades away?
- tiffanyh 1y agoThis is for academic and publication journals. Which is why you see Typst it's strongest competitor in the Comparison Chart.
- behnamoh 1y agoas an academic I don't see myself using this because I don't see my co-authors using this.
- cschmidt 1y agoEvery conference has their own required LaTeX style file that must be used. Unless there is an automated way to convert these exactly, I don't see how LaTeX alternatives can be used.
- SGML_ROCKSTAR 1y agoIs LaTeX difficult to learn? An article stated something about how its syntax is inscrutable, from what memory will allow before the caffeine hits.
- Biganon 1y agoIt's hell. You usually use an existing layout and adapt it to your needs, but even that can be counter intuitive. Source : wrote my MLaw papers with it.
- 1y ago
- nonethewiser 1y ago>markdown -> HTML/CSS -> python templating (Jinja or something) -> PDF/HTML Uh... maybe thats why they just want markdown -> PDF/HTML
- tinthedev 1y agoWell, but you don't have `markdown -> PDF/HTML` Also, if you don't need the python bits, you just skip Python :)
- coliveira 1y agoThat's why these things don't go anywhere. If I need to write formatting details, it is better to use LaTeX which is a well-tested and stable language that will last for another 30 years.
- zero0529 1y agoYet also incredible verbose and outdated
- coliveira 1y agoOutdated means there is something better that is now used to substitute an old technology, which is not the case for Latex. Unfortunately, programmers tend to think "outdated" just means "was created more than 5 years ago"...
- N7lo4nl34akaoSN 1y ago.
- Biganon 1y ago[flagged]
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- behnamoh 1y agoPlus, with Latex you can use LLMs as assistants and they do a great job thanks to so much Latex data they've seen in training.
- SirHumphrey 1y agoAnd at least I can be sure that any math expression can be written somehow in latex, no mater how bizarre.
- andai 1y agoIt's for me, as far as I can tell! I like making PDFs. My ideas start in Obsidian (Markdown) and then I use pandoc and add a bunch of cursed inline LaTeX hacks to the Markdown for the final product. I guess cursed hacks are part of any workflow, but I am definitely going to check this out.
- MisterTea 1y ago> I personally just run markdown -> HTML/CSS -> python templating (Jinja or something) -> PDF/HTML Unix philosophy vs highly integrated vertical Microsoft style applications. One benefits users, the other, the vendor.
- beneboy 1y agoCould definitely see using this for docs. We end up with HTML scattered through our markdown files whenever we need something beyond basic formatting, which is ugly. The ecosystem support is the real question though - Markdown works everywhere because it's been around forever.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]