4) The previews are still far too big.
What do you mean?Is the file size much bigger than the sum of your included image files? Try PDF-> Compress PDF from the print dialogue. Or do you mean the size of the preview figures? Try Ctrl-click and set a scale factor in the LaTex and LyX-options dialogue. (But I agree it would be nice if the picture size was defaulted to say 75% of the window size).
/Anders
