LyX 1.5: What you see is what you mean (Linux.com) [LWN.net]

LyX is a fantastic tool for LaTeX users

Posted Aug 10, 2007 19:52 UTC (Fri) by stevenj (subscriber, #421) [Link]

If you use LaTeX already, you should definitely take a look at LyX (which uses LaTeX as its backend and can export the raw .tex). It gives you all of the benefits of LaTeX, including full access to raw LaTeX if you want it, but in a much more usable fashion.

Instead of typing the raw codes like \section etcetera, you just select the paragraph style from a menu of styles for a given document type, and it puts it in a big font to remind you of the semantic role (independent of how it will actually be rendered...separate style from content!). For equations, it is especially nice: you can type the raw LaTeX equations \alpha \frac{1}{\sqrt{\Gamma}} etcetera and they are converted into formatted math as you type, making it much more readable. And if you forget the name of a particular symbol, you can pull up a graphical equation palette and choose it...and better yet, it displays the raw LaTeX name in the status bar at the bottom of the window, so next time you can just type it.

And when it comes time to generate your document, you just choose "output pdf with pdflatex" from the menu, or "display dvi", etc., and it runs all of the LaTeX, bibTeX, epstopdf, etcetera commands as needed. No need for Makefiles or for running the latex command multiple times until it converges on all of the labels.

Of course, some of you out there might not be using LaTeX. Poor sods. =) Seriously, LaTeX remains by far the best option for technical documents. I pity those people who have to use Word's equation editor on a daily basis.

LyX is a fantastic tool for LaTeX users

Posted Aug 11, 2007 2:06 UTC (Sat) by dskoll (subscriber, #1630) [Link]

I dunno about that. I use LaTeX extensively. I tried LyX, but went back to good-old emacs plus auctex. I find I'm so used to the auxtex keybindings that I'm more efficient in the text editor than in LyX, and I never have to use the mouse (a HUGE efficiency win.)

LyX is great for non-LaTeX users who want the beauty of LaTeX formatting. Most LaTeX users I know prefer to directly edit LaTeX source.

LyX is a fantastic tool for LaTeX users

Posted Aug 13, 2007 6:17 UTC (Mon) by climent (subscriber, #7232) [Link]

But LyX is great for non-technical people who otherwise would not touch LaTeX even with a ten meter pole.

I wrote my master thesis with LyX and still think was the best thing, even better than sliced bread.

LyX is a fantastic tool for LaTeX users

Posted Aug 13, 2007 20:19 UTC (Mon) by jordanb (subscriber, #45668) [Link]

> Instead of typing the raw codes like \section etcetera, you
> just select the paragraph style from a menu of styles for a
> given document type

I must be a bizzare individual but for some reason I find it much easier to type "raw codes" like \section than to stop typing, mouse through a menu, click on an option, and fill out an input box to do the same thing. At the very least my wrists prefer the former.

LyX is a fantastic tool for LaTeX users

Posted Aug 22, 2007 20:02 UTC (Wed) by xyz (subscriber, #504) [Link]

> I must be a bizzare individual but for some reason I find it much
> easier to type "raw codes" like \section than to stop typing, mouse
> through a menu, click on an option, and fill out an input box to do the
> same thing. At the very least my wrists prefer the former.

Alt P + 2

Where is the mouse in the equation above? ;-)

Alt P - P standards for paragraph
2 - because sections are level 2 in the latex hierarchy