Is there anyway that typing in Arabic can be a smoother process?

Is there anyway that typing in Arabic can be a smoother process?

I realized that typing documents in Arabic script on Microsoft Word is a tedious process. Selecting, formatting, aligning (among other things) Arabic text is a really inefficient process (especially if there is a mix of Arabic and Latin script). Could anyone share his experience with me and suggest some solutions which will make typing in Arabic a smoother process? (I was thinking of using Latex, what do you think?)