On Thursday 22 June 2006 07:22 am, Helge Hafting wrote: > Jeremy Wells wrote: > > For some time I have been evaluating Lyx as an academic word > > processor, but find it wanting in a few critical areas. > > > > For instance, the stated goal of Lyx is to spend more time writing, > > but less time on formatting. Based on my experience, however, and from > > posts to this list, a great deal of time is spent inserting LaTeX tags > > into documents. > > It certainly seems like that, when reading this list. For inserting latex > tags is the one operation that people really need help with. > The many people who just write and don't use latex tags, don't post much > questions either.
I think what most people need help with is creating layouts. Few people insert LaTeX inline into the document. There's a reason it's called EVIL Red Text. > > > In fact, my assessment is that more time is spent making Lyx work > > properly than is spent in dealing with a traditional word-processing > > environment, be it MS Word or OpenOffice. Moreover, a significant time > > investment is required to research the format of the tag and where to > > insert it, and then to debug the results. How does this save time? > > You write lots of documents, all with different and very specific layout > needs? > Then you might need a writing tool more oriented towards layout tweaking. > Lyx may not be the tool if every new document needs a radically different > layout. That isn't how it works for me. For me, LyX is good even if every book has a different layout file. Every one of my books has a different layout, because every one has a slightly different intended audience. Yet, every document is consistent *within itself*. If it takes 3 months to write a book and you need to spend 1 solid week making the layout, is that one week really all that significant? 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
