I have written my 300 pages thesis completely in LyX, with many tables, equations and figures. It is not really a problem if you can work on one of the standard classes, like Memoir. If you have to adapt to a particular format/layout it can be a hell at the beginning, but afterwards it will become as natural as if you are using a standard class.
Use master/child documents, create the preamble in a separate file and include it in every document and you will be capable of making a huge document with no appreciable lost of performance. Good luck. ------------------------------------------------- Julio Rojas jcredbe...@gmail.com On Tue, Oct 18, 2011 at 12:01 PM, Helge Hafting <helge.haft...@hist.no> wrote: > On 17. okt. 2011 18:49, Johnston81 wrote: > [...] >> >> My current situation is this: I am working on my Master Thesis and >> currently >> doing my research and such. As it is now, I am uncertain how large my >> final >> project will be - I imagine that the final document will probably exceed >> 100 >> pages, but where I am uncertain of size I am certain that the document >> will >> contain considerable amounts of graphs and tables - rather more than I am >> comfortable working with in Word 2010. >> > LyX has no problem with size. > > Some things may get slower with a really big document, but it is still > perfectly stable. Big does not cause crashes, big does not cause faults. > Cross references and table of contents will still be correct - everytime. > > I have written a 284 page book - no problem. Writing your thesis may be > a lot of work - but the work will be on the thesis, not on LyX issues with a > large document full of graphs. > > You will have to learn LyX of course. Simply writing, and adding tables, > formulas and figures is easy. If there are very specific formatting > requirements, then that may be tricky. In such cases, look at the user guide > first, and ask here if the guide is not enough. > > As for size - I have created "torture test" documents of 1600 and 40000 > pages. The 40000 page document is slow to navigate, but it works. Still no > crashes. > > The LyX User guide is over 160 pages. And it uses most LyX features. > Experiment with that, if you worry about size issues. :-) > > Reformatting a big document is usually no problem. You can change > the margins or paper size for a 100-page document and expect no problems. > (Well, a figure/table too big for the new paper size will need > some attention.) > >> My questions are fairly simple to ask, I am not certain that everybody >> will >> agree on the answers but rough estimates are all I am looking for anyway. >> So >> here goes: >> >> 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? > > All that is easy stuff. Writing plain text in LyX is as easy as in word. > When you need a heading, you select a heading from a drop-down list. > Similiar for bullet points and such. (There are also keyboard > shortcuts to speed things up, but that can wait.) > > Including graphichs can be as simple as menu "Insert->Graphics", then type > the file name (or select it) in a dialog. you can also set the > size of your graphic in the same dialog. > > Usually, one put a figure in something called a "float". This allow better > page breaking, and cross references. (I.e. you can have LyX > produce references like "figure 17 on page 62", and the numbers will always > be right. Even if you write some more pages at the beginning...) > > Formulas is an area where LyX is better than word. You can put together any > formula you can imagine, using menus and toolbars. Using toolbars is the > easy (but somewhat slow) way. If you write lots of math, learn some of the > speed shortcuts. Like typing "\alpha" instead of picking the alpha symbol > from the toolbar everytime. > > How much time you will need is hard to say. But you are an engineering > student, so learning the easier sides of LyX will likely be quick. > > You should be able to write text with formulas and figures the first day. > Becoming good at LyX takes longer, of course. > >> 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? > > LyX comes with documentation full of examples. You can look at the samples > for stuff you want, or even cut&paste from them. > >> 3. And finally, being a skilled user of Word would I - ultimately - save >> or >> spend time if I did try my luck on LyX? >> > For something as big as a thesis, I believe the time needed to learn LyX > will be saved. You say you don't want to do a big document in word - and > that says it all really. You will need some learning, but size won't be the > problem. And the printout will likely look better than anything made in word > anyway. Well, adding some decorations in word *is* easier, but word fall > apart on more basic stuff like line breaking. (There is a reason word > defaults to ragged right margins, straight margins is simply hard to do > well. But LyX does it.) > > >> I have many more similar questions, but for now this will have to do - I >> shouldn't take to much of your time! But if you have any other advice or >> experiences that relate to my post, that you feel could help me or others >> that are doing the same kind of contemplations, please do not hesitate and >> do share! > > Some differences: > 1. The menu system is obviously different. And there is no ruler. > 2. You do everything with styles. > You hardly ever select fonts or point sizes. > This is good, because then the font will never be wrong. > 3. Your document will *not* be broken into pages in the editor. So you > can't see "where on the page" something is in the editor. Use a > pdf preview if you need that. You normally don't need to know though, > although that takes some getting used to! > 4. If you somehow manage to crash lyx (hitting a bug, not a size > problem) then LyX normally succeed with its emergency save > feature. > > Scrolling around in a huge document takes time. People who write big > documents usually divide it up, for example one file per chapter. > And a master file that include the chapters, as well as dealing with front > pages, TOC, indexes and such. > > I recommend learning the easier stuff first. So start by writing some > chapters. Detailed formatting of the front page (or a demand for a special > heading font) is tricker, so such things can wait a bit. > > Helge Hafting >
