Lyx is an open source, structured document creation system. Conceptually, it falls somewhere between a markup editor and a word processor. The creators of Lyx have coined the term WYSIWYM (what you see is what you mean) to summarise the approach that Lyx takes to document creation.
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Member since:2005-07-06
I hear what you're saying and to some degree I think you're right in principle. Lyx can become complex. However, I ultimately think it's an excellent bridging tool to take those who are only familiy with Word Processors towards a more Latex orientated approach. So, it's nice for newbies to create a document in a GUI not too dissimilar from a word processor, yet immediately benefit from content/style separation, excellent quality output, PDF support, and many other touches which Latex users are used to (decent float handling, bibliography support).
Tha said, I agree that getting stuck in with pure Latex code is the best approach for more substantial documents. The Getting to Grips with Latex tutorials are a good place to start: http://www.andy-roberts.net/misc/latex/
Member since:2006-10-08
"Although [La]TeX proper does take a few minutes to learn, the extra time spent pays for itself very quickly."
This is so true.
"If one really needs menus and a full development environment, TeXShop, Kile, and TeXnicCenter are much superior options."
Actually, I'm writing a (small) book (in fact, a therapist's manual) about autogenous training (a means of recreation). I use the mcedit Midnight Commander editor with syntax highlighting at 80x70, right next to an xterm with pdflatex && gv. :-)
Development environments with menues are a good solution if you are not familiar with the LaTeX language elements in order to help learning the underlying concepts and methods. But soon you'll see, you can work faster if you don't use the GUI tools and use your favourite text editor.
Member since:2005-07-06
Although [La]TeX proper does take a few minutes to learn...
A few "minutes"? I don't think there's a single soul on the face of the earth who can learn "[La]TeX proper" in a few minutes. I've been using LaTeX for years, and I still don't consider myself to have mastered it. Nor do I have a yen to type all the control characters for a fair-sized matrix (say) when Lyx lets me simply move up & down through it.
I typed my doctoral dissertation using Lyx. It was quite a large dissertation, and I'm desperately glad I didn't have to code it in native LaTeX. I had no problem splitting the document into sections, editing each section separately, incorporating them into a master document, referencing with BibTeX, etc. I actually had fun typing my dissertation, thanks to Lyx. I can't think of anyone else in my department who said that.
Your strong aversion to Lyx baffles me. The interface is not monstrous at all; are you thinking of the former xforms interface? That wasn't that all that bad either, quite frankly, but I hated it too.
I do have complaints about the interface, starting with the fact that the developers seem to take delight in substantially rearranging the menu layout with every dot-dot release (let alone every dot release!) but I cannot imagine calling it "monstrous blight", especially in comparison to the programs you seem to prefer.
Member since:2005-10-12
You're both right and wrong on this. Yes, Lyx is probably not a particularly good pure LaTeX tool, and yes, other graphical tools are probably better at this, and maybe if you want to write LaTeX you should learn to write it by hand and really understand it.
However, for a writer, its not a LaTeX tool at all, and it doesn't get judged on its merits as one. Its a tool for writing that happens to generate LaTeX, but which he/she would like equally well if it generated .doc files. Or even rtf files. Its the writing aids that are the real attraction - the separation of formatting and writing content.
You really have to see people try it. It takes about an afternoon to get them started and writing, and you have to follow up and be available for questions and demos for a while longer. Maybe sit in while they write seriously, and be available to show things, to get them through the early learning curve fast and easily. Though its no harder to support than OO in this respect. Do this, and what you will observe is people putting out 100 page plus documents properly structured with almost no effort, whereas before 30 pages was an effort and looked terrible.
There are some downsides to it. First, it is rather more technical to do some customizations. Second, tables are not well supported at all by comparison to any modern WP, as another poster points out. Third, drag and drop is non-existent (or was in the previous version). You were down to cut and paste, and you couldn't use the TOC to move sections around. So its not perfect.
But in its ability to let someone write in a visible document structure with little effort, its a gem.
Member since:2006-03-10
Member since:
2005-07-06
...only worse. From the user interface to the file format, one would be hard pressed to crate a worse editor. It is beyond my ken as to how anyone could possibly recommend the use of such a monstrous blight.
Although [La]TeX proper does take a few minutes to learn, the extra time spent pays for itself very quickly. If one really needs menus and a full development environment, TeXShop, Kile, and TeXnicCenter are much superior options.