Jakub Steiner ⭐@thibaultamartin recently posted about his experience with Typst. I haven't written anything significant since my Uni days. Recently my son's had to struggle with a MS Word project. I ended up mad that nothing has changed since my own experience with Word & Open/Libre Office and been drawn to and experimented with Typst too. Since then I've bumped into a nice GNOME App, Typesetter, that should lubricate all the initial friction you might have with Typst. It's neat.
Timothy Roes@jimmac @thibaultamartin Oh looks cool. Sorry I'm new to Typst. What makes it beter than Markdown or LaTeX?
Thib@TimothyRoes @jimmac markdown only has basic formatting, and LaTeX has quite a convoluted syntax. Typst is generally considered easier to write (and get right)
Steven Deobald@thibaultamartin @TimothyRoes @jimmac i've been meaning to try typst for ages. typesetter was the push i needed. this is SO. GOOD.
problems it solved for me in a matter of seconds that require insane hoop-jumps in latex:
* easily configure 2 builds so i can print my whitepapers in both "normal" 2-column layout and a convenient 1-col layout for a friend who requires the latter for a small e-reader
* automatic hindi / pāli / sanskrit rendering into a separate font, based on unicode range
* forced multi-script font rendering, if i want it
* complex ligature support for words like "क्ष्ण्य", "कार्त्स्न्य", or "अ॒ग्निमी॑ळे" that might not even render correctly on the computer you're reading this with
after decades digging into the various 3rd party tools and esoteric latex wizardry i've needed to get documents to look the way i want, typst almost feels too easy. this is amazing.
AND IT WORKS WITH MY BIBTEX ❤️
having a native #gnome app isn't just icing on the cake... this is one less time i have to open emacs.
Jakob@thibaultamartin @TimothyRoes @jimmac Plus typst is really fast compared to LaTeX, the language server is much more useful, there is native HTML export which is going to get more polished in the future, …
Aiono@TimothyRoes @jimmac @thibaultamartin Typst syntax is very intuitive if you already know programming, and it actually has programming structures instead of bespoke macros. Functions work the way you expect, error messages make sense etc. In my experience it's just a lot more pleasant and productive than Latex.
@aiono @jimmac @thibaultamartin Error messages that make sense?! That may finally heal the trauma of writing a 500 page dissertation in LaTeX.
@jimmac @thibaultamartin *installs immediately*
iac@jimmac @thibaultamartin and if it is a math document, it will go pretty well with https://flathub.org/en/apps/io.github.finefindus.Hieroglyphic
