Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!decwrl!labrea!rutgers!uwvax!umn-d-ub!nic.MR.NET!shamash!nis!ems!mmm!schultz
From: schultz@mmm.UUCP (John C Schultz)
Newsgroups: comp.text
Subject: WYSIWYG vs programmed phototypsetting
Keywords: WYSIWYG, TeX, LaTeX, troff, MacDRAW
Message-ID: <1141@mmm.UUCP>
Date: 27 Sep 88 23:31:37 GMT
Organization: SERC * 3M Company, St. Paul, MN
Lines: 54

I am sure this question has been asked before, but the question has 
just arisen for me again so here goes.

What do people feel are the advantages of WYSIWYG phototypsetting
(e.g. MacWrite, FRAMEMAKE) vs what I will call "programmed"
phototypesetting (e.g TeX, LaTeX)?

I will summarize if enough responses, either to these general groups
or e-mail to myself.

To start things off, here are my opinions, hopefully cleansed of
religious opinions.

pro WYSIWYG

- easy to learn
- hardcopy is identical to display
- immediate "results"
- easy creation/addition of pictures, images, etc.

con WYSIWYG

- difficult to implement style and formatting changes 
- the writer becomes concerned  more with the format than content
- manual labeling of page numbers, references, figures, sections, etc.
- speed - printing speed is generally limited by printer
- hardcopy is sometimes NOT identical to the display (tabs for instance)
- good ones can be very expensive (e.g. Interleaf)

pro PROGRAMMED

- worry about content - then formatting
- computer re-numbering of pages
- computer cross-referencing and numbering figures, tables, eqs, etc.
- softcopy output IS possible  (eg. texx)
- computer generated index, list of tables, figures, etc.
- speed - compilation makes printing fast (duplicates are easy)
- custom forms for common document "feel" - e.g. memo.sty in LaTeX for memos
- user does not have to align table or columns of numbers (\tabular in LaTeX)
- TeX and derivatives are public domain (or close to it)

con PROGRAMMED

- long "compile time"
- uncertain page breaks
- difficult to debug
- many hardcopies are needed to correctly format complex documents
- TeX and derivatives are public domain (or close to it)


-- 
   john c. schultz         schultz@mmm.UUCP          (612) 733-4047
           3M Center, Bldg 518-1-1, St. Paul, MN 55144-1000
  The opinions expressed herein are, as always, my own and not 3M's.