On Fri, 12 Nov 1999, Damon Horrocks wrote:
> Hi there
Hello Damon,
> I have a question for you regarding lyx:
>
> Is it possible for me to create my own textclasses using lyx?
It is possible to create .layout files for existing LaTeX classes and
styles. If you created a custom LaTeX class this could also be supported.
There are a few limitations to the kinds of commands and environments that
LyX is able to display but as new classes are added any extra support
required has tended to be added also.
We don't have a tool for creating or maintaining .layout files at present.
If we did we might get flooded with new classes which would be great.
However, such a tool would be an interesting challenge to build and noone
has so far shown much interest in building one. SO for now all .layout
files are created by hand using an ordinary text editor.
> For example, if I wanted to create something like a business card,
> or a standard fax sheet, is there anyway I can go about doing it (in
> the same way that you have textclasses for IEEE submissions). These
The classes for IEEE submissions existed before LyX did. We just create
the .layout files which tells LyX what environments are available and how
it should attempt to display them.
If you can find a LaTeX class that makes business cards or generates fax
headers or makes birthday cards or whatever then with a little help from
us it should be possible to create a .layout file that allows you to use
LyX for these classes.
> are just examples, and are not specific things I want to do, but
> I am curious to see if I can customise the documents for the way that
> I would like them to appear.
If you want to make an existing document class look different then for the
most part you still need to resort to writing LaTeX code in the preamble
or elsewhere in the document unless you make a modified version of the
LaTeX class file (.cls) and a corresponding .layout file.
Allan. (ARRae)
