Draciron wrote:
Greetings...
While rambling in my latest work I lost track of my timeline. This
caused me a rather awkward set of revisions to make everything fit.
Easy mistake to make if the plot is complex and there are a number of
charactors. Besides my own frustration I've seen the question asked on
Yahoo answers multiple times. To date I've sent people to Abiword and
been thanked many times for that suggestion. For me Abiword is great
for final edits but not for the actual writing process. I decided to
see if there was a better way. The only tool I found in that search was
LyX. In a short time using it I have this feedback. Sorry about the
timing. Apparently I caught you guys just before a release. Also excuse
my breach in ettiquete. I'm not a patient man :) Here is the raw
feedback edited in LyX.
First is the editor won't let me use the enter key to create my own
sense of formating. This is rather irritating. Very annoying actually.
Annoying to "lyx beginners". You can use ctrl+enter, but a
main point of lyx is - you don't usually need to create such formatting
yourself, therefore it is mostly not provided. You especially
don't need it in a book!
Another way is the insert menu, where you can insert vertical
spacing. This is much more powerful than pressing enter:
For example, if you change something so that the page break
ends up where the extra spacing is, then "ctrl+enter" manual
spacing will wrap to the next page and you'll get a stupid
page that starts with blank lines. Unless you fix this manually.
With insert->vertical space you don't need to, because lyx knows
to remove vertical space when it happens at the start of a page.
Of course formatting is needed in a book, but adding it manually
is not a good way to do it. Because - it is then *possible* to
get it wrong. With Lyx, you define a style for your document
which specifies how much spacing there should be between
paragraphs, between headings and text, and so on. And from
then on you just write - no formatting, because lyx then
performs the formatting flawlessly following the spec you set.
This is a powerful way of writing, but people used to manual
formatting have to get used to it of course. We who have used
lyx a lot tend to forget this part. Now I just can't stand using
an editor that *don't* do the formatting for me.
One weakness of LyX is that some of the style settings are
hard to modify. You find some in the document menu
and the edit menu. And you can pick from several
predefined styles (book, article, and so on)
If you want more than that, you have to modify the layout files
directly, which is not for the faint of heart. There is currently
no way of doing that, although I have some students trying
to make an app for this.
Now I'm stuck in indent hell. Nor can I manually add a blank line
between paragraphs. I am sure there is a formating option to do this
but I disagree with the default design.
Yes - inserting vertical space. Or ctrl+enter, but this one is a bad
way of doing it. Note that insert->vertical space is not limited to a
whole number of lines
the way manual formatting is. You can enter any distance.
If you want a blank line between every paragraph, then enable
this (instead of indenting) in the document settings. When you do this
the entire document changes to the new setting, no need to go
around fixing paragraphs like you have to with manual formatting.
Now the wrap around lets me
defeat the indent hell. I think that is backwards.
The answer is - select a style with the indenting you want.
With bad luck no such style exist, but then it can usually be arranged
with some sutiable latex command. Try the lyx user list, perhaps lyx
won't look so bad when you learn to use the facilities it have.
I could not find a word count utility.
Known problem, but it is in the upcoming release!
In the meantime, export and ascii version and use the
"wc" word-counting program that counts words in plain text files.
Or any plaint text editor with this facility.
It'd be really helpfull to have a real time count displayed for article writing. Word counts are essential for shorter novels, they are also very important in many novel submissions. A page count using various methods, especially the double spaced format most publishers insist upon would also be very usefull.
I noticed filters for M$ word docs. But see now way to export to them.
Many places require that horrible format to be able to submit.
If they want word they probably want to do the formatting themselves?
Don't they take text files?
Formating is important and depending on what you are doing and who it
is for that can vary. Many places want plain text.
Lyx can export plain text, and it can make really good
printed text and pdf. None of that ragged right margin mess
other word processors tend to make.
Some places only
accept paper copies. Some will not even read formated text, some expect
the formating to already be in there. Some want your text submited as
Word files, some as plain text, some as Word Perfect, some as HTML and
a few will accept a few formats including RTF. The lack of export
support is a potential issue though I'm sure I could export to text
then import in Abiword or Open Office. Might even be able to save the
formating thorugh such an operation but the extra step is a bit of a
hassle. Is is as I said something I do very late in the writing proccess.
Having features more advanced than the competition often
means a good conversion can't be done. Now, better
conversions to .rtf etc. is possible, but few are interested
in putting in that work.
So I figure I can do a few things. Present some ideas. If you guys like
all or most of them I'd be really happy to help in any way I could.
Testing, documentation, design, etc. If not, maybe a few of the ideas
Currently, I believe the problem is that we have plenty of people
doing design & ideas, and too few actually programming.
Implementors are what we need the most.
Help with writing and updating the documentation is also
very welcome. And of course testing is always welcome.
New ideas - mostly if you also implement them. :-)
are usefull to you. You get an idea how at least one writer works and
some input from the styles of other writers I know. The simple reality
That is very useful.
is few writers today do much more than put the final words down on a
computer. Many still write with pen and paper or old fashioned
typewriters. Part of the reason is the ability to plaster those things
accross a wall, carry them around with them and so on. Much of it is
because software either doesn't support such functions or because the
way it's supported is intrusive to the mood of writing. There is a
reason writers are well known as recluses and why they are known to
seek out quiet non-distracting places to write. The same needs to exist
on the machine they use to write. They need to be able to set up an
environment that fits writing and doesn't interfere with the writing
process. I think I can help build something like that. I need software
like what I described. Many tools that are essential like word counts
are easy to add.
A word count is added to the upcoming release.
Nothing new will happen right now, other than what's already in it.
But new development opens up after the release, and then such input
will be useful.
Ways to contribute:
1. Write and maintain a wishlist of stuff (easy and hard) that
would be useful. Check it carefully against the new release,
some of it might already be there.
Then, make your suggestions on the mailing list, and file
"wishlist bugs" at bugzilla.lyx.org.
Sometimes you will manage to interest a developer and get a feature in.
At other times no one will volunteer - the only way then is to find a
new developer (or pay someone.)
2. Participate in discussions when new features are planned.
Getting your favourite feature in is hard, you may still be able
to push the plans in a useful direction. We want to hear from
writers.
There are lots of other whiz bang features
that are far less essential. Being able to feed mp3 lists specific to a
project for example. When I'm writing Fantasy I want ancient and
mystical sounding tunes. I'll play David Arkenstone, Lorenna McKennit,
Pink Floyd, Days of the new, etc. If I'm writing an action adventure
I'll be listening to Metalica, Iron Maiden, Iommi's solo stuff,
Sabbath, etc. Niether of those are good when writing about network
security. Unless it's AGGRESSIVE network security. Then Metalica might
be good. The list could be fed to your player of choice. Me it's XMMS.
Nice idea. I think it belongs in a "writing management system"
rather than inside lyx though. In such a system you could select
the genre and have it launch appropriate music as well as
whatever editor you prefer. And perhaps set the working directory.
Helge Hafting
