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As I already mentioned in my previous question, I intend to give a LaTeX introduction to phd students. Most of them will already be using LaTeX somehow but their knowledge will be random. I want to give them a systematic approach. In addition I want to show them the best practice for common problems/tasks.

The (German) slides I use were created in 2011 (not important for the question though). There is also a handout (same content but different formatting).

In order to reduce complexity I only use the standard document class article in the examples but I want to give them an advice for the appropriate document class for their thesis.

Question [Edit]: What are the advantages and disadvantages of the most common document classes for a thesis? What is there to consider?

1 My Thoughts so Far

1.1 Book Class from KOMA-Script (scr­book)

I used the book class from KOMA-Script in my thesis (here's the template on Blogoverflow).

  • (+) German documentation (important for some).
  • (+) Good documentation.
  • (-) I think that there are not so many KOMA-Script related questions questions here on this site.
  • (-) The developer is not very active ob this site as far as I know.
  • (+) Just one "package" (the document class) instead of many packages for common problems. This means less problems with compatibility among different packages.
  • (-) On the other site sometimes it's easier to have one package for one problem (easier documentation).
  • (+) Active development (last version on CTAN from 2021).
  • (+) Dedicated project website (http://www.komascript.de/).

1.2 Memoir Class (memoir)

I have never used the memoir class but I have read often about it here on this site.

  • (+) Many questions here on this site.
  • (+) Good documentation.
  • (+) Active development (last version on CTAN from 2021-06-16).

1.3 Standard Book Class (book)

  • (+) Many questions here on this site.
  • (-) Maybe not so many options as for the other two document classes (KOMA-Script and memoir).

2 Your Thoughts?

  • Maybe you can point out some (+) and (-) like compatibility with the most important packages like tikz/pgf, geometry, float, hyperref and so on.
  • What else do you think are important aspects?

3 Additional Thoughts

  • I am not sure if I should add the package classicthesis to the list.

4 Similar Questions

Dr. Manuel Kuehner
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    The problem is that best is not an applicable adjective here. That's why everybody has an opinion. Convenient, least hassle, modular etc are the ones that might be relevant. memoir is amazing but I won't touch it again. Same with KOMA – percusse Feb 04 '16 at 19:55
  • The best answer is "It depends". Every document class is good for a certain task or it can be useful in more situations, so the choice ultimately depends on which one is more suitable for your case, and which one you prefer. But asking for opinions is not an appropriate format for this site because of its inherent organization. – Alenanno Feb 04 '16 at 19:57
  • @percusse Yes of course. I just want to collect your thoughts and I think the question is easier to find in Google if I oversimplify the title/question/subject. If that's a problem I can choose a less polarizing title/question. – Dr. Manuel Kuehner Feb 04 '16 at 19:57
  • @Alenanno: I updated the question. Is that ok now? I am sure you know what I mean. If you prefer a specific way to describe it then I am open for proposals. – Dr. Manuel Kuehner Feb 04 '16 at 20:01
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    @Dr.ManuelKuehner: Keep it simple -- I am still very fond of using the traditional (i.e. standard) LaTeX classes. There's a bunch of good packages that extend the features of them. I used KOMA classes for a while but I found configuration not well done (my personal point of view, as well as the documentation not really convincing). For memoir: The emulation features seems to be nice but is not always really convenient –  Feb 04 '16 at 22:01
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    scrbook is not just a class like book. KOMA- script is a bundle of different packages and scrbook loads quite a bunch of them. scrbase for the most simple definitions, tocbasic to set up floats and their lists, typearea to control the page margins (and more). scrlayer-scrpage would be the choice if you want to change page headers and footers. – Johannes_B Feb 05 '16 at 18:06
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    In my point of view, the standard classes are so simple, that their appearance and maybe functionality are easy to change, for example titlesec for customization of the appearance of structural commands. Many packages are made for that. KOMA and memoir implement parts of that functionality themselves, meaning you can make easy changes within the predefined range. If you want to have something not included, it gets hacky pretty soon. Or a clean solution would be outright impossible to find for an inexperienced user. – Johannes_B Feb 05 '16 at 18:10
  • @Johannes_B Thanks - good points. That's also my experience but I don't have enough background knowledge too know whether it is me or the classes :) – Dr. Manuel Kuehner Feb 06 '16 at 10:48
  • A few LaTeX users have discussed best-practice within the last few months. As there is that variety in doing stuff, who decides what best practice is and what makes its way into a presentation/tutorial/wikibook? Some advice on that, some on that, some write some bad hacks and outdated stuff on some block, leaving a beginner lost within a flood of trustworthy? information. This is a pretty bad situation. – Johannes_B Feb 06 '16 at 19:50
  • @Johannes_B I agree. Therefore I will bring a bunch of books to the introduction because I think it's better to start with a book (one main source of information). I only recommend recent books which ideally cover pgf and biblatex. – Dr. Manuel Kuehner Feb 06 '16 at 22:51
  • Bring some books made with Word and some made with TeX and ask the students which one they prefer. If they prefer the Word ones, ... well, they should stick with it and nice typesetting ... – Johannes_B Feb 06 '16 at 23:04
  • @Johannes_B Maybe there is a misunderstanding. I do not want to convince people to use LaTeX. Anyway - I will delete the question since it causes negative attention which I did not intend at all. – Dr. Manuel Kuehner Feb 06 '16 at 23:59
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    No negative atention at all (from my side). Just my concerns regarding the current situation of documentation of LaTeX. Drop iin the chat if you want to discuss this :-) – Johannes_B Feb 07 '16 at 08:11
  • Try this template: https://www.overleaf.com/latex/templates/doriens-phd-thesis-template/ntgfsykpsrwb#.WZ-f74oRVTY – dorien Aug 25 '17 at 04:03
  • Oh please, don't follow this link. It is a trap. – Johannes_B Nov 05 '17 at 11:32

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