William R. Buckley wrote:
On this note, add my pipe.
If the speed with which LaTeX could operate were such
that output could be produced and displayed within the
timeframe of a human keystroke (for fun, lets say you're
a really good 150 wpm typist), how would this differ from
WYSIWYG?
Because LyX contains SEMANTIC markup, which means the document can be
rendered in who knows how many different formats simply by changing the
document class. This is similar in spirit to the separation of content
and presentation in XHTML/CSS, the "semantic web", and all such good things.
LyX is not WYSIWYG, unless your display side is
tantamount to a LaTeX processor, and if that is the case,
why not just save the produced image, instead of running
LaTeX again to produce a file?
See above.
I think the product is both, and yet lacking in some very
interesting ways, this view subject to my lack of detailed
knowledge of La/TeX. What I find missing is knobs. I
guess I have to get used to working without knobs. Ventura
Publisher has lots of knobs to its user interface, really
powerful knobs.
You CAN do almost anything with LaTeX. Major publishing houses use it
all the time. But I wouldn't want to try to format a magazine with it.
It's not that kind of program. If that's the kind of thing you're
looking to do, then LyX is the wrong tool. But it would be silly to
criticize LyX/LaTeX for that. It's like criticizing a hammer because it
doesn't help you with screws.
One point of decorum, please, do not confuse Ventura
Publisher with the limitations associated with brochures
and pamphlets. VP is first and foremost intended for the
production of large volumes, including multi-volume
books. It is a dream tool for those who edit and publish
collections of essays. To boot, it will handle a publication
of many thousands of pages, all while allowing you to
adjust the position of a period at the end of a particular
sentence. It you want, it will layout the text for you. If
you want, it will let you layout the text with the finest
degree of control. That choice is yours.
No one was criticizing VP and related programs on that ground. We just
think LyX/LaTeX is better for certain kinds of applications, including
book production---though probably not coffeetable art book production.
As Uwe mentioned, LaTeX handles bibliographies, indices, and the like
with a facility other programs sorely lack, and the fact the LaTeX
prefers semantic markup makes it possible to make major changes to
presentation in an instant. You can even render the file as Braille, and
LaTeX will handle the conventions regarding emphasis and the like for you.
LaTeX too will allow nearly unlimited control. But you have to know how
to use it, and LyX won't help you with all of that, though it will help
you with some. LyX is for writers, not page layout folks. You want to do
page layout with LyX, then you're in the land of LaTeX. But (a) you
should do this only when you are completely done writing and (b) you
might as well export to LaTeX and mess directly with the code at that
point. Or, again, much of what you want to do may involve tweaking LaTeX
class files, and that has nothing to do with LyX.
LyX clearly eases the burden of writing the *assembly
language of words* and that is a godsend to me. I think
that LyX can be every bit as WYSIWYG as Ventura
Publisher, without sacrificing the WYSIWYM ethos of
La/TeX.
But, first, you're assuming that there's one intended output format, and
that just isn't always true. And more importantly, none of us
developers---I'd be shocked if I don't speak for all of us---want LyX to
be WYSIWYG. At least lots of us think that WYSISYM positively INTERFERES
with the process of writing. The separation of content from presentation
revolutionized the process of writing for me. But you do have to get
used to it and, well, just stop fussing so much over details of
presentation, at least until you're done writing. Why mess with where a
figure goes when the whole page may change?
Of course, if you're a page layout person, then that's different. But
then LyX isn't your tool.
Perhaps I express naïveté but, why does every .lyx
document contain only one LaTeX file? Would it not
make sense for *box* and its kind to contain separately
TeXable source? LyX could then at a higher level piece
a document together, page by page, outputting the image
to a PDF, or what have you?
LyX doesn't contain LaTeX files at all. Rather, LyX files are in its own
format, and they are exported to LaTeX as required for conversion, etc.
You can even see paragraphs rendered on the fly if you View>Source. But
yes, in a way, each LyX file is one LaTeX file. Still, boxes do contain
what is effectively LaTeX code. And if you want to build a document from
several LyX files, then you can use the Include and Input mechanisms to
do that. The natural way to write a book in LyX is to have a file for
each chapter and a "master document" that then includes them all.
rh
