Hi Madhusudan, Just to tell you that I am originally a pure latexian, I have done my PhD and some papers in pure LaTeX, until I have discovered Scientfic Workplace and immediately switched because I have found that I could better focus on what I am trying to say, rather on its expression in LaTeX. But SWP has always been clumsy for me, and its integration with pure LaTeX has taken some time (I remember my joy when they introduced the "portable" latex format). In the mean time, I have been followed the development of LyX and made several trials to grok it, without any success. For me the interface was not natural either. But all this changed when I have taken time to read the tutorials and the manuals, and I use mainly LyX today (except when I am collaborating with people who have not discovered yet its joy and work in pure latex - in this case I use Sublime Text with the Latexing plugin, a very agreeable setup for working in pure latex). I have definitely stopped using SWP, since I find day LyX today is the most powerful and flexible document editor, if you accept its logic, instead of trying to impose yours on it (you could do it somewhat, using the tricks indicated in other posts, but it will never be completely comfortable and natural). By the way, I have been doing all my beamers in LyX for some years now, and I am very happy with it. Keynote is quite nice, but there is no comparison possible for me with LyX+KnitR+bibtex+beamer, just as an example.
Just my two cents: I invite to take some time to check the manuals and the example documents (they are hidden in the LyX bundle in OSX) before making your final decision. Murat 2014/1/4 Madhusudan Singh <singh.madhusu...@gmail.com> > 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 :) > -- Prof. Murat Yildizoglu Note: Please use the following address as such UNIVERSITE DE BORDEAUX GREThA (UMR CNRS 5113) MURAT YILDIZOGLU 16 AVENUE LEON DUGUIT CS 50057 33608 PESSAC CEDEX FRANCE Bureau : E-331 mail: yildi-at-u-bordeaux4.fr web: yildizoglu.info
