Questions asking for a list of alternatives with no definitive answer.

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6
votes
3answers
86 views

Opaque error messages given by common environments

This is a public-interest question. The title of the question Why does this error keep popping up even though I clearly fixed it? poignantly expresses a fundamental truth of LaTeX usage: sometimes ...
4
votes
1answer
127 views

What non-free books are available and recommended?

Once convinced, for example by this answer, that I should buy a book on (La)TeX and friends, its is time to decide which one... This big list misses some ranking, and make it hard to choose. This ...
60
votes
8answers
3k views

Beautiful table samples

I'm interested in learning about some nice-looking table samples. Colors can make a huge difference, and just providing some color to headers, background, or borders can dramatically change ...
29
votes
1answer
918 views

Beautiful presentations done with TeX and related systems

I recently had to persuade a fellow student that you can create beautiful presentations with LaTeX and beamer. Luckily, I already had some examples. But I'm sure that there are better presentations, ...
8
votes
2answers
346 views

What are good packages / techniques for writing more readable LaTeX *code*?

A while ago I stumbled upon the semantic package --- its 'math ligatures' feature in particular --- and the whole way in which I write math-code in LaTeX changed. Instead of \[ \sem{\sigma}_s^x ...
14
votes
0answers
271 views

Could TeX.SE put on a showcase of scientific posters?

Could the people of the TeX.SE put on a showcase of scientific posters made with (La)TeX? I have seen other showcases on here, this collection for example. However, with a large number of people using ...
1
vote
0answers
67 views

What is the best _hack_ you have seen or written in (La)TeX? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Cunning (La)TeX tricks Here, by hack I mean a short, elegant, or even counterintuitive definition/macro etc. that solves a task, often in a surprising way. Background ...
28
votes
5answers
2k views

Showcase of beautiful title page done in TeX

The book is mostly meets by the Title Page. Default TeX \maketitle are simple and minimalistic. I'm looking for examples of Title Pages: complex - have different formatting; beautiful and awesome; ...
25
votes
7answers
1k views

What's a good editor for (La)TeX programming?

I've found several questions about editors for writing LaTeX documents ( LaTeX Editors/IDEs seems to be the definitive one). But I'd like to know which editors are out there that help you develop ...
10
votes
1answer
323 views

List of TikZ Editor

After mentioning TikZ in academia, I tried to have a look here for recommended editors for TikZ. I found no list, and thus here's the question: What TikZ editors/front-ends do you know? What can you ...
10
votes
1answer
107 views

How many different concepts of “token equivalence” are there in TeX?

I was living in the delusion that the "token equality" tested by \ifx was the only thing you need to remember about this subject, but this week I learned otherwise (thanks to David Carlisle). Now ...
2
votes
1answer
72 views

Macros and environments that rely on the distinction between space and newline

In most cases, TeX does not distinguish between spaces and newlines. However, inside some macros and environments this distinction matters a lot. Time for a big list? Please edit the CW answer. This ...
31
votes
1answer
2k views

What font packages are installed in TeX live?

What font packages are installed in a full installation of TeX live? Which are obsolete? Example: \usepackage{mathpazo} brings Palatino as the roman font. The times package seems to be obsolete (as ...
28
votes
3answers
5k views

What are all the font styles I can use in math mode?

As can be seen in above picture, there are lots of fonts or font styles that can be used in math mode. What are all the fonts or font styles I can use in math mode, and which packages are required ...
4
votes
0answers
135 views

What files are used in the TeX world? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: File extensions of LaTeX-related files Egad! What are all those files? What are files that LaTeX creates when calling one of it’s programs (including biber, xindy ...
46
votes
13answers
2k views

In what ways can TeX be used beyond document production?

Most people use TeX and its many varieties to create printed documents, such as reports, books, flyer's, etc. Occasionally, I have found software that uses TeX markup for other purposes, for e.g., the ...
26
votes
6answers
3k views

What is your favorite Emacs and/or AUCTeX command/trick?

What is your favorite Emacs and/or AUCTeX command/trick? The point here is that I don't know what I don't know. I'm an Emacs and AUCTeX user looking to improve my Emacs & AUCTeX use, especially ...
21
votes
1answer
530 views

List of Indexing Packages - Pros and Cons

What are the various indexing packages and what are their pros and cons? When should one choose one over the other? There is some discussion of this in What are the latest/best practices for index ...
5
votes
0answers
270 views

Lua techniques and libraries for LuaTeX [closed]

With LuaTeX, it is possible to use many libraries and functions that can simplify various aspects of Lua programming. As Lua as language is quite new for the majority of TeX users, I think it would be ...
57
votes
17answers
5k views

Comprehensive list of tools that simplify the generation of LaTeX tables

Manually hacking tables in LaTeX is one of the less funny things when preparing a document. Naturally, there are quite a few tools that promise to simplify this. In fact, I have somewhat lost track of ...
28
votes
14answers
3k views

What does the draft mode change?

I wonder which changes are made by the draft option? That means what will be changed by calling it as global class option (\documentclass[draft]{<class>}) or locally for a single package if it ...
20
votes
6answers
639 views

How can other programming languages and tools be used to create content for TeX documents?

When writing about programming languages or tools one often wants to include output from them in the document. Then it is useful if such output can be created as the document is compiled. For ...
25
votes
6answers
2k views

List of TeX formats

LaTeX, ConTeXt and plain are the most well known TeX formats/macro packages. But there are others, such as Lollipop. What others are out there and are any in use these days anymore?
0
votes
0answers
121 views

Which sources do you desire to see? [closed]

While adding my two cents to the list of TeX showcases a question presented itself: If you had to choose one project (a book, an article, a presentation, a metapost picture, a tikz graphic, a poster, ...
18
votes
2answers
400 views

What is the gold standard of package documentation?

When writing documentation for a package aimed at CTAN, what should every manual contain? Specific examples of concise yet complete documentation are valued. This is one of those (hopefully) big list ...
66
votes
3answers
2k views

Consistent typography

When working with large documents, or even across multiple (smaller) documents, I often find that I forget which typographical consistencies I should stick to. With TeX being inherently consistent in ...
33
votes
17answers
2k views

A big list of every keyval package

I lose track of all the different keyval packages. Can we maintain a list here? (Community wiki, one package per answer with a brief description of scope. I've started things off but need help ...
33
votes
2answers
747 views

List of higher-level LaTeX commands corresponding to TeX commands

Since LaTeX is a format built on top of TeX, it surely has several high level abstractions that perform similarly to TeX commands, with some added error-handling functionality, for example. I always ...
22
votes
2answers
810 views

What are good advanced LaTeX books?

I've been using LaTeX for about 3 months, and I'm hooked. My background is programming, so for the basic, google is sufficient. I did some research at amazon.com and found these two books with many ...
6
votes
1answer
222 views

TeX resources for philosophers

What TeX resources are there that are aimed at the field philosophy? I already know of PhilTeX and LaTeX for logicians.
65
votes
5answers
2k views

What are the finishing touches you put to a document?

I'm curious about the finishing touches that people put to LaTeX documents. Are there any canonical or special things that people do in finalizing a document? What I do: Careful proofreading of ...
3
votes
2answers
592 views

Minimal LaTeX installation

I've been given permission to install LaTeX in a laboratory in my University. Given the simplicity of working with MikTeX Package Manager and that I will only be installing in the Windows partition, ...
22
votes
7answers
731 views

Good arguments to make other people use TeX

I am a high-school student on the way to my graduation. I like TeX very much, as it gives me much more satisfaction with the quality of my homework than using libre office and friends. But when I try ...
19
votes
2answers
815 views

Which are your “favourite” confusing error messages?

This question: \addvspace can't replace \vspace shows a situation in which an error message can be confusing. If \addvspace is used when not in vmode the error message obtained is ! LaTeX Error: ...
14
votes
7answers
450 views

How do you keep track of your code snippets?

If you've been working with LaTeX for any amount of time, I'm sure you've picked up several little tricks and snippets of code that you want to reuse. For example, a particular way to set up a package ...
47
votes
2answers
3k views

Which tabular packages do which tasks and which packages conflict?

I've read a couple of questions recently about tabular environments, and it seems there's a whole bunch of packages that do stuff in this field. I'd really like a summary of what each package does, ...
23
votes
5answers
1k views

Showcase of brace tricks: }, \egroup, \iffalse{\fi}, etc.

There have been a few questions about braces recently, specifically about when to use them (see this and that question). Note: I had mistakenly stated that SamB was the author of both questions. But ...
15
votes
8answers
3k views

What are your favorite document classes and what do you use them for?

I'm using the TeX Live distribution and I've noticed that there are a lot of document class files (291 actually) for different things (books, math, thesis, presentations, etc). What are your ...
23
votes
11answers
12k views

Best way to generate a nice function graph in LaTeX?

Which is the best way to put function graphs into a LaTeX document? Note: Since the question is fairly wide, and perhaps a bit individual, I will wait for at least 4 answers before I close it ...
19
votes
10answers
1k views

What useful web services are out there?

Looking at this question, I wonder what good and useful web services are out there. For example the LaTeX symbol classifier looks interesting. You can draw a symbol with your mouse and get back the ...
28
votes
1answer
929 views

Packages that need to be included in a specific order

This isn't a real question, so I'm marking it community wiki. When I was new to LaTeX, I thought that the \usepackage command worked much like the #include command of the C language: just put ...
40
votes
34answers
6k views

Most significant reasons that led us to (La)TeX

Looking back, what really convinced you to begin writing with TeX or LaTeX? This question is "community wiki", so there's no reputation to lose or to gain. Please don't write advantages of TeX and ...
15
votes
12answers
1k views

Output viewers for use with LaTeX

What viewers do you use for reviewing the beautifully-styled output of your LaTeX source? List PDF, DVI and PostScript options. Possibly, one entry per answer, and list platform availability, ...
5
votes
2answers
455 views

How to make sense of font metrics?

If I have a Tex font, and I want to really understand how it will be laid out by Tex, and what features of the font to bear in mind when tuning my output to be beautiful, what tools are useful for ...
33
votes
3answers
6k views

Most useful additions in KOMA-Script?

(Background: I'm a beginner who will mostly use LaTeX for university articles and reports, but no math. Also, as I reside in Canada, the German typography conventions, which I understand KOMA-Script ...
250
votes
54answers
29k views

Showcase of beautiful typography done in TeX & friends

If you were asked to show examples of beautifully typeset documents in TeX & friends, what would you suggest? Preferably documents available online (I'm aware I could go to a bookstore and find ...
42
votes
35answers
5k views

What professions use TeX/LaTeX besides CS?

TeX and LaTeX are widely used in Computer Science. What other academic disciplines or professionals use it?
57
votes
19answers
22k views

What are the available “documentclass” types and their uses?

Some of the available classes of documents in LaTeX are well known and widely used, such as the article and beamer classes, while others are not so well known, such as the standalone class. I found ...
50
votes
11answers
2k views

Best practices references

What resources (online or otherwise) exist that give good advice on best practices for TeX, etc.? I'm looking particularly for things that assume you already know TeX or LaTeX, and aim to help you ...
187
votes
52answers
16k views

What packages do people load by default in LaTeX?

I'm getting the impression from reading the answers written by some of the real experts here that there are quite a few little packages that just tweak LaTeX2e's default behaviour a little to make it ...

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