I last "used" LyX about 16 years ago. I have used LaTeX extensively for about 18 years, have contributed class files, know how to work around most problems there. Its unseemly to call oneself an expert in something you are not trained in, but I know my way around it.
I love LaTeX beamer (I have created two of the color schemes among other contributions to it). I am trying to create beamer presentations for a set of lectures. While using LaTeX source for a professional conference presentation and the like is my first choice (strangely, I love Keynote as well), its rather tiresome for lectures that run into 30 slides or so per lecture. The main problem (and time consumption I see) is the inability to effectively "drag and drop" things into LaTeX. I often copy figures from my other previous presentations, so I usually do not already have them on the disk. Yes, I have tried TeXmacs (which I think is a great project with some unique features, but it suffers from having no seamless integration with LaTeX). LyX, strangely enough, once you get past the unintuitive and drab (from the late 90's) interface does allow a cut/copy and paste. However, the same things that turned me off LyX 16 years ago (a very confusing way to enter stuff) are beginning to give me a headache. Put simply, I find LyX confusing. Its not seamless. The preamble goes to a box inside document settings (I mean, really?). If I enter any LaTeX code with command+L (I am using this on a Mac), it stares at me in ugly red on that sickly pale yellow background. How do I "convert" it to visual form (LaTeXIt or preview-latex style)? I have defined some rather nifty beamer macros that I started using with LaTeXian (its commercial) which is a beautiful piece of software. If I put them into the preamble, is there any way to get a live preview? After all, if I type in stuff in LyX without using any LaTeX commands, I am staring at a live preview of sorts. So, LyX should have the capability to "understand" the LaTeX I have thrown at it and process it (TeXmacs does this, btw.). I have searched through forums etc. for some defining work philosophy of LyX. I find numerous references to how it is supposed to be so much easier than LaTeX. Such statements are generally written to cater to LaTeX scared wannabes from the Microsoft Word nightmare land. But can someone help this hardcore LaTeX guy get LyX? I am using it out of necessity (Keynote files are huge and I just do not think it is a good idea to waste so much space). So, I want to be able to love it :)
