Re: Template based style builder tools?

[Michael Anderson]

Call me silly, but I thought that the point of LaTeX was to remove  
the author from this kind of formatting and leave that up to the  
pro's.  I don't think that it would be wise to enable just anyone to  
crank out a sty file or layout without understanding the underlying  
architecture of the LyX and LaTeX systems and the reasoning why  
things are the way they are.  I don't think that giving someone with  
minimal experience in the subject the ability to dabble in typography  
is really good idea.  Even LyX requires this kind of implicit  
understanding of LaTeX to do all but the simplest of projects.  I  
don't know about the reset of the community, but before I let LyX do  
anything I make sure that I understand the actual LaTeX code that it  
is generating and how to do the same thing long hand in a LaTeX  
editor before I trust what is going on.  I just don't feel that  
something as critical as styles and layouts should be relegated to  
the same "black box" status as they are in Word.  If people want to  
make styles and layouts then they should be required to put in the  
work to learn to do it right and why things are done the way they are  
by the pro's.

Mike