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Welcome to the TeX.SX Community Poll thread!

This thread is used for opinion and usage polls around TeX and TeX.sx. The poll questions are added as "answers" to this "question". Their answers have been added as comments below them. To participate simply up-vote the comments which apply for you. If there is no suitable answer yet simply add it as comment by yourself. You can't up-vote your own comments but the comment author will be counted manually. Please do not add any other comments to these posts. General comments can be added to this "question".

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44 Answers 44

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12

Have you found an error in any of Donald Knuth's publications for which you were rewarded?

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  • 60
    No, I have not.
    – N.N.
    Commented Jul 19, 2011 at 18:42
  • 10
    No, not yet! (still looking)
    – Martin Scharrer Mod
    Commented Jul 19, 2011 at 18:44
  • 5
    yes, several. my favorite was an extra space in a texbook running head, noticeable only by the fact that it didn't line up with the text margin. (confession: i sometimes get to look at proofs of tex-related material before publication, so nobody else gets a chance to find errors that i see first.)
    – barbara beeton
    Commented Jul 2, 2012 at 19:30
  • 1
    No, never! (still looking only for answers)
    – Fran
    Commented Oct 26, 2013 at 23:38
  • Yes! Error in the link itself: sunburn.stanford.edu’s server IP address could not be found..
    – user156344
    Commented Dec 25, 2018 at 9:05
  • all is error
    – iago-lito
    Commented Feb 13, 2020 at 16:16
12

TeX related releases I look forward to...

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  • 61
    LaTeX3
    – N.N.
    Commented Jul 19, 2011 at 19:30
  • 20
    TeXLive 2011 (now released, please still vote for it if you were looking forward to it)
    – Martin Scharrer Mod
    Commented Jul 19, 2011 at 19:31
  • 8
    Ubuntu packages for TeXLive 2010/11.
    – Martin Scharrer Mod
    Commented Jul 19, 2011 at 19:33
  • 6
    Faster XeLaTeX.
    – Display Name
    Commented Jul 19, 2011 at 21:33
  • 10
    The new version of that package I'm already writing on for quite some time.
    – Martin Scharrer Mod
    Commented Jul 19, 2011 at 22:09
  • 32
    LuaTeX 1.0
    – Martin Schröder
    Commented Jul 25, 2011 at 23:13
  • 7
    TeX Live 2012 (on the way).
    – barbara beeton
    Commented Jul 2, 2012 at 19:30
  • 15
    TeX Live 2013 (At some point we should just say 'the next version of TeX Live)
    – Canageek
    Commented Oct 29, 2012 at 0:51
  • 4
    MikTeX 3.0 (or simply the next MikTeX, to keep it general)
    – Count Zero
    Commented Nov 30, 2012 at 9:55
  • 15
    the next version of TeX Live
    – Jonas Stein
    Commented Jan 11, 2013 at 1:53
  • 2
    don knuth's 2013 update to tex, metafont. and errate to computers & typesetting.
    – barbara beeton
    Commented Sep 15, 2013 at 21:16
  • Someone who collects the legacy of TikzEdt.
    – CarLaTeX
    Commented Jan 17, 2017 at 18:45
11

Beside TeX.sx I regularly visit/participate in the following (La)TeX related websites / blogs / mailing lists ...

Please add a link and a short description.

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9

I'm using (La)TeX also for the following other applications besides writing actual full documents:

Expected answers: Rendering math, creating diagrams to import into other software, ...

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  • 15
    Creating standalone diagrams which are converted to images (PNG, SVG, PDF, ...) for a web application.
    – Martin Scharrer Mod
    Commented Jul 20, 2011 at 10:33
  • 5
    To insert math and diagrams into my blog (e.g. using QuickLaTeX).
    – Martin Scharrer Mod
    Commented Jul 20, 2011 at 13:59
  • 17
    Manipulating existing PDF documents (such as extracting certain pages, trimming white spaces) with the help of pdfpages, graphicx packages and an external tool GhostScript directly (or pdfcrop script indirectly).
    – Display Name
    Commented Jul 20, 2011 at 14:17
  • As a calculator, using one of the many fixed/floating point packages out there.
    – Bruno Le Floch
    Commented Jul 26, 2011 at 6:54
  • 16
    writing (pseudo) LaTeX code in emails for exchaning mathematics
    – Stefan Waldmann
    Commented Mar 8, 2012 at 8:44
  • answering author questions, repairing their mistakes, and correcting their misconceptions
    – barbara beeton
    Commented Jan 2, 2013 at 18:50
  • writing a couple of regular columns for tugboat.
    – barbara beeton
    Commented Jan 2, 2013 at 18:50
  • Formatting lists of publications to be inserted in web sites using a custom made bst to output html code.
    – Guido
    Commented Jan 12, 2013 at 11:33
  • 2
    Typing formulas on my web pages with a little help from MathJax
    – Predrag Punosevac
    Commented May 17, 2013 at 1:32
  • For math formulas on my PmWiki's with a little help from MathJax.
    – Predrag Punosevac
    Commented May 17, 2013 at 1:33
  • For mathematics formulas when I use text2tags light markup to type documents.
    – Predrag Punosevac
    Commented May 17, 2013 at 1:34
  • 4
    Making posts on Computer Science, Mathematics and others readable.
    – Raphael
    Commented Sep 12, 2013 at 8:24
  • 1
    Creating standalone vector diagrams programmatically (not for web application in particular).
    – iago-lito
    Commented Feb 13, 2020 at 16:21
  • Creating memes.
    – Skillmon
    Commented Feb 22, 2020 at 21:23
8

What is the strangest thing you have used *TeX for?

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8

How do you prepare the TeX input file?

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  • 5
    I slowly type it with 2 fingers while looking at the keyboard.
    – kiss my armpit
    Commented Jan 4, 2013 at 15:22
  • 14
    I type it with 10 fingers and without looking at the keyboard.
    – kiss my armpit
    Commented Jan 4, 2013 at 15:23
  • 21
    for macros, i steal as much as i can, cutting and pasting from working code, and adapt and extend as necessary.
    – barbara beeton
    Commented Jan 4, 2013 at 15:42
  • 13
    i type it with 10 fingers, but do find it advisable to look at the keyboard.
    – barbara beeton
    Commented Jan 4, 2013 at 15:43
  • 10
    if submitting to a particular publication, i look for their template, and start with that if one is available; otherwise, i look for their sample files, and copy the structure from there to start.
    – barbara beeton
    Commented Jan 4, 2013 at 15:46
  • 8
    I type with 10 fingers without looking at the keyboard whilst still being capable of finding all keys, including the Shift Key.
    – user10274
    Commented Jan 5, 2013 at 2:24
  • 6
    As nicely as possible.
    – yo'
    Commented Jan 7, 2013 at 9:00
  • 16
    Sitting on a chair.
    – yo'
    Commented Jan 8, 2013 at 15:41
  • 4
    Lying in my bed.
    – yo'
    Commented Jan 8, 2013 at 15:41
  • 2
    Typing, thinking, smoking, chatting and sipping coffee in random order.
    – kiss my armpit
    Commented Jan 8, 2013 at 23:28
  • Ask somebody else to do it for you.
    – Guido
    Commented Jan 12, 2013 at 11:37
  • 2
    Clicking a virtual keyboard with two mice --- one for each hand.
    – kiss my armpit
    Commented Jan 12, 2013 at 13:28
  • 4
    Painfully sometimes.
    – Paul Pichaureau
    Commented Jun 16, 2013 at 14:30
  • Use my personal template/snippet then correcting it because it is not adapted to this very case.
    – iago-lito
    Commented Feb 13, 2020 at 16:26
8

Which keyboard layout do you use?

  • QWERTY?
  • Some national layout (AZERTY, QWERTZ, Neo)?
  • Some Dvorak variant (original, Simplified, Programmer)?
  • Colemak?
  • ...

Related: Good keyboard layouts for typing (La)TeX

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  • 1
    Programmer Dvorak
    – jub0bs
    Commented Apr 16, 2014 at 23:04
  • 11
    qwerty (but sometimes a "restricted" version)
    – barbara beeton
    Commented Apr 17, 2014 at 8:09
  • 2
    QWERTZ. It’s just a question of familiarisation, especially for all the important TeX keys (\{}[]) and, important for MarkDown, also the backtick `.
    – Speravir
    Commented Apr 17, 2014 at 15:54
  • 4
    Neo
    – doncherry
    Commented Apr 19, 2014 at 13:57
  • 2
    qwerty (us_intl/altgr) layout on a keyboard with its keys physically labelled as qwertz.
    – Federico Poloni
    Commented Jun 13, 2014 at 14:27
  • QWERTY (Finnish multilingual)
    – mvkorpel
    Commented Jul 18, 2014 at 8:04
  • I would like to try other.
    – skan
    Commented Mar 22, 2016 at 13:01
  • 1
    bépo
    – sztruks
    Commented Feb 18, 2019 at 10:28
8

Which answer (not question) do you like most?

Please use the following format 

[<title>](http://tex.stackexchange.com/a/<id>)

rather than 

[<title>](http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/<id>/<hyphenated title>#<id>)
1
  • 3
    I think this topic didn't have the attention it deserves, why don't you ask a new question on Meta TeX.SE?
    – CarLaTeX
    Commented Jan 15, 2017 at 10:31
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What's your first full TeX/LaTeX document? There can be multiple options (full thesis/book/..).

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  • 11
    Academic Thesis
    – texenthusiast
    Commented Sep 15, 2013 at 19:52
  • 1
    a catalog of math books and journals, prepared using plain tex, using purpose-built macros, with content translated from another typesetting system by a purpose-built converter, and edited to clean up the last ugly bits. my first original document was a short article for tugboat; however, i did also create the first (plain tex) document style for tugboat, so maybe that counts.
    – barbara beeton
    Commented Sep 15, 2013 at 21:14
  • 3
    Final Year Project Thesis (german "Diplomarbeit")
    – Martin Scharrer Mod
    Commented Sep 16, 2013 at 7:11
  • 1
    First Thesis (italian "tesina"), here is the title: Quantum Chemistry of Vision: photo-isomerization in Bacteriorhodopsin Retinal.
    – TheVal
    Commented Sep 16, 2013 at 8:48
  • 2
    MSc thesis.....
    – percusse
    Commented Sep 18, 2013 at 11:13
  • 6
    Research paper.
    – egreg
    Commented Sep 24, 2013 at 23:16
  • 8
    School report (undergraduate).
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Commented Nov 14, 2013 at 15:36
  • 1
    Lecture notes from Literature at my middle-school, grade 8 IIRC, I was like 14 back then ;)
    – yo'
    Commented Dec 11, 2013 at 14:36
  • 3
    Scientific report for a summer job I had.
    – Canageek
    Commented Jun 26, 2014 at 5:26
  • 1
    Typing up some stuff for my dad (results from a simulation he did, with graphs and equations and all that jazz).
    – auden
    Commented Aug 15, 2016 at 14:06
  • Private maths research
    – Turion
    Commented Feb 22, 2018 at 10:35
  • Handout for students.
    – AndréC
    Commented Feb 18, 2019 at 14:27
  • An article for a high school newspaper.
    – sztruks
    Commented Feb 19, 2019 at 6:54
5

What packages have you used (at least once) and they must be used with -shell-escape to work?

Use the following format: [<package name> ](http://www.ctan.org/pkg/<package name>)

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5

Which question (not answer) do you like most?

Please use the following format

[<title>](http://tex.stackexchange.com/q/<id>/<id>)

rather than

[<title>](http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/<id>/<hyphenated title>).

1
  • 1
    I think this topic didn't have the attention it deserves, why don't you ask a new question on Meta TeX.SE?
    – CarLaTeX
    Commented Jan 15, 2017 at 10:31
4

The package I was not aware of but after discovering it saved my life is...

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  • subfiles ~~~~~~~~~~
    – samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz
    Commented Apr 12, 2018 at 12:17
  • yax saved my life a few times even though I'm a PGF junkie.
    – percusse
    Commented Apr 12, 2018 at 16:05
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This poll is intended for those give commercial services as professional "(La)TeX and Friends" consultants. If you are not in this category please kindly and honestly don't participate.

What do you think about the presence of this Q&A site (tex.stackexchange.com)?

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  • 1
    It makes our jobs reduced significantly because people can get satisfied answers from it free of charge.
    – kiss my armpit
    Commented Mar 11, 2013 at 13:59
  • It disturbs our income (financial condition).
    – kiss my armpit
    Commented Mar 11, 2013 at 14:02
  • 3
    It eases our work because many clients are not familiar with TeX.SX while we are and can use it to solve the tasks and get help.
    – yo'
    Commented Mar 21, 2013 at 21:15
1

When will you retire from this site?

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  • When David stops eating pineapple pizzas.
    – CarLaTeX
    Commented Feb 17, 2019 at 16:44
  • 1
    When this site is closed for good.
    – Display Name
    Commented Mar 28, 2019 at 17:19
  • When a new document preparation language with nicer syntax and easy-to-use high-level programming concepts will eventually replace LaTeX.
    – iago-lito
    Commented Feb 13, 2020 at 16:34
  • 2
    When singularity happens.
    – iago-lito
    Commented Feb 13, 2020 at 16:35
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