[murphyslab]

LaTeX was much easier with Overleaf for my PhD thesis. I still recommend that for friends starting a thesis or a book project. I even used it for recent book project with a friend.

As you noted, one needs a lot of fine tuning to meet publication rules & guidelines. Compared to a local LaTeX editor or Overleaf, this looks too generic to meet the needs I've had in the past. Sure, LaTeX can require a lot of tinkering, but PhD students ought be able to figure it out for themselves, whether through documentation, forums, or asking labmates.

[sureglymop]

I would suggest Typst nowadays. Much easier to get into imo. Unfortunately though it doesn't have backwards compatibility for LaTeXs math notation.

[CoreformGreg]

I wouldn’t, solely because it’s still in version 0.X - for any long-term, important project (e.g., PhD dissertation) I’d recommend LaTeX due to A) it’s mature and B) many universities provide LaTeX templates.