Re: [tlug] Poll: OpenOffice or LibreOffice?

[Travis Cardwell <travis.cardwell@example.com>]

On 2014年05月19日 14:40, Edward Middleton wrote:
<SNIP>
> LaTex deals with content and layout separately.
>
> In LaTex you generate a simple file format that is mostly just annotated 
> text.  Most people would then apply a standard layout template which 
> generates a beautifully document.

Separating content and presentation is a very good idea, but it is not
enforced by (La)TeX.  With basic usage, content is separate only because
one does not need to make custom commands or environments.  Non-basic
usage entails/requires creation of .cls files for such separation, but I
often see many people just put everything in .tex files.  I generally have
a custom .cls for every type of document that I create.  Problems arise
when dealing with non-trivial structures, as TeX macros are not very good
at dealing with structures that are not linear/flat.  I create commands
that must be run within the context of a specific environment in order to
deal with such issues, but that result is often unclean separation of
content and presentation.  For complex projects, I use higher-level
languages to generate LaTeX.  Content, stored in a database or DSL, is
strictly separated from the presentation, which is implemented as
templates containing (La)TeX code.

Note, however, that "proper" usage of LibreOffice/OpenOffice separates
content and presentation as well, using styles.  Unfortunately, proper use
of styles can be difficult for people who are used to selecting text and
directly applying changes of font, size, weight, etc., even after
training.  I wish that LibreOffice had an option to enforce this
separation (like FrameMaker!).

Cheers,

Travis