If standardisation is precisely the issue, no software outside Stata can
yield greater standardisation than use of SMCL -- certainly no software
that is used by only some Stata programmers. (That includes LaTeX as
surely as Word.)
If it's thought that there is insufficient similarity of style among
SMCL-based help files, then
1. I disagree. Small or even large differences in style don't disconcert
me at all. (I note frequent problems of quality or accuracy, which are
different matters.)
2. If anyone does agree, that's fine as an expression of opinion, but
any user can set up their own "style" as a template that others might
wish to follow. If they have a good idea, others will surely follow. But
I don't think anyone has a chance of laying down a universal standard by
personal fiat, if only for elementary psychological reasons.
"The only quite satisfying rule of standardization is that you adopt my
standards."
Francis J. Anscombe, Computing in Statistical Science through APL,
Springer, New York, 1981, p.3.
Nick
[email protected]
Roy Wada
> I don't understand what you are proposing then.
>
> If people want to use Word privately as a text editor, that's up to
> them, and there need be no proposal of it as a public standard.
One of Sergiy proposal was to come up with a uniform-looking help
file. This will help standardize the appearance, just as the TeX
template would.
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