Hi developers,
been writing on my thesis (love LyX for that) and collecting random ideas in
a text file about improvements. Some of these may already be planned, some
not. But if anyone is looking for something to add to LyX, then these are
what I would have enjoyed.
They are in rough order of preference. Maybe 5 and 8 should be higher up the
list.
1. todo tag
puts a tag in (much like a comment), but also adds this to a list of
some sort so that you can switch between items "todo"
perhaps this todo tag could be placed in the headings to flag a section
as needing to be done
2. spell-check highlight
this simply highlights every word that isn't recognized. it doesn't
interrupt your work in the intrusive way that the current spell checker
does. look at google docs for an example
3. auto-complete cite/crossref
press a magic key and start typing. lyx will try to auto-complete the
author name & year. press enter to accept, esc to cancel. insert citations
without having to use the mouse! The same goes for cross references (figures
etc).
NOTE: the figure that I want to reference is almost always the next
label in the document! therefore it would be great if that was the default
cross reference if you don't type anything.
4. in-cite
press the magic key to insert a magic reference at the current spot. it
is programmed to recognize common patterns. So basically, if someone has
already typed up a document this is a really easy way to add in references.
So, for example, if the following text is written and the "*" represents
where the cursor would be when the magic key is pressed:
Smith * -> Smith [Smith:2007]
Smith et. al. * -> Smith et. al. [Smith:2007]
Smith and Cox * -> Smith and Cox [Smith:2007]
Smith in 2007 * -> Smith in 2007 [Smith:2007]
5. magi-click references
do something like hold down control+shift and click on a label to insert
a reference to that label at the current cursor position.
6. cursor position shown in "Lyx: CrossReference" window
draw a thick black line between two entries in the list to indicate
where the cursor is so that it is much easier to find the cross reference in
a long long list. (I have a lot of trouble inserting cross-references from
such a long list!)
7. UNICODE support
for everything. including the bibtex library. would be great. (translate
it prior to running latex if needed, but have lyx support it)
8. Better tables
I know this is a latex issue, but the tables are so ugly and hard to
use. There possibly isn't an elegant solution to this. However, I'd like to
have a "LyX table" or something, maybe using custom latex. I'd want to have
more control over each cell, the borders, and be able to shade the cell. In
other words, this is one area that the word processors do well. I always
dread having to insert a table.
9. Paste from rich text/html
I'd like especially to be able to copy and paste Word with some
formatting preserved. It's not critical, but would be a nice to have,
especially for people who are considering switching.
9. An easier key combination for changing the style
Its just an idea. chances are you can already change this. I haven't
tried.
I love LyX as it is, these are just the things that I would have liked...
cheers,
Alex.
