Re: [orca-list] ot: what to use to write technical documents (no math)

[John G Heim <jheim math wisc edu>]

Well, its a tough call. As I said, I use latex even to format a letter 
to my Congressman. I was working on a proposal for a grant from the 
local Lions Club and I wrote that in latex. Latex is a really nice thing 
to know if you are blind because you can easily make really nice looking 
documents.  But would it be worth the effort for you? I can't say. I am 
glad I already know it though.



On 3/10/20 9:59 AM, Michał Zegan wrote:
> What about non technical stuff?
>
> W dniu 10.03.2020 o 15:03, John G Heim pisze:
> > I think given that you're writing your thesis, most people would say
> > just write it in latex. I write everything in latex, even when I'm
> > writing my Congressman. I don't send my Congressman a latex document, of
> > course. I either print it or convert it to pdf. Even if you could see,
> > there would be good reasons for writing a thesis in latex. But latex has
> > a huge advantage for blind people in that you can make a really nice
> > looking document fairly easily.
> >
> > It is a really tough call though. A lot of people will tell you latex is
> > dead. Most academic journals still prefer latex although they accept
> > almost anything these days. If you are going to continue in a technical
> > field, you will find more opportunities to use your knowledge of latex.
> > On the other hand, a lot of people in technical parts of academia never
> > learn latex.
> >
> > Personally, I think the deciding factor is that with latex, a blind
> > person can make really nice looking documents. I frequently write grant
> > proposals that go to dozens of pages and when I asked a sighted person
> > to help me make it look nice, they almost never have anything major to
> > correct. I cannot see what the documents look like but apparently, they
> > look pretty good.
> >
> > If you decide to teach yourself latex, start with the wikibook.
> > https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX
> >
> >
> >
> > On 3/10/20 8:21 AM, Michał Zegan wrote:
> > > I could likely use markdown, and convert to latex. however the problem
> > > probably starts when you actually need to tweak this thing. Pandoc
> > > allows tweaks to be made, but things like some polish specific
> > > conventions for example? whaaaat? I am not sure how to do things like
> > > that when using markdown as source.
> > >
> > > W dniu 10.03.2020 o 14:11, John G Heim via orca-list pisze:
> > > > I do all my writing in latex with gedit. The main reason is that I can
> > > > easily make documents that look normal to sighted people. There is a
> > > > tool to convert latex to pdf so when I email someone an article I have
> > > > written, I usually  send them a pdf. Gedit has a plugin for latex but I
> > > > don't use it much.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > On 3/10/20 7:35 AM, Jason White via orca-list wrote:
> > > > > Michał Zegan <webczat_200 poczta onet pl> wrote:
> > > > > > I have the following question: (note that for the purpose of this
> > > > > > question libre office and word are treated as one thing, as in, I have
> > > > > > both and can use both).
> > > > > > What would you use to write documents like theses?
> > > > >
> > > > > Although you could use Markdown, LaTeX offers more control over
> > > > > presentation.
> > > > > I have written in both. For writing papers, though, I usually find
> > > > > that I need
> > > > > features that Pandoc Markdown doesn't offer, so I just write it in
> > > > > LaTeX
> > > > > instead. My work does not involve mathematics. I think the idea that
> > > > > LaTeX is
> > > > > primarily intended for mathematical writing is a misconception. I tend
> > > > > to use
> > > > > Markdown for simpler documents such as slide presentations.
> > > > >
> > > > > Of course, you can use whatever editing environment you prefer. Emacs
> > > > > works
> > > > > well in a terminal or console. For use with Orca, I'm not sure what
> > > > > would be
> > > > > best - perhaps gedit? I haven't had much experience with it.
> > > > >
> > > > > The better editing environments automatically check the markup for
> > > > > errors, and
> > > > > provide keyboard commands to insert it automatically (e.g., to add a
> > > > > section,
> > > > > to create a list or table, etc.).
> > > > >
> > > > > Are there any good editors, accessible with Orca, that support HTML,
> > > > > LaTeX,
> > > > > Markdown, etc. beyond basic text editing capabilities? That is, besides
> > > > > running Emacs or Vim in a terminal.
> > > > >
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