Word Processors: Stupid and Inefficient

Re:Word Processors: Stupid and Inefficient by swannodette on Monday November 30, 2009 @03:20PM (#968594)

Styling your text has absolutely nothing to with writing. Consider that if you're writing with pen and paper you're not styling your text, you're just writing. A good writing tool should facilitate focusing on writing (no distractions) and augment the organization of your writing- that's about it.

Presentation is a whole other step that you get to when you've actually written something worth reading.

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Re:Word Processors: Stupid and Inefficient by delayclose on Monday November 30, 2009 @03:46PM (#968643)

I don't see how adding a predefined style called "level 2 heading" to paragraph would be more distracting than adding a "/this is a level 2 heading" TeX command.

That said, I think having a catalogue of suitable elements for each context and a (modifiable) document structure tree is better than either of the above alternatives.

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Re:Word Processors: Stupid and Inefficient by AndrewDucker on Tuesday December 01, 2009 @08:38AM (#969681)

I disagree. If I'm writing something for others to read then the presentation is an integral part of the process. Knowing how it's going to be laid out strongly affects what is written.

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