What packages do I need to learn as developer to learn LaTeX?

Question

I am a web developer and I often have the need to convert the the webpage to pdf. I have just discovered latex and pretty much liked it.

But as there are many packages available , I am not into book publishing and stuff. I am confused how should I learn it and what minimum packages I need to learn.

My main requirements are

Mostly reports with 100 of pages of tables and very wide columns. So I will be mostly working with tables
I may also need to create some graphs and maps with some figures

What packages should I learn?

What packages do people load by default in LaTeX? and packages used by TeX.SX community results from polls at meta.tex.sx — texenthusiast, May 03 '13 at 03:19
Googling html2tex finds links to several tools that may help you get started. You can see what kind of TeX they produce from your input, and what packages they use. — Ethan Bolker, May 03 '13 at 13:14

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered May 03 '13 at 02:12

2

For table, you need longtable package.
For making graphs or diagrams, you need pstricks package and its friends. As an alternate for PSTricks, you can choose TikZ, Asymptote, Metapost.
For importing figures, you need graphicx.

answered May 03 '13 at 02:12

kiss my armpit

36,086

do i need koma script . somene was saying that will do everything – user17 May 03 '13 at 02:24
@user17: I don't think koma script can be used for the second item above. – kiss my armpit May 03 '13 at 02:38
@user17 koma script are a bundle of versatile classes and packages like article,book,etc classes. Refer What are the strengths and weaknesses of KOMA-Script and memoir? – texenthusiast May 03 '13 at 03:24
I would add the geometry package. It's useful for widening the text (decreasing the margins) – Eric Brown May 03 '13 at 04:30
There is a link in CTAN, labelled 'Topic'. I'd definitely recommend a look at the tables topic, if that's what you're after (mainly). As with most things, just as with apps, 'there is a package for that'. :) – Count Zero May 03 '13 at 09:41

What packages do I need to learn as developer to learn LaTeX?

1 Answers1