<p>I think this <a href="https://info.arxiv.org/help/faq/whytex.html#" rel="nofollow noreferrer">webpage on arXiv</a> might help you get perspective on why LaTeX is valued by the academic and research community.</p>
<p>Then on this <a href="https://info.arxiv.org/help/submit.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">arXiv page</a> you find this wording:</p>
<p><em>Our goal is to store articles in formats that are highly portable and stable over time. Currently, the best choice is TeX/LaTeX.</em></p>
<p>And when one looks at the mirror image <em>crank</em> website vixra.org, you notice that very few of these authors use LaTeX!</p>
<p>Then of course for computer scientists, LaTeX is the brainchild of the preeminent computer scientist Donald Knuth.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-11-05T17:45:22.970Z
"LaTeX is the brainchild of the preeminent computer scientist Donald Knuth." No it's not. TeX is Knuth's brainchild, but hardly anyone writes in straight TeX anymore. LaTeX is the brainchild of Leslie Lamport, and it's a macro set on top of TeX. And one might argue there is far more wrong with it than with TeX, which is why people patch it left and right and write alternatives to it.
Victor Eijkhout
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-11-05T17:57:28.493Z
@VictorEijkhout You have a fair point. Credit for LaTeX goes to Leslie Lamport.  Here is Knuth on LaTeX, ConTeXt, etc.

 https://youtu.be/8HuwiBPLV3A?si=Bmv1sKKHrrZg5e4E
user52817
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-08-01T15:55:24.060Z
2023-08-01T16:43:52.897Z
2023-08-01T16:43:52.897Z
user52817
<p>In your question, you made the claim that <a href="https://wkhtmltopdf.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><strong>wkhtmltopdf</strong></a> is better than <a href="https://math.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/5020/mathjax-basic-tutorial-and-quick-reference"><strong>LaTeX</strong></a>.</p>
<p>That is your opinion.</p>
<p>It is analogous to claiming that the color blue is better than the color red.</p>
<p>Likewise, there exist people who say that they enjoy the taste of boiled mashed carrots over the taste of boiled mashed potatoes.</p>
<p>I am not sure that everyone is already familiar with <a href="https://wkhtmltopdf.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><strong>wkhtmltopdf</strong></a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://wkhtmltopdf.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><strong>wkhtmltopdf</strong></a> is a tool which converts webpages into PDF files. a PDF file is easily printed out on eight and a half by elevent sheets of paper.</p>
<p>There are some computer scientists who do not know how to read or write hyper-text-mark-up-language.</p>
<p>If you do not know how to write hyper-text mark-up language, then you could use <a href="https://math.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/5020/mathjax-basic-tutorial-and-quick-reference"><strong>LaTeX</strong></a> instead of <a href="https://wkhtmltopdf.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><strong>wkhtmltopdf</strong></a>.</p>
<p>My favorite alternative to <strong>LaTeX</strong> is stack exchange mark-up language with the <strong>MathJax</strong> plug-in. You might desire something like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BibTeX" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><strong>BibTex</strong></a> to deal with citations and references.</p>
<p>It is possible to write an academic paper in <strong>Libre Office</strong>, but <strong>TeX</strong> pre-dates <strong>Libre Office</strong> and <strong>Microsoft Word</strong>.</p>
<p>That is, some people learned how to use <strong>TeX</strong>, and when they got older, never learned how to use <strong>Microsoft Word</strong>.</p>
<p>Most academic journals accept papers written in <code>.doc</code> format these days (files encoded using the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><strong>Microsoft</strong></a> standards).</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-11-04T01:55:21.630Z
2023-11-04T01:55:21.630Z
Samuel Muldoon
<p>Journals, conferences want a 'house look' ie fonts, spacing, columns etc.</p>
<p>So they typically
<strong>mandate</strong> Latex ... yes with some latitude. So they may say: For MSWord authoring use xyz, for Latex use abc. The xyz/abc specs being quite detailed.</p>
<p>See for example the <a href="https://www.ieee.org/conferences/publishing/templates.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">IEEE recommended template</a></p>
<hr />
<p>PS Count me among the people that suffer Latex but the html,css,JS morass is inarguably worse!</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-31T18:01:56.047Z
2023-08-01T00:35:11.933Z
2023-08-01T00:35:11.933Z
Rushi
<p>Why do many CS students and researchers write their publications with LaTeX although it is much heavier than wkhtmltopdf?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-31T12:33:13.790Z
Sorry, but off topic.
Buffy
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-31T18:37:55.290Z
@Buffy If you treat teaching and research as exclusive then yes, but if not then education should include both isn't it?
Rushi
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-08-01T00:57:06.020Z
@Buffy OTOH Research ≠ Technology for research publication. So you could call it fringe
Rushi
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-08-05T20:35:16.100Z
@risi the site is about teaching and learning. The question is not.
ctrl-alt-delor
<latex>
Why is LaTeX so popular when writing papers?
# Why is LaTeX so popular when writing papers?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-07-31)

Why do many CS students and researchers write their publications with LaTeX although it is much heavier than wkhtmltopdf?

**Tags:** latex

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Sorry, but off topic.  
> **username_2**: @username_1 If you treat teaching and research as exclusive then yes, but if not then education should include both isn't it?  
> **username_2**: @username_1 OTOH Research ≠ Technology for research publication. So you could call it fringe  
> **username_3**: @risi the site is about teaching and learning. The question is not.  

---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2023-07-31. Score: 0 | Accepted answer

Journals, conferences want a 'house look' ie fonts, spacing, columns etc.

So they typically
**mandate** Latex ... yes with some latitude. So they may say: For MSWord authoring use xyz, for Latex use abc. The xyz/abc specs being quite detailed.

See for example the [IEEE recommended template](https://www.ieee.org/conferences/publishing/templates.html)

---

PS Count me among the people that suffer Latex but the html,css,JS morass is inarguably worse!


---

### Answer by username_4 on 2023-08-01. Score: 1

I think this [webpage on arXiv](https://info.arxiv.org/help/faq/whytex.html#) might help you get perspective on why LaTeX is valued by the academic and research community.

Then on this [arXiv page](https://info.arxiv.org/help/submit.html) you find this wording:

*Our goal is to store articles in formats that are highly portable and stable over time. Currently, the best choice is TeX/LaTeX.*

And when one looks at the mirror image *crank* website vixra.org, you notice that very few of these authors use LaTeX!

Then of course for computer scientists, LaTeX is the brainchild of the preeminent computer scientist Donald Knuth.

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: "LaTeX is the brainchild of the preeminent computer scientist Donald Knuth." No it's not. TeX is Knuth's brainchild, but hardly anyone writes in straight TeX anymore. LaTeX is the brainchild of Leslie Lamport, and it's a macro set on top of TeX. And one might argue there is far more wrong with it than with TeX, which is why people patch it left and right and write alternatives to it.  
> **username_4**: @VictorEijkhout You have a fair point. Credit for LaTeX goes to Leslie Lamport.  Here is Knuth on LaTeX, ConTeXt, etc.   https://youtu.be/8HuwiBPLV3A?si=Bmv1sKKHrrZg5e4E  

---

### Answer by username_6 on 2023-11-04. Score: 0

In your question, you made the claim that [**wkhtmltopdf**](https://wkhtmltopdf.org/) is better than [**LaTeX**](https://math.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/5020/mathjax-basic-tutorial-and-quick-reference).

That is your opinion.

It is analogous to claiming that the color blue is better than the color red.

Likewise, there exist people who say that they enjoy the taste of boiled mashed carrots over the taste of boiled mashed potatoes.

I am not sure that everyone is already familiar with [**wkhtmltopdf**](https://wkhtmltopdf.org/).

[**wkhtmltopdf**](https://wkhtmltopdf.org/) is a tool which converts webpages into PDF files. a PDF file is easily printed out on eight and a half by elevent sheets of paper.

There are some computer scientists who do not know how to read or write hyper-text-mark-up-language.

If you do not know how to write hyper-text mark-up language, then you could use [**LaTeX**](https://math.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/5020/mathjax-basic-tutorial-and-quick-reference) instead of [**wkhtmltopdf**](https://wkhtmltopdf.org/).

My favorite alternative to **LaTeX** is stack exchange mark-up language with the **MathJax** plug-in. You might desire something like [**BibTex**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BibTeX) to deal with citations and references.

It is possible to write an academic paper in **Libre Office**, but **TeX** pre-dates **Libre Office** and **Microsoft Word**.

That is, some people learned how to use **TeX**, and when they got older, never learned how to use **Microsoft Word**.

Most academic journals accept papers written in `.doc` format these days (files encoded using the [**Microsoft**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft) standards).


---

