2009/4/29 Steve Litt <sl...@troubleshooters.com>: > Hi Thomas, > > In my opinion, LyX is exactly the right tool for what you're doing. With its > WYSIAWYG (What You See Is Almost What You Get) environment, you can pound out > content as fast as your fingers can type, and never have to spend time > remembering codes or have codes get in your way when proofreading. Almost all > appearance will be done by styles, so during authoring you needn't spend time > fine tuning the look of the book. And because LyX uses LaTeX under the hood, > your book comes out typeset very pleasingly.
I'm currently working my way through the tutorial and the user's guide, and already I'm impressed at how nice output looks. I can't quite put my finger on what it is, but there's definitely something slick about it. > I've used LyX to write a 309 page 8.5x11, a 201 page 8.5x11, a 231 page 8.5x11 > eBook, 2 more eBooks in the 100+ page range, one that was 90 pages, and I'm > working on one that's probably going to weigh in at about 150. > > You mentioned this is a programming book and you want to avoid getting painted > into corners. You need to figure out ahead of time what styles you'll need. > You'll definitely need a paragraph style for code (paragraph styles are > called "environments" in LyX). Personally I make my own (mycode), which is > really just a copystyle of lyx-code. You'll also need a character style for > code (mycodec). > > Presumably you're going to need styles Tip, Warning, Caution, and Note for > callouts. You might also need a generic callout, so if you want a box with > heading DON'T RETURN A LOCAL POINTER FROM A FUNCTION and text explainging why > the pointer went out of scope, you can do so. > > If necessary I can send you my code for these styles. I would like that very much! I tend to learn things faster/easier when I have some actual working "code" to look at. > I'd suggest you read all the LyX help files, especially the customization one. > I'd also suggest you read "Litt's LyX Library" at > http://www.troubleshooters.com/linux/lyx/index.htm. Search the Internet for a > doc called "TeX for the Impatient" and read it. There's also a "Not So Short > Introduction to LaTeX" or something like that, read it. The Memoir document > class has some must-read documentation -- read it, but I don't recommend you > actually use the Memoir document class. A guy named Herbert Voss, who used to > be a mainstay on the LyX list, has a website with all sorts of cool LaTeX > riffs. Last but not least, there are a few dead-trees books on LaTeX. They're > expensive, but helpful. By spending the first 3 days of your project reading, > you'll understand all the corners you can get out of, and you'll probably > discover any you can't. All good stuff. Thank you. > Remember when you're creating your styles that they don't have to be perfect > the first time around -- you can change them later. Make em quick and dirty > at first, but just be sure to use them every time. The docs on my website are > a pretty good reference for how to make your own styles. It appears to be quite an involved process, but I'm sure I can manage, and if not, I can always post here and hope for some expert assistance. :o) > Now I'm going to give you some very controversial advice, and many will argue > with it. DO NOT use the facilities of your document class for your > frontmatter -- instead use custom styles and ERT (inserted LaTeX code) to > fine-tune your front matter exactly how you want it. There's nothing sadder > than the guy who picks a document class to get the frontmatter just right, > and then has to live with that document class's ideosyncracies throughout the > book. Personally, I always start with the plain old Book document class, and > use a layout file to add the features I need. I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean: If I don't use any of the styles of a document class, why use the class in the first place? Or am I missing something? > You've picked a great tool to write your book. I'm sure I have. I look forward to learning how to use it. /Thomas
