Message-Id: <199402051152.AA01422@mail.cs.tu-berlin.de>
Reply-To: Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project <LATEX-L@DHDURZ1.BITNET>
Date:         Sat, 5 Feb 1994 11:48:57 CST
From: Alex Stark <jas1@eng.cam.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: Additional features
Status: R

In Message Fri, 4 Feb 1994 21:06:08 GMT,
  Charles Wells <cfw2@PO.CWRU.EDU> writes:

>
>In a message I posted recently I said
>
>One of the most important amenities that Latex3 can have is lots

....


>This probably means that although an \everychapter,
>\everysection, etc, would be _nice_, they probably are not
>_necessary_.
>
>--
>Charles Wells
>Department of Mathematics, Case Western Reserve University
>10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106-7058, USA
>216 368 2893

I was glad to find the discussion on this list turning to a topic much more
important than compatability and hyphenation. The feature of Latex3 that I
await most eagerly is the style design interface.


I will be installing LaTeX2e in a few months time. I need Postscript and AMS
fonts and AMS-Latex. I have already installed NFSS2.

PROBLEM: Latex installation requires too many decisions. I am nearly in a
position to decide on DC fonts and other issues, but it has taken a lot of
effort. Most of the contributors to this list seem to be familiar with these
questions: most of the potential users are not.

So, a wish list. For CTAN maintainers, the Latex3 team and systems package
authors (eg emtex). For each of the following,

1) Standard fonts;
2) AMS fonts;
3) Postscript fonts;

x) Others as required.

Make it {\em really} simple to install each option. This means ONE encoding
scheme as standard. Even a mere mention of different arrangements should be
delimited as `for advanced users only'. Clear intructions as to where the
Postscript sources are (even if included in package). This may do something
about the frightening confusion of bundles in the archives.

In short, anyone competent with computers but with no specialist knowledge
of TeX should be able to install Latex without fuss.

Alex
----------------------------------------------------------------------
J. Alex Stark          Signal Processing and Communications Laboratory
                                             Department of Engineering
email: jas1@uk.ac.cam.eng                      University of Cambridge
Tel:   [+44]223 3 32767                             Trumpington Street
Fax:   [+44]223 3 32662                         Cambridge, CB2 1PZ, UK