Hi all,
I'm also a great fan of outlining serious texts and have also made some
experiences with kdissert (being a fan of MindMaps still much longer
than of any advanced text system).
OTOH I'm using LyX-1.5.3 now for quite a while and am VERY content for
my (restricted) expectations. Using the outlining possibilities also to
some degree.
To answer Abdel's question on the functionality lacking (I just checked
with 1.5.3 official release as of Dec 17th, 2007):
+++ It is already very helpful to be able to move entire paragraphs
using the keyboard when working in the text window.
*** keyboard driven jump between the text window and the table of
contents window . AFAIK this is not yet possible. The other direction
seems to work simply with tab (and to my surprise with shift+tab too).
What about shift tab for the lacking jump. Would be similar to other
apps like e.g. thunderbird (to jump between folders panel and messages
panel)
*** keyboard accessibility of the 5 buttons at the lower border of the
toc window.
This would mean that everything, i.e. writing and outlining could be
done using only the keyboard. IMHO this is by far the most efficient way
to produce texts.
Should I enter enhancement requests into bugzilla?
Cheers
Hellmut
Steve Litt schrieb:
On Monday 31 December 2007 05:11, Abdelrazak Younes wrote:
Steve Litt wrote:
Hi all,
For the first time I've gone beyond book outlining in VO (VimOutliner)
and am actually writing the book (via body text) in VO. What this does is
eliminate the artificial demarkation between outlining and writing.
It's very possible, and in fact quite likely, that some chapters will be
ready for writing long before others are fully outlined. In the past this
led me to either retard writing certain chapters, or prematurely convert
to LyX.
Now, to an extent, I can write one chapter while outlining another, and
have everything come out well in the end.
This is not a rigorous process. The VO writing will be only a very rough
draft. It can't include things like Tips, Notes, character styles etc.
Well, it could, but not without time consuming difficulty. Instead, this
is an informal extension of traditional outlining. The goal is still to
have the book really take shape in LyX.
So why don't you use LyX-1.5 directly then? Or more specifically what is
missing in LyX outlining facilities?
He Abdel,
I haven't yet used 1.5, but when I do I'm pretty sure I'll find one thing
missing in its outlining facilities: speed.
VimOutliner (VO) was built for speed from the bottom up. 100% keyboard driven,
no need to reach for a mouse. It uses the ultra touch-typist-friendly Vim as
an engine, and adds ultra-quick ,, commands for managing the outline. I can
compose and organize as fast as I can think -- a huge advantage when planning
a book.
I can think of two:
- section folding/unfolding: I don't really understand why this is so
helpful for some.
I couldn't live without folding (which in general outliner-speak is called
expand/collapse. It allows you to view the big picture and then drill down.
It's a way of impedance matching the work to the mind. It's not about
navigation, it's about getting the optimal view of the work.
IMO, the ability to jump from section to section by
clicking in the outlining dock is enough.
That sounds like an excellent feature. Perhaps it can be put into VimOutliner.
- drag&drop sections in the outlining dock: right now you have to click
one of the 4 outline buttons.
Yes, it sounds like dragdrop section moving would speed things up. VimOutliner
doesn't have it either. With VO, you collapse the section you want to move,
delete with dd, move to its desired destination, and press p or P as
appropriate. This sounds very Mickey Mouse when described, but it's not that
bad.
Both features are not too difficult to implement provided that you find
a volunteer to implement them ;-)
If you (and others) could describe what you would like to have in the
Wiki, it would certainly be helpful.
I'm not too good with a Wiki, so I'll describe VimOutliner's features right
here:
Promote/demote -- headlines or whole trees
Expand/collapse (also called folding)
Expand/collapse by headline, by tree, and outline wide
Body text that wraps (headlines don't wrap)
Checkboxes with percentage completion
Interoutline linking
Executable lines -- any content can be viewed/executed from an outline
Lightning quick interface for the touch typist
I'm not sure all of the preceding are necessary for an document's outline
mode.
HTH
SteveT
Steve Litt
Books written in LyX:
Troubleshooting Techniques of the Successful Technologist
Twenty Eight Tales of Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting: Just the Facts
--
Dr. Hellmut Weber [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Degenfeldstraße 2 tel +49-89-3081172
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