With LaTeX, I was able to compose and typeset a full IEEE-format paper, full of diagrams and equations, in a day. I've done the same in OpenOffice, doing part of the work in Word, and I spent half the time fiddling with the figures to get them placed decently, and in the end it still didn't look nearly as nice as the LaTeX version.
I don't know many LaTeX tricks, mostly how to make sections and subsections, insert a figure, add some citations, do monospace text for code, but I can get beautiful papers out of it.
A big drawback I find is that this sort of ease is only true if there is a LaTeX stylesheet already in exactly the format you want. Not all conferences provide LaTeX stylesheets, in which case you have a huge hassle, because the stylesheet language for making your own is terrible.
I agree and disagree. TeX isn't a terrible language, but it's not a modern language either. Additionally, there's a lot of environmental complexity knowing that typesetting is a complex business.
Writing a fluff template language that compiles to Sty files would be a great project.
I don't know many LaTeX tricks, mostly how to make sections and subsections, insert a figure, add some citations, do monospace text for code, but I can get beautiful papers out of it.