Lyx for business

[Graham Smith]

A rather vague question, but would anyone like to share their  
experiences of using Lyx in a small business situation, or point me  
towards some web links, with maybe example templates.


Headed notepaper, business (technical) reports with smart covers etc.

I've been toying with Lyx for a while now and have persuaded my  
partners that we should give it a go as a replacement for Word, but  
having done that, I realise that I need to rather quickly get it all  
working as painlessly as possible for the new users (only three of  
us), or it will people will default back to Word.


I genuinely believe that Lyx has got to better business solution than  
Word. Easier to write reports and higher quality output, but I am  
much more familiar with setting up templates and problem solving in  
Word than I am with Lyx.


So a very vague question, but I would be grateful for any experiences  
that users might be able to share.


Many thanks,

Graham

Re: Lyx for business

[Charles de Miramon]

Graham Smith wrote:

 A rather vague question, but would anyone like to share their
 experiences of using Lyx in a small business situation, or point me
 towards some web links, with maybe example templates.
 
 Headed notepaper, business (technical) 
You can insert an image (for example the logo of your company) in a header
with fancy head

reports with smart covers etc.

Dumb question. What is a smart cover ?


Charles
-- 
http://www.kde-france.org

Re: Lyx for business

[Graham Smith]

Charles,

Thanks,

I mean by a smart cover, one with things like a vertical line to add  
a bit of style, maybe a photograph etc.


Graham



On 22 Jun 2008, at 14:11, Charles de Miramon wrote:


Graham Smith wrote:


A rather vague question, but would anyone like to share their
experiences of using Lyx in a small business situation, or point me
towards some web links, with maybe example templates.

Headed notepaper, business (technical)
You can insert an image (for example the logo of your company) in a  
header

with fancy head


reports with smart covers etc.


Dumb question. What is a smart cover ?


Charles
--
http://www.kde-france.org

Re: Lyx for business

[Rich Shepard]

On Sun, 22 Jun 2008, Graham Smith wrote:


A rather vague question, but would anyone like to share their experiences
of using Lyx in a small business situation, or point me towards some web
links, with maybe example templates.



Headed notepaper, business (technical) reports with smart covers etc.


Graham,

  I can respond only from the perspective of a small business owner who has
used only linux for more than a decade. As an aside, I keep OpenOffice.org
installed and upgraded because too many of my clients and government
agencies are stuck in the Microsoft world and pass me documents in Word or
Excel format. On exceptionally rare occasions, I need to provide them with a
file in the same format.

  All my technical documents, articles, white papers and so on -- including
my book -- have been written using LyX. Earlier this year I decided to make
the transition complete by using LyX for letters and proposals. There's a
long thread in this mail list's archives on adding the letterhead (a .pdf
file), signature (a .jpg file), and so on. I sent the .lyx file of a working
template to Christian for inclusion in the wiki, so that's a resource, too.

  Among the many advantages of writing with LyX is the inherent LaTeX/TeX
focus on content rather than appearance. I prefer the Palatino type face so
that's the default on everything I write. For letters and proposals I use
the KOMA-script letter2 class, otherwise the regular article, report, and
book classes.

  If you want fancy, learn how the memoir (or KOMA) classes are constructed
and modify to suit your specific needs. The investment in time and effort is
made once and used from then on.

  What you refer to as smart covers I would call eye-candy decoration.
Sometimes, they have a valid rationale, but most times I suspect they don't.
It may be that there's an expectation for decorations because that's what
people learned to do with word processors and desktop publication
applications. Were I do really need such a cover, I would create it using
Scribus (the FOSS page layout application), export it as a .pdf file, then
pre-pend it to the rest of the report or book using pdftk (the pdf tool
kit). However, I've never had a client or regulatory agency express an
interest in such a cover.

  The typeset output is superior to anything any word processor can produce
because the units of adjustment are the paragraph and page; word processors'
unit of adjustment is the line.

  On those occasions when a magazine or trade journal asks to republish one
of my articles or white papers, I either export the .lyx file as a plain,
ASCII text file, or I use pdftotext to translate it from the .pdf file. Very
flexible.

  For illustrations, I've used TGIF, Xfig, PSTricks, PyX, and other vector
graphics packages. I've inserted .eps, .jpg, and .pdf images into a LyX
document; with the later I view the developing document with pdflatex before
compiling a final version with the same tool.

HTH,

Rich

--
Richard B. Shepard, Ph.D.   |  IntegrityCredibility
Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc.|Innovation
http://www.appl-ecosys.com Voice: 503-667-4517  Fax: 503-667-8863

Re: Lyx for business

[Steve Litt]

On Sunday 22 June 2008 06:32, Graham Smith wrote:
 A rather vague question, but would anyone like to share their
 experiences of using Lyx in a small business situation, or point me
 towards some web links, with maybe example templates.

 Headed notepaper, business (technical) reports with smart covers etc.

 I've been toying with Lyx for a while now and have persuaded my
 partners that we should give it a go as a replacement for Word, but
 having done that, I realise that I need to rather quickly get it all
 working as painlessly as possible for the new users (only three of
 us), or it will people will default back to Word.

 I genuinely believe that Lyx has got to better business solution than
 Word. Easier to write reports and higher quality output, but I am
 much more familiar with setting up templates and problem solving in
 Word than I am with Lyx.

 So a very vague question, but I would be grateful for any experiences
 that users might be able to share.

 Many thanks,

 Graham

Hi Graham,

One of the things my small business does is sell books. Every book I've 
written this century was written in LyX. In the 20'th century I'd written 
books in WordPerfect 5.1 and in MS Word. For writing books, LyX is VASTLY 
superior to both.

Personally, I think for everyday letters, ad-hoc reports, informal reports, 
initial design documents, and general stuff that's not too important, MS 
Word is more convenient than LyX. Word paragraph and character styles are 
much easier to create than LyX environments and character styles (because 
that's true of LaTeX).

For formal reports that have to look good, and especially if they have to look 
consistent with former reports, I'd go with LyX over Word.

HTH

SteveT

Steve Litt
Recession Relief Package
http://www.recession-relief.US

Re: Lyx for business

[Graham Smith]

Rich,

  All my technical documents, articles, white papers and so on --  
including
my book -- have been written using LyX. Earlier this year I decided  
to make

the transition complete by using LyX for letters and proposals.


Thanks for this, it gives encouragement to persevere with Lyx, I'm  
afraid that attempts before to wean any one off MSOffice has always  
resulted in angry responses because the new program isn't exactly  
the same as Word or Excel.




There's a
long thread in this mail list's archives on adding the letterhead  
(a .pdf
file), signature (a .jpg file), and so on. I sent the .lyx file of  
a working
template to Christian for inclusion in the wiki, so that's a  
resource, too.


I can't actually find this on the Wiki, maybe I need to look harder :-(



  Among the many advantages of writing with LyX is the inherent  
LaTeX/TeX

focus on content rather than appearance.


That is one of the arguments I am using for the switch Lyx

  What you refer to as smart covers I would call eye-candy  
decoration.
Sometimes, they have a valid rationale, but most times I suspect  
they don't.
It may be that there's an expectation for decorations because  
that's what

people learned to do with word processors and desktop publication
applications.


I think this is a marketing thing, I have been to too many meetings  
where, the people making the decisions, are impressed by how a report  
looks more than what the report says.



Were I do really need such a cover, I would create it using
Scribus (the FOSS page layout application), export it as a .pdf  
file, then
pre-pend it to the rest of the report or book using pdftk (the pdf  
tool

kit). However, I've never had a client or regulatory agency express an
interest in such a cover.


I suspect that Lyx will do what I need but, I agree this is a good  
option, and I am using Scribus for a newsletter


  The typeset output is superior to anything any word processor can  
produce
because the units of adjustment are the paragraph and page; word  
processors'

unit of adjustment is the line.


This is one of the other arguments I am using for the switch to Lyx,  
and thanks for the other comments - some useful ideas here.


Graham

Re: Lyx for business

[Graham Smith]

Steve,


Personally, I think for everyday letters, ad-hoc reports, informal  
reports,
initial design documents, and general stuff that's not too  
important,


That's worth thinking about.




For formal reports that have to look good, and especially if they  
have to look

consistent with former reports, I'd go with LyX over Word.


This is what I am mainly interested in, having experienced how much  
better a report looks produced in Lyx is compared to Word, its the  
production of technical reports that I can see the biggest advantage.  
But I admit, I had been thinking of trying to move everything over to  
Lyx, as Rich has now done.

Re: Lyx for business

[Steve Litt]

On Sunday 22 June 2008 12:08, Graham Smith wrote:
 Steve,

  Personally, I think for everyday letters, ad-hoc reports, informal
  reports,
  initial design documents, and general stuff that's not too
  important,

 That's worth thinking about.

  For formal reports that have to look good, and especially if they
  have to look
  consistent with former reports, I'd go with LyX over Word.

 This is what I am mainly interested in, having experienced how much
 better a report looks produced in Lyx is compared to Word, its the
 production of technical reports that I can see the biggest advantage.
 But I admit, I had been thinking of trying to move everything over to
 Lyx, as Rich has now done.

My experience is that LyX is really bad for ad-hoc type stuff. Therefore, if 
you move completely to LyX, I'd recommend you pick up VimOutliner 
(http://www.vimoutliner.org) for thinking on paper. If you use it under 
Linux or on Windows with Cygwin, you can incorporate non-text stuff into your 
outline via executable lines.

Another suggestion -- For the ultimate multi-format ad hoc docs, use Kompozer, 
a graphic web designer. It's available at http://kompozer.net/.

I use VimOutliner many hours each day, and I use Kompozer several times per 
week.

SteveT

Steve Litt
Recession Relief Package
http://www.recession-relief.US

Re: Password now required to approve URIs on the wiki

[Liviu Andronic]

On 3/26/08, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 password as for uploading files. If you need it, just ask on one of the
 mailing lists.

I am currently cleaning teh LiveCDs containing LyX article, and
would need to add external links. Could some of the developers please
forward me the current password for the wiki?

Thanks,
Liviu

Re: Password now required to approve URIs on the wiki

[Christian Ridderström]

On Sun, 22 Jun 2008, Liviu Andronic wrote:


On 3/26/08, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

password as for uploading files. If you need it, just ask on one of the
mailing lists.

I am currently cleaning teh LiveCDs containing LyX article, and would 
need to add external links. Could some of the developers please forward 
me the current password for the wiki?


I've replied off-list.

/C

--
Christian Ridderström, +46-8-768 39 44http://www.md.kth.se/~chr

Re: Lyx for business

[Christian Ridderström]

On Sun, 22 Jun 2008, Graham Smith wrote:

There's a long thread in this mail list's archives on adding the 
letterhead (a .pdf file), signature (a .jpg file), and so on. I sent 
the .lyx file of a working template to Christian for inclusion in the 
wiki, so that's a resource, too.


I can't actually find this on the Wiki, maybe I need to look harder :-(


It's on my to-do list :-)

This is one of the other arguments I am using for the switch to Lyx, and 
thanks for the other comments - some useful ideas here.


I suggest that you try it out yourself for a while, makin sure that the 
majority of tasks are feasiable without to much hassle before your 
colleaes try it. Otherwise they might get turned off.



Graham


/Christian

--
Christian Ridderström, +46-8-768 39 44http://www.md.kth.se/~chr

Re: Lyx for business

[Graham Smith]

Steve,


This is what I am mainly interested in, having experienced how much
better a report looks produced in Lyx is compared to Word, its the
production of technical reports that I can see the biggest advantage.
But I admit, I had been thinking of trying to move everything over to
Lyx, as Rich has now done.


My experience is that LyX is really bad for ad-hoc type stuff.  
Therefore, if

you move completely to LyX, I'd recommend you pick up VimOutliner
(http://www.vimoutliner.org) for thinking on paper. If you use it  
under
Linux or on Windows with Cygwin, you can incorporate non-text stuff  
into your

outline via executable lines.

Another suggestion -- For the ultimate multi-format ad hoc docs,  
use Kompozer,

a graphic web designer. It's available at http://kompozer.net/.

I use VimOutliner many hours each day, and I use Kompozer several  
times per

week.


Mmmm, I think I will be doing well to get people using Lyx, without  
introducing more alien programs to them !


But I agree about the usefulness of something like VimOutliner for ad  
hoc stuff.  I have used Emacs with org.mode for this, and I take on  
board the issues of ad hoc stuff in Lyx.


Graham

Re: Lyx for business

[Steve Litt]

On Sunday 22 June 2008 13:32, Graham Smith wrote:
 Steve,

  This is what I am mainly interested in, having experienced how much
  better a report looks produced in Lyx is compared to Word, its the
  production of technical reports that I can see the biggest advantage.
  But I admit, I had been thinking of trying to move everything over to
  Lyx, as Rich has now done.
 
  My experience is that LyX is really bad for ad-hoc type stuff.
  Therefore, if
  you move completely to LyX, I'd recommend you pick up VimOutliner
  (http://www.vimoutliner.org) for thinking on paper. If you use it
  under
  Linux or on Windows with Cygwin, you can incorporate non-text stuff
  into your
  outline via executable lines.
 
  Another suggestion -- For the ultimate multi-format ad hoc docs,
  use Kompozer,
  a graphic web designer. It's available at http://kompozer.net/.
 
  I use VimOutliner many hours each day, and I use Kompozer several
  times per
  week.

 Mmmm, I think I will be doing well to get people using Lyx, without
 introducing more alien programs to them !

 But I agree about the usefulness of something like VimOutliner for ad
 hoc stuff.  I have used Emacs with org.mode for this, and I take on
 board the issues of ad hoc stuff in Lyx.

 Graham

In that case, make a standard layout file for your company before you start. 
Think of all the paragraph and character styles needed, and put them in. Be 
sure to put in things like Note, Tip, Warning, Caution, and a generic type of 
thing where the writer inserts the title of the box in the boxtitle 
environment, and then the box contents in the boxcontents style. Teach them 
how to do outlines in LyX. I like to have a story environment which I use 
for short narrative stories. 

Pre-think all possible writing situations, and the environments and character 
styles those situations make necessary. If you give them a good enough 
layout, and a document explaining what to use when, most LyX writing, even ad 
hoc stuff, can become easy.

SteveT

Steve Litt
Recession Relief Package
http://www.recession-relief.US

Re: Lyx for business

[Hellmut Weber]

Hi Graham,
I'm using LyX for many (probably at least five or six) years now. Before 
I had used plain LaTeX also for years.


I have invested some time and used my experience with LaTeX to design 
templates for LyX documents for a few different types of papers I need 
for my small one man business as a management consultant. It's 
essentially a business letter template and a general template for 
general papers like documentation for training give.


And I do not agree with Steve Litt this time to use word for ad hoc 
documents. Especially outlining is now a LyX feature since 1.5.?
So I put everything in an 'official' paper and I don't have to bother 
about what the document will look like later.


If you are interested in my templates send me a private Email, I can 
send you the LyX templates resp. the layout files for the document 
classes I have defined for my personal use, and there are also the 
respective style files which define my page layout and the titlepage etc.


Cheers

Hellmut

Graham Smith schrieb:

Steve,


Personally, I think for everyday letters, ad-hoc reports, informal 
reports,

initial design documents, and general stuff that's not too important,


That's worth thinking about.




For formal reports that have to look good, and especially if they have 
to look

consistent with former reports, I'd go with LyX over Word.


This is what I am mainly interested in, having experienced how much 
better a report looks produced in Lyx is compared to Word, its the 
production of technical reports that I can see the biggest advantage. 
But I admit, I had been thinking of trying to move everything over to 
Lyx, as Rich has now done.




--
Dr. Hellmut Weber [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Degenfeldstraße 2 tel   +49-89-3081172
D-80803 München-Schwabing mobil +49-172-8450321
please: No DOCs, no PPTs. why: tinyurl.com/cbgq

Re: Lyx for business

[Graham Smith]

Christian,

There's a long thread in this mail list's archives on adding the  
letterhead (a .pdf file), signature (a .jpg file), and so on. I  
sent the .lyx file of a working template to Christian for  
inclusion in the wiki, so that's a resource, too.


I can't actually find this on the Wiki, maybe I need to look  
harder :-(


It's on my to-do list :-)


Ah thanks, that would explain why I can't find it :-)



This is one of the other arguments I am using for the switch to  
Lyx, and thanks for the other comments - some useful ideas here.


I suggest that you try it out yourself for a while, makin sure that  
the majority of tasks are feasiable without to much hassle before  
your colleaes try it. Otherwise they might get turned off.


I've been using Lyx of and on for a while now, but latterly have been  
using Latex and TextMate, but the sudden willingness of others to try  
something that isn't Word has renewed my interest in getting Lyx into  
the workplace.
So yes I am now looking at getting it working smoothly for others and  
looking for pointers that might save me making some obvious errors  
and give me some good ideas.


Graham

Re: Lyx for business

[Graham Smith]

Steve,



Mmmm, I think I will be doing well to get people using Lyx, without
introducing more alien programs to them !

But I agree about the usefulness of something like VimOutliner for ad
hoc stuff.  I have used Emacs with org.mode for this, and I take on
board the issues of ad hoc stuff in Lyx.

Graham


In that case, make a standard layout file for your company before  
you start.
Think of all the paragraph and character styles needed, and put  
them in. Be
sure to put in things like Note, Tip, Warning, Caution, and a  
generic type of

thing where the writer inserts the title of the box in the boxtitle
environment, and then the box contents in the boxcontents style.  
Teach them
how to do outlines in LyX. I like to have a story environment  
which I use

for short narrative stories.

Pre-think all possible writing situations, and the environments and  
character

styles those situations make necessary. If you give them a good enough
layout, and a document explaining what to use when, most LyX  
writing, even ad

hoc stuff, can become easy.


That's exactly what I did with Word, and is my plan for Lyx, but I  
don't have the same level of expertise in Lyx that I did in Word,  
when I did it for Word.


Graham

Re: Lyx for business

[Rich Shepard]

On Sun, 22 Jun 2008, Graham Smith wrote:


I think this is a marketing thing, I have been to too many meetings where,
the people making the decisions, are impressed by how a report looks more
than what the report says.


Graham,

  Yes, there are too many people for whom appearance is more important than
is content. I don't want that type for clients.


I suspect that Lyx will do what I need but, I agree this is a good option,
and I am using Scribus for a newsletter


  If you look at The LaTeX Companion, 2nd Ed, you'll find a lot of help in
setting up fancy title pages, chapter header pages, running headers and
footers, and more. Also, the KOMA and Memoir classes have more flexibility
(and capabilities) than do the standard classes. Read the docs on them to
see if either is useful for you.

  Years ago I read through the Memoir doc but decided that I did not need
the fine tuning it offers for reports, articles, and news releases. Springer
provided their own monograph class so that's what I used for my book. The
KOMA letter2 class is what I use for letters and proposals because it allows
me to put a pdf graphic on top of the first page as a letterhead. I did a
lot of fine-grained tweaking on that to get the margins, page numbering,
continuation page headers, and so on just to my liking. That is, so they
have the same layout as they did when I used OO.o's Writer for them.

  A suggestion: when you have a layout that is to be your standard for that
type of document, empty a copy and save that as a template. I get lazy and
just rename one file to the new one, then make the appropriate content
changes. It works for me.

Rich

--
Richard B. Shepard, Ph.D.   |  IntegrityCredibility
Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc.|Innovation
http://www.appl-ecosys.com Voice: 503-667-4517  Fax: 503-667-8863

Re: Lyx for business

[Graham Smith]

Rich


I think this is a marketing thing, I have been to too many  
meetings where,
the people making the decisions, are impressed by how a report  
looks more

than what the report says.


Graham,

  Yes, there are too many people for whom appearance is more  
important than

is content. I don't want that type for clients.


I am less fussy ;-)  But really, often the people making the  
decisions aren't really the client, they just get involved at signing  
off a contract but have nothing to do with the job, you are just  
making it easy for the real client to get the consultant they want.




I suspect that Lyx will do what I need but, I agree this is a good  
option,

and I am using Scribus for a newsletter


  If you look at The LaTeX Companion, 2nd Ed, you'll find a lot of  
help in
setting up fancy title pages, chapter header pages, running headers  
and
footers, and more. Also, the KOMA and Memoir classes have more  
flexibility
(and capabilities) than do the standard classes. Read the docs on  
them to

see if either is useful for you.


I have been using The Koma classes for several things as it is meant  
to be more geared towards European documents.  Certainly I found the  
letter class to work well. I have a couple of books on Latex so I  
will have a look.


 Springer provided their own monograph class so that's what I used  
for my book.


I regret that we have done both our books for Springer in Word.

  A suggestion: when you have a layout that is to be your standard  
for that
type of document, empty a copy and save that as a template. I get  
lazy and

just rename one file to the new one, then make the appropriate content
changes. It works for me.


Yes, that will be the plan.

Graham

Re: Lyx for business

[Les Denham]

On Sun, 2008-06-22 at 11:32 +0100, Graham Smith wrote:
 A rather vague question, but would anyone like to share their  
 experiences of using Lyx in a small business situation, or point me  
 towards some web links, with maybe example templates.

Graham,

I've been trying to do this for some years now. I have yet to persuade
my partner to convert to LyX, even though every time he writes something
(in OpenOffice or MS Word) he passes it on to me to fix the
formatting.  I usually just save it as text, import it into LyX, and
return it to him in PDF format.

I have several templates for different purposes, and start my documents
with a copy of one of them.  They are mainly based on Koma classes, and
have features like a logo at the top of the first page, and a small logo
in the running header on subsequent pages (set up in the Preamble).

I estimate writing and formatting most documents in LyX takes about half
the time required for the same document in MS Word.

I also use LyX and Powerdot instead of PowerPoint for presentations.

I have the most problems with clients who absolutely insist on receiving
reports in MS Word format (or even PowerPoint format!).  As far as
possible, I ignore such requirements and use PDF.

Les

Where does Aspell need to be?

[David Strang]

Hi:

LyX 1.5.5-3, Win2k SP4.

I ask where aspell goes because I previously installed LyX as a
portable app on a USB drive, specifified by E: . When I installed
LyX under windows with the 1.5.5-3 installer. Aspell kept
trying to install on the E: drive (which is not there and incorrect).

Where should Aspell be installed so LyX can find it? How can I
fix Aspell so it installs where it belongs. I assume the registry has
a key with the current WRONG install location (E:). What is the
correct location?

I found aspell.dll at C:\Documents and Settings\dave\Local 
Settings\Application Data\LyX15\bin

Searching the registry, Aspell tried to install in 
E:\PortableApps\AspellPortable\data\aspell,
E:\PortableApps\AspellPortable\data\aspell\dictionaries, 
E:\PortableApps\AspellPortable\data\aspell,
E:\PortableApps\AspellPortable\data\aspell\personal

One thing comes to mind, uninstall Aspell from the E: drive and reinstall 
Aspell, or I could uninstall Aspell and LyX
and reinstall LyX. What's the easiest way to go? Which way should I go?

Regards,
Dave
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Lyx for business

[Graham Smith]

A rather vague question, but would anyone like to share their  
experiences of using Lyx in a small business situation, or point me  
towards some web links, with maybe example templates.


Headed notepaper, business (technical) reports with smart covers etc.

I've been toying with Lyx for a while now and have persuaded my  
partners that we should give it a go as a replacement for Word, but  
having done that, I realise that I need to rather quickly get it all  
working as painlessly as possible for the new users (only three of  
us), or it will people will default back to Word.


I genuinely believe that Lyx has got to better business solution than  
Word. Easier to write reports and higher quality output, but I am  
much more familiar with setting up templates and problem solving in  
Word than I am with Lyx.


So a very vague question, but I would be grateful for any experiences  
that users might be able to share.


Many thanks,

Graham

Re: Lyx for business

[Charles de Miramon]

Graham Smith wrote:

 A rather vague question, but would anyone like to share their
 experiences of using Lyx in a small business situation, or point me
 towards some web links, with maybe example templates.
 
 Headed notepaper, business (technical) 
You can insert an image (for example the logo of your company) in a header
with fancy head

reports with smart covers etc.

Dumb question. What is a smart cover ?


Charles
-- 
http://www.kde-france.org

Re: Lyx for business

[Graham Smith]

Charles,

Thanks,

I mean by a smart cover, one with things like a vertical line to add  
a bit of style, maybe a photograph etc.


Graham



On 22 Jun 2008, at 14:11, Charles de Miramon wrote:


Graham Smith wrote:


A rather vague question, but would anyone like to share their
experiences of using Lyx in a small business situation, or point me
towards some web links, with maybe example templates.

Headed notepaper, business (technical)
You can insert an image (for example the logo of your company) in a  
header

with fancy head


reports with smart covers etc.


Dumb question. What is a smart cover ?


Charles
--
http://www.kde-france.org

Re: Lyx for business

[Rich Shepard]

On Sun, 22 Jun 2008, Graham Smith wrote:


A rather vague question, but would anyone like to share their experiences
of using Lyx in a small business situation, or point me towards some web
links, with maybe example templates.



Headed notepaper, business (technical) reports with smart covers etc.


Graham,

  I can respond only from the perspective of a small business owner who has
used only linux for more than a decade. As an aside, I keep OpenOffice.org
installed and upgraded because too many of my clients and government
agencies are stuck in the Microsoft world and pass me documents in Word or
Excel format. On exceptionally rare occasions, I need to provide them with a
file in the same format.

  All my technical documents, articles, white papers and so on -- including
my book -- have been written using LyX. Earlier this year I decided to make
the transition complete by using LyX for letters and proposals. There's a
long thread in this mail list's archives on adding the letterhead (a .pdf
file), signature (a .jpg file), and so on. I sent the .lyx file of a working
template to Christian for inclusion in the wiki, so that's a resource, too.

  Among the many advantages of writing with LyX is the inherent LaTeX/TeX
focus on content rather than appearance. I prefer the Palatino type face so
that's the default on everything I write. For letters and proposals I use
the KOMA-script letter2 class, otherwise the regular article, report, and
book classes.

  If you want fancy, learn how the memoir (or KOMA) classes are constructed
and modify to suit your specific needs. The investment in time and effort is
made once and used from then on.

  What you refer to as smart covers I would call eye-candy decoration.
Sometimes, they have a valid rationale, but most times I suspect they don't.
It may be that there's an expectation for decorations because that's what
people learned to do with word processors and desktop publication
applications. Were I do really need such a cover, I would create it using
Scribus (the FOSS page layout application), export it as a .pdf file, then
pre-pend it to the rest of the report or book using pdftk (the pdf tool
kit). However, I've never had a client or regulatory agency express an
interest in such a cover.

  The typeset output is superior to anything any word processor can produce
because the units of adjustment are the paragraph and page; word processors'
unit of adjustment is the line.

  On those occasions when a magazine or trade journal asks to republish one
of my articles or white papers, I either export the .lyx file as a plain,
ASCII text file, or I use pdftotext to translate it from the .pdf file. Very
flexible.

  For illustrations, I've used TGIF, Xfig, PSTricks, PyX, and other vector
graphics packages. I've inserted .eps, .jpg, and .pdf images into a LyX
document; with the later I view the developing document with pdflatex before
compiling a final version with the same tool.

HTH,

Rich

--
Richard B. Shepard, Ph.D.   |  IntegrityCredibility
Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc.|Innovation
http://www.appl-ecosys.com Voice: 503-667-4517  Fax: 503-667-8863

Re: Lyx for business

[Steve Litt]

On Sunday 22 June 2008 06:32, Graham Smith wrote:
 A rather vague question, but would anyone like to share their
 experiences of using Lyx in a small business situation, or point me
 towards some web links, with maybe example templates.

 Headed notepaper, business (technical) reports with smart covers etc.

 I've been toying with Lyx for a while now and have persuaded my
 partners that we should give it a go as a replacement for Word, but
 having done that, I realise that I need to rather quickly get it all
 working as painlessly as possible for the new users (only three of
 us), or it will people will default back to Word.

 I genuinely believe that Lyx has got to better business solution than
 Word. Easier to write reports and higher quality output, but I am
 much more familiar with setting up templates and problem solving in
 Word than I am with Lyx.

 So a very vague question, but I would be grateful for any experiences
 that users might be able to share.

 Many thanks,

 Graham

Hi Graham,

One of the things my small business does is sell books. Every book I've 
written this century was written in LyX. In the 20'th century I'd written 
books in WordPerfect 5.1 and in MS Word. For writing books, LyX is VASTLY 
superior to both.

Personally, I think for everyday letters, ad-hoc reports, informal reports, 
initial design documents, and general stuff that's not too important, MS 
Word is more convenient than LyX. Word paragraph and character styles are 
much easier to create than LyX environments and character styles (because 
that's true of LaTeX).

For formal reports that have to look good, and especially if they have to look 
consistent with former reports, I'd go with LyX over Word.

HTH

SteveT

Steve Litt
Recession Relief Package
http://www.recession-relief.US

Re: Lyx for business

[Graham Smith]

Rich,

  All my technical documents, articles, white papers and so on --  
including
my book -- have been written using LyX. Earlier this year I decided  
to make

the transition complete by using LyX for letters and proposals.


Thanks for this, it gives encouragement to persevere with Lyx, I'm  
afraid that attempts before to wean any one off MSOffice has always  
resulted in angry responses because the new program isn't exactly  
the same as Word or Excel.




There's a
long thread in this mail list's archives on adding the letterhead  
(a .pdf
file), signature (a .jpg file), and so on. I sent the .lyx file of  
a working
template to Christian for inclusion in the wiki, so that's a  
resource, too.


I can't actually find this on the Wiki, maybe I need to look harder :-(



  Among the many advantages of writing with LyX is the inherent  
LaTeX/TeX

focus on content rather than appearance.


That is one of the arguments I am using for the switch Lyx

  What you refer to as smart covers I would call eye-candy  
decoration.
Sometimes, they have a valid rationale, but most times I suspect  
they don't.
It may be that there's an expectation for decorations because  
that's what

people learned to do with word processors and desktop publication
applications.


I think this is a marketing thing, I have been to too many meetings  
where, the people making the decisions, are impressed by how a report  
looks more than what the report says.



Were I do really need such a cover, I would create it using
Scribus (the FOSS page layout application), export it as a .pdf  
file, then
pre-pend it to the rest of the report or book using pdftk (the pdf  
tool

kit). However, I've never had a client or regulatory agency express an
interest in such a cover.


I suspect that Lyx will do what I need but, I agree this is a good  
option, and I am using Scribus for a newsletter


  The typeset output is superior to anything any word processor can  
produce
because the units of adjustment are the paragraph and page; word  
processors'

unit of adjustment is the line.


This is one of the other arguments I am using for the switch to Lyx,  
and thanks for the other comments - some useful ideas here.


Graham

Re: Lyx for business

[Graham Smith]

Steve,


Personally, I think for everyday letters, ad-hoc reports, informal  
reports,
initial design documents, and general stuff that's not too  
important,


That's worth thinking about.




For formal reports that have to look good, and especially if they  
have to look

consistent with former reports, I'd go with LyX over Word.


This is what I am mainly interested in, having experienced how much  
better a report looks produced in Lyx is compared to Word, its the  
production of technical reports that I can see the biggest advantage.  
But I admit, I had been thinking of trying to move everything over to  
Lyx, as Rich has now done.

Re: Lyx for business

[Steve Litt]

On Sunday 22 June 2008 12:08, Graham Smith wrote:
 Steve,

  Personally, I think for everyday letters, ad-hoc reports, informal
  reports,
  initial design documents, and general stuff that's not too
  important,

 That's worth thinking about.

  For formal reports that have to look good, and especially if they
  have to look
  consistent with former reports, I'd go with LyX over Word.

 This is what I am mainly interested in, having experienced how much
 better a report looks produced in Lyx is compared to Word, its the
 production of technical reports that I can see the biggest advantage.
 But I admit, I had been thinking of trying to move everything over to
 Lyx, as Rich has now done.

My experience is that LyX is really bad for ad-hoc type stuff. Therefore, if 
you move completely to LyX, I'd recommend you pick up VimOutliner 
(http://www.vimoutliner.org) for thinking on paper. If you use it under 
Linux or on Windows with Cygwin, you can incorporate non-text stuff into your 
outline via executable lines.

Another suggestion -- For the ultimate multi-format ad hoc docs, use Kompozer, 
a graphic web designer. It's available at http://kompozer.net/.

I use VimOutliner many hours each day, and I use Kompozer several times per 
week.

SteveT

Steve Litt
Recession Relief Package
http://www.recession-relief.US

Re: Password now required to approve URIs on the wiki

[Liviu Andronic]

On 3/26/08, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 password as for uploading files. If you need it, just ask on one of the
 mailing lists.

I am currently cleaning teh LiveCDs containing LyX article, and
would need to add external links. Could some of the developers please
forward me the current password for the wiki?

Thanks,
Liviu

Re: Password now required to approve URIs on the wiki

[Christian Ridderström]

On Sun, 22 Jun 2008, Liviu Andronic wrote:


On 3/26/08, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

password as for uploading files. If you need it, just ask on one of the
mailing lists.

I am currently cleaning teh LiveCDs containing LyX article, and would 
need to add external links. Could some of the developers please forward 
me the current password for the wiki?


I've replied off-list.

/C

--
Christian Ridderström, +46-8-768 39 44http://www.md.kth.se/~chr

Re: Lyx for business

[Christian Ridderström]

On Sun, 22 Jun 2008, Graham Smith wrote:

There's a long thread in this mail list's archives on adding the 
letterhead (a .pdf file), signature (a .jpg file), and so on. I sent 
the .lyx file of a working template to Christian for inclusion in the 
wiki, so that's a resource, too.


I can't actually find this on the Wiki, maybe I need to look harder :-(


It's on my to-do list :-)

This is one of the other arguments I am using for the switch to Lyx, and 
thanks for the other comments - some useful ideas here.


I suggest that you try it out yourself for a while, makin sure that the 
majority of tasks are feasiable without to much hassle before your 
colleaes try it. Otherwise they might get turned off.



Graham


/Christian

--
Christian Ridderström, +46-8-768 39 44http://www.md.kth.se/~chr

Re: Lyx for business

[Graham Smith]

Steve,


This is what I am mainly interested in, having experienced how much
better a report looks produced in Lyx is compared to Word, its the
production of technical reports that I can see the biggest advantage.
But I admit, I had been thinking of trying to move everything over to
Lyx, as Rich has now done.


My experience is that LyX is really bad for ad-hoc type stuff.  
Therefore, if

you move completely to LyX, I'd recommend you pick up VimOutliner
(http://www.vimoutliner.org) for thinking on paper. If you use it  
under
Linux or on Windows with Cygwin, you can incorporate non-text stuff  
into your

outline via executable lines.

Another suggestion -- For the ultimate multi-format ad hoc docs,  
use Kompozer,

a graphic web designer. It's available at http://kompozer.net/.

I use VimOutliner many hours each day, and I use Kompozer several  
times per

week.


Mmmm, I think I will be doing well to get people using Lyx, without  
introducing more alien programs to them !


But I agree about the usefulness of something like VimOutliner for ad  
hoc stuff.  I have used Emacs with org.mode for this, and I take on  
board the issues of ad hoc stuff in Lyx.


Graham

Re: Lyx for business

[Steve Litt]

On Sunday 22 June 2008 13:32, Graham Smith wrote:
 Steve,

  This is what I am mainly interested in, having experienced how much
  better a report looks produced in Lyx is compared to Word, its the
  production of technical reports that I can see the biggest advantage.
  But I admit, I had been thinking of trying to move everything over to
  Lyx, as Rich has now done.
 
  My experience is that LyX is really bad for ad-hoc type stuff.
  Therefore, if
  you move completely to LyX, I'd recommend you pick up VimOutliner
  (http://www.vimoutliner.org) for thinking on paper. If you use it
  under
  Linux or on Windows with Cygwin, you can incorporate non-text stuff
  into your
  outline via executable lines.
 
  Another suggestion -- For the ultimate multi-format ad hoc docs,
  use Kompozer,
  a graphic web designer. It's available at http://kompozer.net/.
 
  I use VimOutliner many hours each day, and I use Kompozer several
  times per
  week.

 Mmmm, I think I will be doing well to get people using Lyx, without
 introducing more alien programs to them !

 But I agree about the usefulness of something like VimOutliner for ad
 hoc stuff.  I have used Emacs with org.mode for this, and I take on
 board the issues of ad hoc stuff in Lyx.

 Graham

In that case, make a standard layout file for your company before you start. 
Think of all the paragraph and character styles needed, and put them in. Be 
sure to put in things like Note, Tip, Warning, Caution, and a generic type of 
thing where the writer inserts the title of the box in the boxtitle 
environment, and then the box contents in the boxcontents style. Teach them 
how to do outlines in LyX. I like to have a story environment which I use 
for short narrative stories. 

Pre-think all possible writing situations, and the environments and character 
styles those situations make necessary. If you give them a good enough 
layout, and a document explaining what to use when, most LyX writing, even ad 
hoc stuff, can become easy.

SteveT

Steve Litt
Recession Relief Package
http://www.recession-relief.US

Re: Lyx for business

[Hellmut Weber]

Hi Graham,
I'm using LyX for many (probably at least five or six) years now. Before 
I had used plain LaTeX also for years.


I have invested some time and used my experience with LaTeX to design 
templates for LyX documents for a few different types of papers I need 
for my small one man business as a management consultant. It's 
essentially a business letter template and a general template for 
general papers like documentation for training give.


And I do not agree with Steve Litt this time to use word for ad hoc 
documents. Especially outlining is now a LyX feature since 1.5.?
So I put everything in an 'official' paper and I don't have to bother 
about what the document will look like later.


If you are interested in my templates send me a private Email, I can 
send you the LyX templates resp. the layout files for the document 
classes I have defined for my personal use, and there are also the 
respective style files which define my page layout and the titlepage etc.


Cheers

Hellmut

Graham Smith schrieb:

Steve,


Personally, I think for everyday letters, ad-hoc reports, informal 
reports,

initial design documents, and general stuff that's not too important,


That's worth thinking about.




For formal reports that have to look good, and especially if they have 
to look

consistent with former reports, I'd go with LyX over Word.


This is what I am mainly interested in, having experienced how much 
better a report looks produced in Lyx is compared to Word, its the 
production of technical reports that I can see the biggest advantage. 
But I admit, I had been thinking of trying to move everything over to 
Lyx, as Rich has now done.




--
Dr. Hellmut Weber [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Degenfeldstraße 2 tel   +49-89-3081172
D-80803 München-Schwabing mobil +49-172-8450321
please: No DOCs, no PPTs. why: tinyurl.com/cbgq

Re: Lyx for business

[Graham Smith]

Christian,

There's a long thread in this mail list's archives on adding the  
letterhead (a .pdf file), signature (a .jpg file), and so on. I  
sent the .lyx file of a working template to Christian for  
inclusion in the wiki, so that's a resource, too.


I can't actually find this on the Wiki, maybe I need to look  
harder :-(


It's on my to-do list :-)


Ah thanks, that would explain why I can't find it :-)



This is one of the other arguments I am using for the switch to  
Lyx, and thanks for the other comments - some useful ideas here.


I suggest that you try it out yourself for a while, makin sure that  
the majority of tasks are feasiable without to much hassle before  
your colleaes try it. Otherwise they might get turned off.


I've been using Lyx of and on for a while now, but latterly have been  
using Latex and TextMate, but the sudden willingness of others to try  
something that isn't Word has renewed my interest in getting Lyx into  
the workplace.
So yes I am now looking at getting it working smoothly for others and  
looking for pointers that might save me making some obvious errors  
and give me some good ideas.


Graham

Re: Lyx for business

[Graham Smith]

Steve,



Mmmm, I think I will be doing well to get people using Lyx, without
introducing more alien programs to them !

But I agree about the usefulness of something like VimOutliner for ad
hoc stuff.  I have used Emacs with org.mode for this, and I take on
board the issues of ad hoc stuff in Lyx.

Graham


In that case, make a standard layout file for your company before  
you start.
Think of all the paragraph and character styles needed, and put  
them in. Be
sure to put in things like Note, Tip, Warning, Caution, and a  
generic type of

thing where the writer inserts the title of the box in the boxtitle
environment, and then the box contents in the boxcontents style.  
Teach them
how to do outlines in LyX. I like to have a story environment  
which I use

for short narrative stories.

Pre-think all possible writing situations, and the environments and  
character

styles those situations make necessary. If you give them a good enough
layout, and a document explaining what to use when, most LyX  
writing, even ad

hoc stuff, can become easy.


That's exactly what I did with Word, and is my plan for Lyx, but I  
don't have the same level of expertise in Lyx that I did in Word,  
when I did it for Word.


Graham

Re: Lyx for business

[Rich Shepard]

On Sun, 22 Jun 2008, Graham Smith wrote:


I think this is a marketing thing, I have been to too many meetings where,
the people making the decisions, are impressed by how a report looks more
than what the report says.


Graham,

  Yes, there are too many people for whom appearance is more important than
is content. I don't want that type for clients.


I suspect that Lyx will do what I need but, I agree this is a good option,
and I am using Scribus for a newsletter


  If you look at The LaTeX Companion, 2nd Ed, you'll find a lot of help in
setting up fancy title pages, chapter header pages, running headers and
footers, and more. Also, the KOMA and Memoir classes have more flexibility
(and capabilities) than do the standard classes. Read the docs on them to
see if either is useful for you.

  Years ago I read through the Memoir doc but decided that I did not need
the fine tuning it offers for reports, articles, and news releases. Springer
provided their own monograph class so that's what I used for my book. The
KOMA letter2 class is what I use for letters and proposals because it allows
me to put a pdf graphic on top of the first page as a letterhead. I did a
lot of fine-grained tweaking on that to get the margins, page numbering,
continuation page headers, and so on just to my liking. That is, so they
have the same layout as they did when I used OO.o's Writer for them.

  A suggestion: when you have a layout that is to be your standard for that
type of document, empty a copy and save that as a template. I get lazy and
just rename one file to the new one, then make the appropriate content
changes. It works for me.

Rich

--
Richard B. Shepard, Ph.D.   |  IntegrityCredibility
Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc.|Innovation
http://www.appl-ecosys.com Voice: 503-667-4517  Fax: 503-667-8863

Re: Lyx for business

[Graham Smith]

Rich


I think this is a marketing thing, I have been to too many  
meetings where,
the people making the decisions, are impressed by how a report  
looks more

than what the report says.


Graham,

  Yes, there are too many people for whom appearance is more  
important than

is content. I don't want that type for clients.


I am less fussy ;-)  But really, often the people making the  
decisions aren't really the client, they just get involved at signing  
off a contract but have nothing to do with the job, you are just  
making it easy for the real client to get the consultant they want.




I suspect that Lyx will do what I need but, I agree this is a good  
option,

and I am using Scribus for a newsletter


  If you look at The LaTeX Companion, 2nd Ed, you'll find a lot of  
help in
setting up fancy title pages, chapter header pages, running headers  
and
footers, and more. Also, the KOMA and Memoir classes have more  
flexibility
(and capabilities) than do the standard classes. Read the docs on  
them to

see if either is useful for you.


I have been using The Koma classes for several things as it is meant  
to be more geared towards European documents.  Certainly I found the  
letter class to work well. I have a couple of books on Latex so I  
will have a look.


 Springer provided their own monograph class so that's what I used  
for my book.


I regret that we have done both our books for Springer in Word.

  A suggestion: when you have a layout that is to be your standard  
for that
type of document, empty a copy and save that as a template. I get  
lazy and

just rename one file to the new one, then make the appropriate content
changes. It works for me.


Yes, that will be the plan.

Graham

Re: Lyx for business

[Les Denham]

On Sun, 2008-06-22 at 11:32 +0100, Graham Smith wrote:
 A rather vague question, but would anyone like to share their  
 experiences of using Lyx in a small business situation, or point me  
 towards some web links, with maybe example templates.

Graham,

I've been trying to do this for some years now. I have yet to persuade
my partner to convert to LyX, even though every time he writes something
(in OpenOffice or MS Word) he passes it on to me to fix the
formatting.  I usually just save it as text, import it into LyX, and
return it to him in PDF format.

I have several templates for different purposes, and start my documents
with a copy of one of them.  They are mainly based on Koma classes, and
have features like a logo at the top of the first page, and a small logo
in the running header on subsequent pages (set up in the Preamble).

I estimate writing and formatting most documents in LyX takes about half
the time required for the same document in MS Word.

I also use LyX and Powerdot instead of PowerPoint for presentations.

I have the most problems with clients who absolutely insist on receiving
reports in MS Word format (or even PowerPoint format!).  As far as
possible, I ignore such requirements and use PDF.

Les

Where does Aspell need to be?

[David Strang]

Hi:

LyX 1.5.5-3, Win2k SP4.

I ask where aspell goes because I previously installed LyX as a
portable app on a USB drive, specifified by E: . When I installed
LyX under windows with the 1.5.5-3 installer. Aspell kept
trying to install on the E: drive (which is not there and incorrect).

Where should Aspell be installed so LyX can find it? How can I
fix Aspell so it installs where it belongs. I assume the registry has
a key with the current WRONG install location (E:). What is the
correct location?

I found aspell.dll at C:\Documents and Settings\dave\Local 
Settings\Application Data\LyX15\bin

Searching the registry, Aspell tried to install in 
E:\PortableApps\AspellPortable\data\aspell,
E:\PortableApps\AspellPortable\data\aspell\dictionaries, 
E:\PortableApps\AspellPortable\data\aspell,
E:\PortableApps\AspellPortable\data\aspell\personal

One thing comes to mind, uninstall Aspell from the E: drive and reinstall 
Aspell, or I could uninstall Aspell and LyX
and reinstall LyX. What's the easiest way to go? Which way should I go?

Regards,
Dave
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Lyx for business

[Graham Smith]

A rather vague question, but would anyone like to share their  
experiences of using Lyx in a small business situation, or point me  
towards some web links, with maybe example templates.


Headed notepaper, business (technical) reports with "smart" covers etc.

I've been toying with Lyx for a while now and have persuaded my  
partners that we should give it a go as a replacement for Word, but  
having done that, I realise that I need to rather quickly get it all  
working "as painlessly as possible" for the new users (only three of  
us), or it will people will default back to Word.


I genuinely believe that Lyx has got to better business solution than  
Word. Easier to write reports and higher quality output, but I am  
much more familiar with setting up templates and problem solving in  
Word than I am with Lyx.


So a very vague question, but I would be grateful for any experiences  
that users might be able to share.


Many thanks,

Graham

Re: Lyx for business

[Charles de Miramon]

Graham Smith wrote:

> A rather vague question, but would anyone like to share their
> experiences of using Lyx in a small business situation, or point me
> towards some web links, with maybe example templates.
> 
> Headed notepaper, business (technical) 
You can insert an image (for example the logo of your company) in a header
with fancy head

>reports with "smart" covers etc.

Dumb question. What is a smart cover ?


Charles
-- 
http://www.kde-france.org

Re: Lyx for business

[Graham Smith]

Charles,

Thanks,

I mean by a smart cover, one with things like a vertical line to add  
a bit of style, maybe a photograph etc.


Graham



On 22 Jun 2008, at 14:11, Charles de Miramon wrote:


Graham Smith wrote:


A rather vague question, but would anyone like to share their
experiences of using Lyx in a small business situation, or point me
towards some web links, with maybe example templates.

Headed notepaper, business (technical)
You can insert an image (for example the logo of your company) in a  
header

with fancy head


reports with "smart" covers etc.


Dumb question. What is a smart cover ?


Charles
--
http://www.kde-france.org

Re: Lyx for business

[Rich Shepard]

On Sun, 22 Jun 2008, Graham Smith wrote:


A rather vague question, but would anyone like to share their experiences
of using Lyx in a small business situation, or point me towards some web
links, with maybe example templates.



Headed notepaper, business (technical) reports with "smart" covers etc.


Graham,

  I can respond only from the perspective of a small business owner who has
used only linux for more than a decade. As an aside, I keep OpenOffice.org
installed and upgraded because too many of my clients and government
agencies are stuck in the Microsoft world and pass me documents in Word or
Excel format. On exceptionally rare occasions, I need to provide them with a
file in the same format.

  All my technical documents, articles, white papers and so on -- including
my book -- have been written using LyX. Earlier this year I decided to make
the transition complete by using LyX for letters and proposals. There's a
long thread in this mail list's archives on adding the letterhead (a .pdf
file), signature (a .jpg file), and so on. I sent the .lyx file of a working
template to Christian for inclusion in the wiki, so that's a resource, too.

  Among the many advantages of writing with LyX is the inherent LaTeX/TeX
focus on content rather than appearance. I prefer the Palatino type face so
that's the default on everything I write. For letters and proposals I use
the KOMA-script letter2 class, otherwise the regular article, report, and
book classes.

  If you want fancy, learn how the memoir (or KOMA) classes are constructed
and modify to suit your specific needs. The investment in time and effort is
made once and used from then on.

  What you refer to as "smart" covers I would call eye-candy decoration.
Sometimes, they have a valid rationale, but most times I suspect they don't.
It may be that there's an expectation for decorations because that's what
people learned to do with word processors and desktop publication
applications. Were I do really need such a cover, I would create it using
Scribus (the FOSS page layout application), export it as a .pdf file, then
pre-pend it to the rest of the report or book using pdftk (the pdf tool
kit). However, I've never had a client or regulatory agency express an
interest in such a cover.

  The typeset output is superior to anything any word processor can produce
because the units of adjustment are the paragraph and page; word processors'
unit of adjustment is the line.

  On those occasions when a magazine or trade journal asks to republish one
of my articles or white papers, I either export the .lyx file as a plain,
ASCII text file, or I use pdftotext to translate it from the .pdf file. Very
flexible.

  For illustrations, I've used TGIF, Xfig, PSTricks, PyX, and other vector
graphics packages. I've inserted .eps, .jpg, and .pdf images into a LyX
document; with the later I view the developing document with pdflatex before
compiling a final version with the same tool.

HTH,

Rich

--
Richard B. Shepard, Ph.D.   |  IntegrityCredibility
Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc.|Innovation
 Voice: 503-667-4517  Fax: 503-667-8863

Re: Lyx for business

[Steve Litt]

On Sunday 22 June 2008 06:32, Graham Smith wrote:
> A rather vague question, but would anyone like to share their
> experiences of using Lyx in a small business situation, or point me
> towards some web links, with maybe example templates.
>
> Headed notepaper, business (technical) reports with "smart" covers etc.
>
> I've been toying with Lyx for a while now and have persuaded my
> partners that we should give it a go as a replacement for Word, but
> having done that, I realise that I need to rather quickly get it all
> working "as painlessly as possible" for the new users (only three of
> us), or it will people will default back to Word.
>
> I genuinely believe that Lyx has got to better business solution than
> Word. Easier to write reports and higher quality output, but I am
> much more familiar with setting up templates and problem solving in
> Word than I am with Lyx.
>
> So a very vague question, but I would be grateful for any experiences
> that users might be able to share.
>
> Many thanks,
>
> Graham

Hi Graham,

One of the things my small business does is sell books. Every book I've 
written this century was written in LyX. In the 20'th century I'd written 
books in WordPerfect 5.1 and in MS Word. For writing books, LyX is VASTLY 
superior to both.

Personally, I think for everyday letters, ad-hoc reports, informal reports, 
initial design documents, and general "stuff" that's not too important, MS 
Word is more convenient than LyX. Word paragraph and character styles are 
much easier to create than LyX environments and character styles (because 
that's true of LaTeX).

For formal reports that have to look good, and especially if they have to look 
consistent with former reports, I'd go with LyX over Word.

HTH

SteveT

Steve Litt
Recession Relief Package
http://www.recession-relief.US

Re: Lyx for business

[Graham Smith]

Rich,

  All my technical documents, articles, white papers and so on --  
including
my book -- have been written using LyX. Earlier this year I decided  
to make

the transition complete by using LyX for letters and proposals.


Thanks for this, it gives encouragement to persevere with Lyx, I'm  
afraid that attempts before to wean any one off MSOffice has always  
resulted in angry responses because the "new" program isn't exactly  
the same as Word or Excel.




There's a
long thread in this mail list's archives on adding the letterhead  
(a .pdf
file), signature (a .jpg file), and so on. I sent the .lyx file of  
a working
template to Christian for inclusion in the wiki, so that's a  
resource, too.


I can't actually find this on the Wiki, maybe I need to look harder :-(



  Among the many advantages of writing with LyX is the inherent  
LaTeX/TeX

focus on content rather than appearance.


That is one of the arguments I am using for the switch Lyx

  What you refer to as "smart" covers I would call eye-candy  
decoration.
Sometimes, they have a valid rationale, but most times I suspect  
they don't.
It may be that there's an expectation for decorations because  
that's what

people learned to do with word processors and desktop publication
applications.


I think this is a marketing thing, I have been to too many meetings  
where, the people making the decisions, are impressed by how a report  
looks more than what the report says.



Were I do really need such a cover, I would create it using
Scribus (the FOSS page layout application), export it as a .pdf  
file, then
pre-pend it to the rest of the report or book using pdftk (the pdf  
tool

kit). However, I've never had a client or regulatory agency express an
interest in such a cover.


I suspect that Lyx will do what I need but, I agree this is a good  
option, and I am using Scribus for a newsletter


  The typeset output is superior to anything any word processor can  
produce
because the units of adjustment are the paragraph and page; word  
processors'

unit of adjustment is the line.


This is one of the other arguments I am using for the switch to Lyx,  
and thanks for the other comments - some useful ideas here.


Graham

Re: Lyx for business

[Graham Smith]

Steve,


Personally, I think for everyday letters, ad-hoc reports, informal  
reports,
initial design documents, and general "stuff" that's not too  
important,


That's worth thinking about.




For formal reports that have to look good, and especially if they  
have to look

consistent with former reports, I'd go with LyX over Word.


This is what I am mainly interested in, having experienced how much  
better a report looks produced in Lyx is compared to Word, its the  
production of technical reports that I can see the biggest advantage.  
But I admit, I had been thinking of trying to move everything over to  
Lyx, as Rich has now done.

Re: Lyx for business

[Steve Litt]

On Sunday 22 June 2008 12:08, Graham Smith wrote:
> Steve,
>
> > Personally, I think for everyday letters, ad-hoc reports, informal
> > reports,
> > initial design documents, and general "stuff" that's not too
> > important,
>
> That's worth thinking about.
>
> > For formal reports that have to look good, and especially if they
> > have to look
> > consistent with former reports, I'd go with LyX over Word.
>
> This is what I am mainly interested in, having experienced how much
> better a report looks produced in Lyx is compared to Word, its the
> production of technical reports that I can see the biggest advantage.
> But I admit, I had been thinking of trying to move everything over to
> Lyx, as Rich has now done.

My experience is that LyX is really bad for ad-hoc type stuff. Therefore, if 
you move completely to LyX, I'd recommend you pick up VimOutliner 
(http://www.vimoutliner.org) for "thinking on paper". If you use it under 
Linux or on Windows with Cygwin, you can incorporate non-text stuff into your 
outline via executable lines.

Another suggestion -- For the ultimate multi-format ad hoc docs, use Kompozer, 
a graphic web designer. It's available at http://kompozer.net/.

I use VimOutliner many hours each day, and I use Kompozer several times per 
week.

SteveT

Steve Litt
Recession Relief Package
http://www.recession-relief.US

Re: Password now required to approve URIs on the wiki

[Liviu Andronic]

On 3/26/08, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> password as for uploading files. If you need it, just ask on one of the
> mailing lists.
>
I am currently cleaning teh "LiveCDs containing LyX" article, and
would need to add external links. Could some of the developers please
forward me the current password for the wiki?

Thanks,
Liviu

Re: Password now required to approve URIs on the wiki

[Christian Ridderström]

On Sun, 22 Jun 2008, Liviu Andronic wrote:


On 3/26/08, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

password as for uploading files. If you need it, just ask on one of the
mailing lists.

I am currently cleaning teh "LiveCDs containing LyX" article, and would 
need to add external links. Could some of the developers please forward 
me the current password for the wiki?


I've replied off-list.

/C

--
Christian Ridderström, +46-8-768 39 44http://www.md.kth.se/~chr

Re: Lyx for business

[Christian Ridderström]

On Sun, 22 Jun 2008, Graham Smith wrote:

There's a long thread in this mail list's archives on adding the 
letterhead (a .pdf file), signature (a .jpg file), and so on. I sent 
the .lyx file of a working template to Christian for inclusion in the 
wiki, so that's a resource, too.


I can't actually find this on the Wiki, maybe I need to look harder :-(


It's on my to-do list :-)

This is one of the other arguments I am using for the switch to Lyx, and 
thanks for the other comments - some useful ideas here.


I suggest that you try it out yourself for a while, makin sure that the 
majority of tasks are feasiable without to much hassle before your 
colleaes try it. Otherwise they might get turned off.



Graham


/Christian

--
Christian Ridderström, +46-8-768 39 44http://www.md.kth.se/~chr

Re: Lyx for business

[Graham Smith]

Steve,


This is what I am mainly interested in, having experienced how much
better a report looks produced in Lyx is compared to Word, its the
production of technical reports that I can see the biggest advantage.
But I admit, I had been thinking of trying to move everything over to
Lyx, as Rich has now done.


My experience is that LyX is really bad for ad-hoc type stuff.  
Therefore, if

you move completely to LyX, I'd recommend you pick up VimOutliner
(http://www.vimoutliner.org) for "thinking on paper". If you use it  
under
Linux or on Windows with Cygwin, you can incorporate non-text stuff  
into your

outline via executable lines.

Another suggestion -- For the ultimate multi-format ad hoc docs,  
use Kompozer,

a graphic web designer. It's available at http://kompozer.net/.

I use VimOutliner many hours each day, and I use Kompozer several  
times per

week.


Mmmm, I think I will be doing well to get people using Lyx, without  
introducing more alien programs to them !


But I agree about the usefulness of something like VimOutliner for ad  
hoc stuff.  I have used Emacs with org.mode for this, and I take on  
board the issues of ad hoc stuff in Lyx.


Graham

Re: Lyx for business

[Steve Litt]

On Sunday 22 June 2008 13:32, Graham Smith wrote:
> Steve,
>
> >> This is what I am mainly interested in, having experienced how much
> >> better a report looks produced in Lyx is compared to Word, its the
> >> production of technical reports that I can see the biggest advantage.
> >> But I admit, I had been thinking of trying to move everything over to
> >> Lyx, as Rich has now done.
> >
> > My experience is that LyX is really bad for ad-hoc type stuff.
> > Therefore, if
> > you move completely to LyX, I'd recommend you pick up VimOutliner
> > (http://www.vimoutliner.org) for "thinking on paper". If you use it
> > under
> > Linux or on Windows with Cygwin, you can incorporate non-text stuff
> > into your
> > outline via executable lines.
> >
> > Another suggestion -- For the ultimate multi-format ad hoc docs,
> > use Kompozer,
> > a graphic web designer. It's available at http://kompozer.net/.
> >
> > I use VimOutliner many hours each day, and I use Kompozer several
> > times per
> > week.
>
> Mmmm, I think I will be doing well to get people using Lyx, without
> introducing more alien programs to them !
>
> But I agree about the usefulness of something like VimOutliner for ad
> hoc stuff.  I have used Emacs with org.mode for this, and I take on
> board the issues of ad hoc stuff in Lyx.
>
> Graham

In that case, make a standard layout file for your company before you start. 
Think of all the paragraph and character styles needed, and put them in. Be 
sure to put in things like Note, Tip, Warning, Caution, and a generic type of 
thing where the writer inserts the title of the box in the boxtitle 
environment, and then the box contents in the boxcontents style. Teach them 
how to do outlines in LyX. I like to have a "story" environment which I use 
for short narrative stories. 

Pre-think all possible writing situations, and the environments and character 
styles those situations make necessary. If you give them a good enough 
layout, and a document explaining what to use when, most LyX writing, even ad 
hoc stuff, can become easy.

SteveT

Steve Litt
Recession Relief Package
http://www.recession-relief.US

Re: Lyx for business

[Hellmut Weber]

Hi Graham,
I'm using LyX for many (probably at least five or six) years now. Before 
I had used plain LaTeX also for years.


I have invested some time and used my experience with LaTeX to design 
templates for LyX documents for a few different types of papers I need 
for my small one man business as a management consultant. It's 
essentially a business letter template and a general template for 
general papers like documentation for training give.


And I do not agree with Steve Litt this time to use word for ad hoc 
documents. Especially outlining is now a LyX feature since 1.5.?
So I put everything in an 'official' paper and I don't have to bother 
about what the document will look like later.


If you are interested in my templates send me a private Email, I can 
send you the LyX templates resp. the layout files for the document 
classes I have defined for my personal use, and there are also the 
respective style files which define my page layout and the titlepage etc.


Cheers

Hellmut

Graham Smith schrieb:

Steve,


Personally, I think for everyday letters, ad-hoc reports, informal 
reports,

initial design documents, and general "stuff" that's not too important,


That's worth thinking about.




For formal reports that have to look good, and especially if they have 
to look

consistent with former reports, I'd go with LyX over Word.


This is what I am mainly interested in, having experienced how much 
better a report looks produced in Lyx is compared to Word, its the 
production of technical reports that I can see the biggest advantage. 
But I admit, I had been thinking of trying to move everything over to 
Lyx, as Rich has now done.




--
Dr. Hellmut Weber [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Degenfeldstraße 2 tel   +49-89-3081172
D-80803 München-Schwabing mobil +49-172-8450321
please: No DOCs, no PPTs. why: tinyurl.com/cbgq

Re: Lyx for business

[Graham Smith]

Christian,

There's a long thread in this mail list's archives on adding the  
letterhead (a .pdf file), signature (a .jpg file), and so on. I  
sent the .lyx file of a working template to Christian for  
inclusion in the wiki, so that's a resource, too.


I can't actually find this on the Wiki, maybe I need to look  
harder :-(


It's on my to-do list :-)


Ah thanks, that would explain why I can't find it :-)



This is one of the other arguments I am using for the switch to  
Lyx, and thanks for the other comments - some useful ideas here.


I suggest that you try it out yourself for a while, makin sure that  
the majority of tasks are feasiable without to much hassle before  
your colleaes try it. Otherwise they might get turned off.


I've been using Lyx of and on for a while now, but latterly have been  
using Latex and TextMate, but the sudden willingness of others to try  
something that isn't Word has renewed my interest in getting Lyx into  
the workplace.
So yes I am now looking at getting it working smoothly for others and  
looking for pointers that might save me making some obvious errors  
and give me some good ideas.


Graham

Re: Lyx for business

[Graham Smith]

Steve,



Mmmm, I think I will be doing well to get people using Lyx, without
introducing more alien programs to them !

But I agree about the usefulness of something like VimOutliner for ad
hoc stuff.  I have used Emacs with org.mode for this, and I take on
board the issues of ad hoc stuff in Lyx.

Graham


In that case, make a standard layout file for your company before  
you start.
Think of all the paragraph and character styles needed, and put  
them in. Be
sure to put in things like Note, Tip, Warning, Caution, and a  
generic type of

thing where the writer inserts the title of the box in the boxtitle
environment, and then the box contents in the boxcontents style.  
Teach them
how to do outlines in LyX. I like to have a "story" environment  
which I use

for short narrative stories.

Pre-think all possible writing situations, and the environments and  
character

styles those situations make necessary. If you give them a good enough
layout, and a document explaining what to use when, most LyX  
writing, even ad

hoc stuff, can become easy.


That's exactly what I did with Word, and is my plan for Lyx, but I  
don't have the same level of expertise in Lyx that I did in Word,  
when I did it for Word.


Graham

Re: Lyx for business

[Rich Shepard]

On Sun, 22 Jun 2008, Graham Smith wrote:


I think this is a marketing thing, I have been to too many meetings where,
the people making the decisions, are impressed by how a report looks more
than what the report says.


Graham,

  Yes, there are too many people for whom appearance is more important than
is content. I don't want that type for clients.


I suspect that Lyx will do what I need but, I agree this is a good option,
and I am using Scribus for a newsletter


  If you look at The LaTeX Companion, 2nd Ed, you'll find a lot of help in
setting up fancy title pages, chapter header pages, running headers and
footers, and more. Also, the KOMA and Memoir classes have more flexibility
(and capabilities) than do the standard classes. Read the docs on them to
see if either is useful for you.

  Years ago I read through the Memoir doc but decided that I did not need
the fine tuning it offers for reports, articles, and news releases. Springer
provided their own monograph class so that's what I used for my book. The
KOMA letter2 class is what I use for letters and proposals because it allows
me to put a pdf graphic on top of the first page as a letterhead. I did a
lot of fine-grained tweaking on that to get the margins, page numbering,
continuation page headers, and so on just to my liking. That is, so they
have the same layout as they did when I used OO.o's Writer for them.

  A suggestion: when you have a layout that is to be your standard for that
type of document, empty a copy and save that as a template. I get lazy and
just rename one file to the new one, then make the appropriate content
changes. It works for me.

Rich

--
Richard B. Shepard, Ph.D.   |  IntegrityCredibility
Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc.|Innovation
 Voice: 503-667-4517  Fax: 503-667-8863

Re: Lyx for business

[Graham Smith]

Rich


I think this is a marketing thing, I have been to too many  
meetings where,
the people making the decisions, are impressed by how a report  
looks more

than what the report says.


Graham,

  Yes, there are too many people for whom appearance is more  
important than

is content. I don't want that type for clients.


I am less fussy ;-)  But really, often the people making the  
decisions aren't really the client, they just get involved at signing  
off a contract but have nothing to do with the job, you are just  
making it easy for the real client to get the consultant they want.




I suspect that Lyx will do what I need but, I agree this is a good  
option,

and I am using Scribus for a newsletter


  If you look at The LaTeX Companion, 2nd Ed, you'll find a lot of  
help in
setting up fancy title pages, chapter header pages, running headers  
and
footers, and more. Also, the KOMA and Memoir classes have more  
flexibility
(and capabilities) than do the standard classes. Read the docs on  
them to

see if either is useful for you.


I have been using The Koma classes for several things as it is meant  
to be more geared towards European documents.  Certainly I found the  
letter class to work well. I have a couple of books on Latex so I  
will have a look.


 Springer provided their own monograph class so that's what I used  
for my book.


I regret that we have done both our books for Springer in Word.

  A suggestion: when you have a layout that is to be your standard  
for that
type of document, empty a copy and save that as a template. I get  
lazy and

just rename one file to the new one, then make the appropriate content
changes. It works for me.


Yes, that will be the plan.

Graham

Re: Lyx for business

[Les Denham]

On Sun, 2008-06-22 at 11:32 +0100, Graham Smith wrote:
> A rather vague question, but would anyone like to share their  
> experiences of using Lyx in a small business situation, or point me  
> towards some web links, with maybe example templates.

Graham,

I've been trying to do this for some years now. I have yet to persuade
my partner to convert to LyX, even though every time he writes something
(in OpenOffice or MS Word) he passes it on to me to "fix the
formatting".  I usually just save it as text, import it into LyX, and
return it to him in PDF format.

I have several templates for different purposes, and start my documents
with a copy of one of them.  They are mainly based on Koma classes, and
have features like a logo at the top of the first page, and a small logo
in the running header on subsequent pages (set up in the Preamble).

I estimate writing and formatting most documents in LyX takes about half
the time required for the same document in MS Word.

I also use LyX and Powerdot instead of PowerPoint for presentations.

I have the most problems with clients who absolutely insist on receiving
reports in MS Word format (or even PowerPoint format!).  As far as
possible, I ignore such requirements and use PDF.

Les

Where does Aspell need to be?

[David Strang]

Hi:

LyX 1.5.5-3, Win2k SP4.

I ask where aspell goes because I previously installed LyX as a
portable app on a USB drive, specifified by E: . When I installed
LyX under windows with the 1.5.5-3 installer. Aspell kept
trying to install on the E: drive (which is not there and incorrect).

Where should Aspell be installed so LyX can find it? How can I
fix Aspell so it installs where it belongs. I assume the registry has
a key with the current WRONG install location (E:). What is the
correct location?

I found aspell.dll at "C:\Documents and Settings\dave\Local 
Settings\Application Data\LyX15\bin"

Searching the registry, Aspell tried to install in 
"E:\PortableApps\AspellPortable\data\aspell,
E:\PortableApps\AspellPortable\data\aspell\dictionaries, 
E:\PortableApps\AspellPortable\data\aspell,
E:\PortableApps\AspellPortable\data\aspell\personal"

One thing comes to mind, uninstall Aspell from the E: drive and reinstall 
Aspell, or I could uninstall Aspell and LyX
and reinstall LyX. What's the easiest way to go? Which way should I go?

Regards,
Dave
[EMAIL PROTECTED]