On Monday, October 17, 2011 12:49:53 PM Johnston81 wrote: > To the ones that can and will help, > > I apologize if this has already been covered in another topic; I > have searched but been unable to find any such. If, however, you > know of such topics, if you could please point me in the right > direction? > > My current situation is this: I am working on my Master Thesis and > currently doing my research and such. As it is now, I am uncertain > how large my final project will be - I imagine that the final > document will probably exceed 100 pages, but where I am uncertain > of size I am certain that the document will contain considerable > amounts of graphs and tables - rather more than I am comfortable > working with in Word 2010. > > My questions are fairly simple to ask, I am not certain that > everybody will agree on the answers but rough estimates are all I > am looking for anyway. So here goes: > > 1. Considering LyX over Word, how much time would I approximately > need to learn LyX to the extent that I can actually produce text, > including graphics and formulas(!), from a template?
This is actually two different questions with two different answers. If you mean using LyX with a pre-created document class such as Book, Article or Report, and you (and your professor) are willing to use only the document class's existing styles with those styles' existing appearance, the answer is a couple hours. If you need to create styles or change the appearance of styles, that's a completely different question, and my best answer is that I've been using LyX for ten years and I'm still learning more about creating and modifying styles. If you want an easy life in LyX, I'd recommend NOT letting your document class format the Frontmatter, but instead inserting LaTeX (called ERT in LyX Land) to format the frontmatter exactly how your professor wants it. In my opinion however, the mainmatter should be 100% styles based, with no ERT inserted. > 2. What can I reasonably expect my learning curve to be after > having learned the bare basics; what I mean is, is it simple to > teach LyX to oneself and how easy is it to solve problems when > encountered? Same thing -- depends hugely on whether you're creating and reformatting styles. My opinion -- if your professor is satisfied with the default look of your document class, you can start your thesis within 2 hours and learn along the way, being productive constantly. On the other hand, as a newbie, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if it takes you an entire day to create one style. Others will argue with me on this, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it. As time goes on styles-creation and modification become easier and easier. I've written a lot on the subject, starting at this link site: http://www.troubleshooters.com/linux/lyx/index.htm By the way, in LyX speak, an MS Word "Paragraph Style" is called a LyX "Environment", and an MS Word "Character Style" is called a LyX "Character Style". > 3. And finally, being a skilled user of Word would I - ultimately - > save or spend time if I did try my luck on LyX? The best response I can give to this is that my first two books, in 1990 and 1999, were written in WordPerfect 5.1 and Word respectively. I wrote my first LyX book in 2001, and every book I've written since then was written in LyX. Here's my book list: http://www.troubleshooters.com/bookstore/index.htm Your question was about time. Obviously at first you'd lose time switching to LyX, unless of course every single style from the document class is acceptable as-is. As you become more skilled at LyX, I'd say you'd save time with LyX. LyX crashes less. LyX is very stable. With LyX, you get a lot fewer defective documents that you need to troubleshoot. LyX won't let you put in two consecutive spaces or two consecutive carriage returns unless you go out of your way to tell LyX that's what you really want to do, and this rejection of excess spacing has saved me lots of time over the years. LyX doesn't do that "the spreadsheet was embedded before, but now it's not" deal. LyX does nothing but linking, and I like it that way. I think one of the first questions you should put to this list is, which document class would be the best for what you're doing? HTH SteveT Steve Litt Author: The Key to Everyday Excellence http://www.troubleshooters.com/bookstore/key_excellence.htm Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/stevelitt
