On Monday 19 June 2006 04:00 pm, Peter Bowyer wrote: > Hi, > > I am one of the people who cannot finds editing documents hard on > screen - I end up printing a copy and then working through it with a > pen, making changes and restructuring, and then typing the changes up. > > I didn't find this a problem when using Word because what was > on-screen looked like the paper copy, so I didn't have to think hard > about which parts matched up. However with LyX this has become much > more difficult, because the printed copy and the editable copy don't > look similar. > > Now I know that people have been writing documents this way for much > longer than word processors have been around, (think of raw TeX) > which suggests it's a problem with my approach. Do you have any tips > or suggestions for making the editing process smoother?
I like the way you're doing it right now. Wordperfect, Word and LyX, I've always printed a chapter, sat down in a quiet corner or layed down in bed, and marked it up with a red pen. When I'm done, I go back into the "source document" and make the changes, same as you do now. If I can't find something because of different pagenation and the like, I use search, and that's fast. I'll tell you why I'm so enthusiastic about printing a chapter and marking it up with red pen. Reading paper gives you a different viewpoint than sitting in front of a terminal. You input the content in front of a terminal, and my thought is that if I were to edit in that same way, I'd miss the mistakes I made in the first place. By marking up a paper copy, I edit from a different viewpoint and nail the mistakes I made the first time. By the way, if you're anything like me, you'll need to print and mark up each chapter 2 or 3 times before you get what you consider satisfactory. SteveT Steve Litt Author: * Universal Troubleshooting Process courseware * Troubleshooting Techniques of the Successful Technologist * Manager's Guide to Technical Troubleshooting * Twenty Eight Tales of Troubleshooting * Rapid Learning: Secret Weapon of the Successful Technologist http://www.troubleshooters.com/bookstore http://www.troubleshooters.com/utp/tcourses.htm
