I sometimes recommend non-TeX solutions to questions here. For example, pdftk
, pdfcrop
, and imagemagick
are tools I've recommended. My standard has been that I'll only recommend the non-TeX tool if I think it is better suited to the job.
Sometimes though I wonder if my recommendations are welcome in a group specifically focused on TeX. There are many shades of gray. For example, I doubt anyone here wants to know how to achieve an effect in MSWord. However, if someone tags their question with tikz
, is it appropriate to give an answer using asymptote
? Does it change your opinion if the asymptote
solution is easier than the tikz
solution? (I know that's subjective.)