On 2009-08-28, Ben M. wrote:
> I find it strange that "--Separator--" appears inside the environment
> pulldown. Instead, I think of it as a character similar to a line
> break. I would expect to see it under Insert-Formatting-'Environment
> Break'.
Indeed. But as it is a hack and defined as a paragraph style, it appears
and behaves like one. (You can even write some text inside the Separator
paragraph: it looks odd in LyX but for LaTeX this is the same as text in
a Standard paragraph.)
>> With "boxes" I mean the LyX insets like they are used for minipages,
>> comments, notes, etc. They are an established tool for "container" or
>> "separable" environments that ususally contain several paragraphs but
>> should stay separate.
> Thanks for the explanation Günter, but I'm still confused. Do you
> mean Boxes=Insets?
In my first post I used the wrong term ("boxes" instead of "insets").
> Is it similar to the "Increase depth" functionality (the right/left
> arrows in the "Extra" toolbar)?
No.
> Since most normal environments don't appear in a box, I think it would
> be strange to box environments like Theorem/Proof.
Actually, boxes are just one example of insets. Both, Styles and Insets
can contain either commands or environments.
Besides the "command insets" like
Footnote footnote command
Label label command
Graphics includegraphics command
...
there are about 10 environments realized as insets
(try Insert>... and look at the View>Source output):
Box (Minipage) minpage environment
Box (Simple frame, page breaks) minipage environment in framed environment
...
Note>Comment comment environment
Note>Greyed out lyxgreyedout environment
Program Listing lstlisting environment
Float>Algorithm algorighm environment
Float>... ... environment
(figure, table, wrapfigure, wraptable)
And why should a Theorem be treated different from an Algorithm?
>> Insets are a clearly visible and established metaphor. They are
>> especially useful for environments that usually include paragraphs
>> of different type/style as you get the nesting for free.
> I think I'd understand better with some examples. I was thinking of
> slides, but the nesting of slides makes no sense to me.
The Inset is best suited for a "container" environment. You wont nest
slides inside something else, but ut ususally you will nest something
inside a slide: a slide heading, bullet lists (Itemize), a quote, ...
>> The new feature would be helpful for the power user, but hidden to the
>> uninitiated.
> I disagree. I've been using LyX for almost ten years, and somehow I
> never discovered the "--Separator--" environment.
The Separator is not that old, it was introduced around LyX 1.5.
And beeing an ugly workaround, it was not widely announced.
> (Previously, my workaround was to increase the environment depth.)
The common, recommended workaround was an empty Standard paragraph with
something invisible (like {} as ERT or a LyX note) in it. --Separator--
is simply a pre-built workaound of this kind: a keep-even-if-empty
standard paragraph with a label.
> However, I definitely would have discovered if double-enter made a
> separate environment.
Günter
