How to convince lab colleagues to use Typst or collaborate with Typst vs Overleaf

General
1

OK I know this idea is a bit out there, but it would be nice if there
were an official “migration guide” that gave us pointers for

  1. HOW TO: Convince colleagues to try typst
  2. If the colleague insists on using Overleaf, a HOW TO: convince a colleague to use the Typst web app for collaboration instead of overleaf.
    I’m talking mostly PhD level researchers, so not a professor .At any rate as much as I love typst (I use it for literally everything, personal notes, math notes, etc), I am being forced to use Latex because its what others are using. I do not know how to persuade them, so maybe I can point them to a guide!

Thanks

2

Also FYI I think the fact that Typst is a great markup language as is, and can be a replacement for Markdown should be emphasized more!
Ideally I would see it replacing Markdown

3

There is certainly a guide for LaTeX users:

Personally, I think if you want to convince your colleagues to use Typst instead, you should give them a honest answer about the following issues:

can I do X in Typst?

LaTeX users generally have very specific usecases, especially in academia. If the migration cost is too high, people just don’t have the time to find the equivalent package in Typst, or make their own…

How much time do I need to learn Typst?

The language is very different from LaTeX. Once again, if the learning curve is too steep, that would represent a barrier to adoption. For example, people who have learnt how to write equations in LaTeX might not want to switch languages, because they have already invested time (sunk cost fallacy).

In terms of equations, it should be easy to convince them, just show them the maths section of the guide :slight_smile:.

Submissions

People write LaTeX because that’s often easier, and also the format that journals require for submissions. If you cannot submit a Typst manuscript, then people will not use Typst…

One argument in your favour is the improved workflow, you don’t need to install TeXLive (quite often a pain), compilation time is improved drastically, etc.

Tinymist also has a LaTeX export, so converting a Typst manuscript to a LaTeX source should be fairly straightforwardd, and would take less time than the accumulated LaTeX compilation time!

Persuasion vs coercion

You are being coerced to use LaTeX because that’s what others are using… you can just flip it around! Use Typst and force others to use it! Sometimes, you don’t need to persuade people, just strong arm them :smiley:

1 Like
4

Pricing (Overleaf vs. Typst) is actually the most compelling factor in my experience.

  • In Overleaf free plan, at most one collaborator per project can be invited.
    (In Typst free plan, it seems that there is no restriction.)

  • LaTeX compilation can be very slow. (“bonus”: Writing Chinese is almost impossible in pdflatex, and xelatex/lualatex are just slower.)
    It is easy to exceed the free plan (or a paid plan sometimes), even in draft mode.
    Yes we can edit on Overleaf and compile the final version locally, but that requires at least 600 MB on Windows or 400 MB on Linux (minimal scheme + carefully selected packages + knowing how to fix File … not found), and must be reinstalled every year (for Windows).

5

As was noted in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6cIn_d-Ft4, the lifehack for PDF-only LaTeX submissions is to just edit metadata that links to Typst and you are good to go.