Prompted by this [question](https://mathoverflow.net/questions/21424/how-to-draw-knots-with-latex) I would like to ask the community how they convert their mathematics into pdf files. In any given procedure for converting mathematics into pdf I am interested in two issues: first typographical quality of text and of mathematical formulas and second production and placement of figures and labels within figures. 


As a concrete example my current procedure is: latex and bibtex until the references settle down, dvips -o to produce postscript, and then ps2pdf to produce pdf files. I go through postscript in order to make psfrag labels work. I've never been fully happy with the output - in particular label placement inside of figures is difficult. 


As a final issue, in the [question](https://mathoverflow.net/questions/21424/how-to-draw-knots-with-latex) referenced, Tilman suggests that pdftex has typographical improvements over latex. I've looked around [on-line](http://www.pragma-ade.com/pdftex/thesis.pdf) and these seem to be margin kerning (hanging punctuation) and glyph scaling (font expansion). How does one use these features? Do they make a difference in practice?


EDIT: After a bit of pain, I've managed to switch from my previous procedure (described above) to the much simpler procedure of using pdflatex. Instead of psfrag I now use Colin Rourke's pinlabel package. I am very happy with pinlabel -- the fonts are exactly what I expect them to be, and the job of labelling is much easier than it used to be. It is still possible to align labels inside of a figure, and they virtually always show up where I intended. 


I started using the microtype package, which turns on margin kerning and glyph scaling. I can see that these change the output, but I honestly can't say that the output is better - I guess my eyes aren't that sensitive. One thing to watch out for - pdftex 1.20 threw show-stopping errors when typesetting figure captions. I updated to 1.40 and the problem went away. 


Thanks for your suggestions - if other people have other latexing procedures I'd be interested to hear about them.



Typesetting mathematics: how do {\em you} convert text into pdf?
You can do margin kerning (aka “protrusion”) and font expansion in pdfLaTeX simply by loading the package `microtype` (i.e., by adding



> 
> `\usepackage{microtype}`
> 
> 
> 


to the preamble). I also suggest using the `tracking` option for small-caps, which increases the space between letters (which is typographically correct, but *only* for small-caps and all-caps text):



> 
> `\usepackage[tracking=smallcaps]{microtype}`
> 
> 
> 


For further information (and for several fine-tuning options) you can consult the `microtype` [manual](http://tug.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/microtype/).


Edit: Yes, in my opinion and (I think) in a typographer’s opinion, these features do make a lot of difference. Margin kerning and font expansion help pdfLaTeX typeset the text, producing a lot less over/underfull hboxes. Letterspaced small-caps are also more legible and much more aesthetically pleasing.


