Message-Id: <199401281142.AA08297@mail.cs.tu-berlin.de>
Reply-To: Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project <LATEX-L@DHDURZ1.BITNET>
Date:         Fri, 28 Jan 1994 11:35:59 GMT
From: Philip TAYLOR <CHAA006@VAX.RHBNC.AC.UK>
Sender: Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project <LATEX-L@DHDURZ1.BITNET>
To: Multiple recipients of list LATEX-L <LATEX-L@DHDURZ1.BITNET>
Subject:      Re: form and content
Status: R

This must be a unique occasion; I don't think I've _ever_ agreed with Mike
Piff before!  But when he writes:

> Some thoughts on what should go between \begin{document} and \end{document}.

> This is a problem that has troubled me greatly over the years I have used
> LaTeX.  I am coming more and more to the conclusion that *only* commands that
> the user defines in the preamble should be used between \begin{document} and
> \end{document}.

I complete concur: in fact, this is exactly the style of markup which I teach
to first-time Plain TeX users, and which I strongly encourage them to continue
to use as they become more and more advanced.  I teach them to mark up a TeX
document, \stress {using their own terms}, and only then teach them how to
implement their chosen markup through the medium of TeX macros.

                                        Philip Taylor, RHBNC.