LATEX is a complex text-processing system often recommended by the SIPB as an alternative to Frame Technology's FrameMaker and the Andrew Consortium's EZ. We believe both LATEX and FrameMaker to be more powerful and more flexible than EZ.2 Choosing between LATEX and FrameMaker may be a tougher decision, since each has its strengths and weaknesses. Some people may prefer FrameMaker's graphical user interface to the typesetting commands of LATEX. FrameMaker makes it easier to arrange your text on the page if you want more than simple one- or two-column layout. However, we believe that LATEX is simpler to master, and more practical for formatting technical papers. It won't ever erase your document when you aren't looking3 and leave you stranded. Also, LATEX's range of document styles and formatting options is currently wider than FrameMaker's. It has a very powerful math typesetting facility, which makes including mathematical formulas in your document easy, and it is capable of generating documents in foreign languages complete with accents and non-English characters, such as the German ß character.
There are LATEX manuals available for use in the SIPB office, and you're welcome to drop by the office with a question. There are also manuals available for short-time loan from the OLC4 office (N42) and some available for withdrawal from the MIT Libraries.
If you have any comments, additions or corrections to this manual,
please send them to sipb@mit.edu or drop by the SIPB office
(W20-557) and let us know.