If you are just learning LaTeX then these pages probably won't help you much. The best thing for you to do is read the LaTeX manual. Here's what seems to work:

1. You should have a project to work on. You can't just sit down and say, "Hmm, maybe I'll try to make an integral sign now." It just doesn't work. You have to have something specific to do, even if it's just writing up a homework solution.
2. When you want to do something complicated, look through the manual until you see what you want. Copy what's there. Learn by example. [How to...]

So you already know a basics of LaTeX, right? But every now and then you want to do something a bit different, and the manual isn't exactly clear (what else is new?) These pages are a compilation of great tricks people around the Math Department and the IAM have figured out. Instead of re-inventing the wheel with every paper or thesis, you might find what you're looking for here. And when you figure out something great, you can contribute, too. [How to...]

LaTeX is a bunch of macros built to make TeX easier to use. But you want to have your own Figure captions, with equation numbers, but they can't show up in the List of Figures because they're too long, and of course you're using

\documentstyle[12pt,epsf]{thesis}

Well guess what? You've just pushed beyond the envelope of ordinary LaTeX. Don't be angry at the manual---no one could write a manual describing the infinite number of things we'd like to do! But rather than figuring out how to do this trick yourself, you might find it in these pages. Then again, you might not, and when you do, be sure to contribute it so the next poor student doesn't have to waste an afternoon, too. Well, not a whole afternoon, anyway. [How to...]

These pages try to follow the same style as Lamport's manual---an example of the output and the code to get it. Just tour around until you find what you're looking for and try it for yourself. Well actually, find something close and modify it. Remember what LaTeX is all about:

1. you type code into the tex file
2. you compile the code with latex
3. the output (sort of like the executable, if we carry this programming analogy along) is the dvi file
4. you look at the output ("run the executable") with, say xdvi or maybe dvips and then ghostview, or something.

By the way, if something here doesn't work, don't get mad. Fix it and tell us about it. That's how most of these tricks were found in the first place---trial and error.