What I like about Typst

What I like about Typst is that it can be Markdown, LaTeX, or even both. It blurs the boundary between styling-agnostic language like Markdown and keep-layout-in-mind like LaTeX.

Markdown has very weak control over styling and layout. I'm well aware there are many extensions to Markdown syntax that support these features, but they all require special support from the parser and renderer. If the editor or renderer you're using doesn't support them, you're out of luck.

Typst is ready to use out of the box, whether you are using the official Typst web app or a third-party editor, you can migrate your Markdown documents without having to change too much syntax. Compared to LaTeX, some issues that require additional dependencies in the world of LaTeX, such as syntax highlighting, are now built-in.

Many people may not realize this, but a crucial point is that Typst is a sane programming language. It has built-in data types that are JSON compatible, it supports functions (as opposed to substitution-based macros), and it supports higher-order functions. The boundaries between content and code are very clear. Oh, and it also supports Unicode.

Finally, Typst has recently launched Typst Universe, a very decent-looking website where you can search for packages and various templates. My friend Cui Chen posted a template called caidan that he used to make his Chinese gourmet menus on it, and I think it looks quite good!