> a) If something's easy & quick in LaTeX then it should be easy & quick
> in LyX (unless it really isn't very common).
> b) Actions which are used frequently should be a single key-press,
> even if that's not very easy to remember. You learn it.
> c) Actions which are used rarely should be mnemonic -- easy to
> remember -- even if they are multiple keypresses. Things you do
> rarely you care less about the time it takes to perform.
I would like to bring up one more example where emacs clearly outshines
LyX. Namely, if you try to insert citation in emacs (reftex mode) you are
asked for regular expression, presented with the list of matching items
and your new citation is in the text. If you want to remove citation ...
just use Backspace key. If you want to add new citation to the list of
citations ... regular expression, list, select. Finally, and I think it is
very important, all these operations do not require any dialog boxen and
you may even sell your mouse if the emacs is the only program you use :).
On contrary, when you try to add new citation to the citation list in LyX,
(1) you have to trigger somehow the citation box (I know only how to do it
with mouse), (2) find a new dialog box in your screen and move there with
your mouse, (3) dig into the huge list of the items (you're lucky if you
use Gnome frontend since you can search for items :) ), (4) press a button
in the dialog to add citation. If you want to remove the citation from the
list, then again you have to go through the dialog box. The same (almost)
holds for insertion of references, url, index ...
Wouldn't that be nice, if I press M-i i and LyX main window will split to
two areas with focus on the action area, I would enter search string,
select the item from small list and enjoy writing a Discussion section
with fresh citation inserted!
^K^K Hopefully we can develop LyX with problem-oriented approach in mind,
not as a big mess of dialog boxen and C-S-z X for simple tasks.
Marko
PS: Isn't $ for math mode and % for comment a part of the great LaTeX
culture?
