On Wed, 26 Sep 2001, Sean LeBlanc <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >I'm a complete newbie to lyx. I've heard good things about >it, and I'm growing increasingly frustrated with MS Word, >esp. when trying to manipulate my resume. > [...] > >I was thinking of doing this: > >1. Converting from MS Word to Lyx. It looks like there is >at least one project (wv toolkit) that will let me do this.
Technically, this is possible and wv might be a good choice for the job, but in this case it doesn't make a lot of sense. Converters mostly try to mimick the layout of the Word document using rather basic Latex constructs. The Latex code you end up with this way is a mess. That might be acceptable if you need to convert something quickly, but it's not the way to go for a text you maintain over the years. The first thing I'd do is find a specialized Latex class for CVs that fits your needs and produces a layout that looks the way you want it. Then I'd simply rewrite the resume manually to take advantage of all possibilities of Latex and the class you chose. After all you do that only once. You could use both plain Latex or Lyx, but you need additional Lyx support files for your Latex class. They might be around or you might need to write your own. It's quite simple, actually. >2. Make the changes I want in Lyx, save, and then... > >3. Well, I'm not sure what to do here. Most HR staff don't >understand what I do as a living, much less understand >anything beyond the realm of M$ Office. I've even heard of >HR people having trouble opening an HTML resume a friend of >mine sent them. I still would like to try exporting to XML/HTML, >if possible, but it would still really be great to be able >to kick out the ol' Word format for the people who cling to >it. Is this at all possible? What about filters for other >formats like PDF? Since Lyx is merely a Latex frontend (a very sophisticated one, but still a frontend), everything that can be done in terms of conversion and output formats with a Latex file can be done with a Lyx file. Which one you choose is mostly a question of convenience. As to Latex, the two primary output formats of Latex are DVI and PDF (yes, there is native PDF output using pdflatex). DVI can be further processed to produce Postscript which in turn can be converted to PDF. There are also latex2html and latex2rtf which convert Latex to HTML or RTF respectively. The fundamental problem with HTML is that its ability to represent a given layout is very restricted. That's just not the point of HTML. Therefore HTML files generated from Latex source tend to look somewhat disappointing even if the converter does a good job. If HTML is going to be your primary target format, you'd be better of writing HTML. I hardly ever used latex2rtf, but I guess if you need Word or RTF output most of the time, it will probably be most effecient to use Word or StarOffice. Switching to Latex will be an effort for you, and if you don't really use Latex's genuin advantages it could very well become a frustrating experience. My impression is that HR folks expect something that can be printed on paper and looks good when printed. That's why I'd never send HTML files, even though they would work for everyone nowadays. >Maybe I'm not on track at all here. What do most of you >people do to maintain your resume? Are you using Lyx? Or >is it not a good fit at all? I'm maintaining my CV in Latex and generate PDF output with pdflatex. PDF has the advantage of preserving the layout 100%, so you can be sure the HR folks get what you want them to get. You don't have to worry about fonts which are a problem with Word and RTF formats. My experience is that most people know what to do with a PDF file, but YMMV. -- Philipp Lehman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
