LaTeX on Mac OS X. The beauty of LaTeX. Home › typography › latex There are several reasons why one should prefer LaTeX to a WYSIWYG word processor like Microsoft Word: portability, lightness, security are just a few of them (not to mention that LaTeX is free). There is still a further reason that definitely convinced me to abandon MS Word when I wrote my dissertation: you will never be able to produce professionally typeset and well-structured documents using most WYSIWYG word processors. LaTeX is a free typesetting system that allows you to focus on content without bothering about the layout: the software takes care of the actual typesetting, structuring and page formatting, producing documents of astonishing elegance.
The software I use to write in LaTeX on a Mac compiles documents in PDF format (but exporting to other formats such as RTF or HTML is also possible). It supports unicode and all the advanced typographic features of OpenType and AAT fonts, like Adobe Garamond Pro and Hoefler Text. Contents 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Getting Started With TeX. November 17, 2008 *...or other variants†With input from Jérôme Laurens, and many others on the MacTEX mailing list. Please note that this document is being phased out. It is not being maintained anymore, and will be superceded by the TEX on Mac Wiki. This document can be downloaded in its entirety. If you are reading this as a web page, good. You have your first example of a web page generated from LATEX using TEX4ht. Editing the .tex file inside the zip archive as described below will get you started with an example. Getting started with TEX and/or variants* can be an intimidating process for those who not only have to overcome the burden of learning a new way of document generation, but also have to learn how to get a working installation up and running.
Arguments for using TEX are available at these locations as well. You should start by recognizing that many consider the hardest thing about LATEX to be the installation. Contents 1 Overview You need one of each: Choose one: 4 UNIX editors. TextMate. LyX.