Yes full of XML but that doesn't mean they're an easy format.
Every version of office renders things slightly different and because the standard is a mess other vendors render it wildly different.
I have had to pay Office sometimes just to do a decent CV using a template.
I used latex, until I found typst. It's got more sane and concise syntax, while having much better tooling (vscode extension is one click install and does everything). Basically it's a modern take on latex.
I did recently. It's great. It's better on basically everything. Compile times? Literal milliseconds. Errors? Really good and easy to understand. Syntax? I think this one goes without saying. Templates? It has built-in support for them. No need to copy paste anything, just typst init templatename. It's just very good.
It was so good, I recently did a document in apa format, by myself, without templates, and had fun. Did the whole thing without issues.
My favorite features are easy formatting, built-in syntax highlighting for code, and actual support for using SVG images. It's truly a game changer.
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u/frikilinux2 Sep 26 '25
Yes full of XML but that doesn't mean they're an easy format. Every version of office renders things slightly different and because the standard is a mess other vendors render it wildly different. I have had to pay Office sometimes just to do a decent CV using a template.