Re: [dev] Usable typesetting system?

I want to use Markdown for writing university documents, but it lacks
features such as spacele of contents, list of figures, and reference lists.

HTML is not something I would choose for output format, since it doesn�t
know the height of a page.

Personally, I�d love to see a Markdown-language with some �university
extensions�. It should have a fast compiler written in Java 7 or Go. It should
output a PDF, follow the APA Style � well, that�s what we�re supposed to
follow at my university in Norway.

All of this can be modularized. Perhaps Markdown with macro support would
solve the problem. Maybe it already exists?

I�m learning troff right now so that I can write man-pages. It seems like a
nice enough language. I have used LaTeX for university work earlier, and the
result was really nice.

I do find LaTeX and troff hard to get into. I am not able to fully express
what I feel about this, but it has something to do with the documentation.
It�s less inaccessible compared to Markdown and HTML. LaTeX in itself isn�t
that hard, but the whole ecosystem around it feels scary.
Received on Sun Aug 22 2010 - 15:29:35 CEST