Introductory tip

Well, this sort of started as a joke but, here I am starting with my first LaTeX tip of the day. Names notwithstanding, I don't intend to hold myself to a guaranteed tip per day. I do have a few other things to do but, as time permits, I will put down in text any little hints that I have for producing documents using LaTeX. I've used LaTeX for a long time (and TeX and nroff/troff before that) and used them all long before ever seeing Word or OpenOffice so to me it's not really a question of superiority of one over the other. I do happen to think LaTeX is superior in all ways but what's most important is that LaTeX has helped me to develop a process for document preparation that focuses on the document logic and structure first instead of trying to shoehorn it in later. Sure you can do this with any system but, I think LaTeX and UNIX just make it easier and more natural.

Today's tip is simple just to get things started. If you haven't been there already, I suggest you check out two places online: CTAN and wikibooks.

CTAN is the Comprehensive TeX Archive Network. All things TeX and LaTeX can be found there. All packages, documentation related software, etc. usually end up here.

Wikibooks LaTeX is a great resource and reference for learning how to use LaTeX. I used to store and print out all the package manual pdfs (still have them in my file cabinet) for reference but lately I head to wikibooks first and see if that provides a solution to my problem. if I need to go deeper, I start reading up on the appropriate package.