On Monday 17 October 2011 11:49:53 Johnston81 wrote: > 1. Considering LyX over Word, how much time would I approximately need to > learn LyX to the extent that I can actually produce text, including > graphics and formulas(!), from a template?
Assuming you are reasonably fast at learning new things (and I assume you are as you are in graduate school): ten minutes. > 2. What can I reasonably expect my learning curve to be after having > learned the bare basics; what I mean is, is it simple to teach LyX to > oneself and how easy is it to solve problems when encountered? Most problems are quickly and easily solved. Some -- such as complying exactly with very specific formatting directions -- can be extraordinarily difficult. > 3. And finally, being a skilled user of Word would I - ultimately - save or > spend time if I did try my luck on LyX? In spite of such a serious handicap I believe you will save a lot of time by using LyX, as long as you forget all you know about Word. I recently sent to printing a 164 page book with figures (mainly photographs) on nearly every page. I do not think it would be possible to generate a satisfactory final PDF using Word, but it was relatively easy with LyX. Today I finished a 33-page report with 30 figures. My total time for completing the report was about eight hours, of which 75% was spent extracting figures from PowerPoint presentations made by my collaborators and editing them to look decent. -- Les Denham Interactive Interpretation & Training, Inc.
