[vox-tech] beginning latex

[Peter Jay Salzman]

begin Jonathan Stickel <jjstickel@netscape.net> 
> I just started using LaTeX this past year and now use it for all of my 
> documents.  I got started with a wonderful free guide called "A (Not So) 
> Short Introduction to LaTeX2e."

ah, yeah.  i've seen this; it's a good document.  good advice, jon.

> It can be downloaded from a number of 
> sites, but here is one:
> 
> http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/lshort/english/
> 
> It was necessary to buy "The LaTeX companion" when I wanted to do some 
> more advanced math formulae and figures, but it is actually a very 
> difficult read.

yeah, the companion is definitely a "must have".  i suppose lamport's
book isn't crucial if you get the not so short intro to latex, but the
companion is very necessary to do anything "intermediate" or higher with
latex.

as for being a "hard read", i agree, but it wasn't meant to be a "read".
it's a reference.

so if you need for sectioning to look different from the default, you
look up "sectioning" in the index.

of if you want to learn how to make a customized bibliography, you look
up "bibliography".

of you you want your float "Here, Damnit!" you look up "float".

or if you want to create customized page numbering or a running header,
you look up "pagestyle".

definitely a reference.  the only section i found almost unusable was
chapter on NFSS (the font system).  pretty much everything else is a 1-3
page read that's certainly do-able.

btw, if you want to see the most non-linear and difficult book i've ever
read (other than a field theory book), check out DEK's "the tex book".
that book is absolutely absurd!

pete