— for easier collaborative paper writing (updated on December 29, 2020)
The principle of LaTeX is "you see the article when you type" — so we should see the article by only reading your LaTeX source file, and we should be able to easily locate the places for making changes.
Part 1: Overall
Use the most commonly used packages
in general, do not create new environments, or new theorems, or new abbreviations
use common fonts
use common math notations, such as lower case for elements, upper case for sets, calligraphic for collections
use small caps (\sc) for problem and algorithm names
use "if (premise) then (conclusion) ", avoid using "(conclusion) if (premise)"
Part 2: Main text
turn off automatic line-breaking, line-wrapping (this is important for diff check)
limit your line length to –
in general, each line ends with a punctuation; if not, break properly to grammar
start a new line for every sentence
in general, do not use \\ to break a line
in general, do not use forced skips such as \vskip or \hskip
use $2$ when is in math
use \le not \leq
use {\rm XXX} not \mathrm{XXX}
when need a text inside a math formula, enclose it by \mbox{ text } (mind the spaces)
use \[ …\] for math display and place them in three lines, not by $$ … $$ in a single line
Part 3: Labels
create labels for equations, theorems, figures, tables (often no need to sections)
use eqXX, thmXX, lemXX, figXX, tabXX, where XX starts with 01 (i.e., two digits, unless really necessary by sections)
if an equation is not cited, then do not number it
Part 4: Figures and references
figures should be prepared with the minimal possible margin/boundingbox
figures should be prepared with the highest resolution possible (minimum 300 dpi, but 600 dpi preferred)
always test yourself on the quality of the figure after included
tabular columns should be aligned well in the latex
always create a .bib file to contain all (and possibly more than) the references
bibitem label convention is ABCXX, where ABC for the first letters in the author last names (three should be good enough), XX represents the year; for single author paper, use Abc; to avoid duplicates using XXa and XXb etc.