LaTeX users would know that there are two types of editor, source code type and WYSIWYM type.
But first, thank you to Najmi and Lian Tze for inviting me to share something here. It is a great honor to do so. Knowledge kept to oneself has no price but knowledge shared is priceless.
I guess Najmi and Lian Tze can cover the source code editor type since they are way more experienced than me. I started using and learning to use it on a WYSIWYM editor. Lyx to be specific. You can check www.lyx.org or wiki.lyx.org for info on the software itself. With it I started to discover a lot of magnificent thing and I fall in love with LaTeX.
However, now I use less Lyx because I feel it limits my creativity to customize the output document. But nevertheless, I still think that Lyx can provide a soft and smooth transition from other WYSIWYG type word processor.
As like many other open source software, Lyx can be installed on machine running Windows, Linux and MacOS. They have just launch a 2.x.x version in May to mark their 15 years of existence.
In Lyx, apart from class and style files, there are one more file type native to it only called layout file. This file controls the look of your document on the Lyx interface. If you type a chapter heading, you want to to appear center align, bold and blue in color, you control it with layout file. But bear in mind that, what appears on Lyx interface is not necessarily what appeared in the final output document. Because layout and class file are different in nature, although must be same in filename.
Lyx come with some pretty standard group of layout files for some popular class files like IEEETran, Elsarticle, beamer etc. But if you create your own class file, you might want to create you own layout file so that it can be included in Lyx. Without layout file, you can't call the class file.
That is all for now. Next time, how to start using Lyx with zero knowledge of LaTeX. Stay tune!
+1 for covering LyX! I felt that I should get myself acquainted with LyX sometime, but just could not find any time (read: too lazy) to do so. Thanks @abi and welcome aboard!
ReplyDeleteactually for me the effort to use Lyx alone will take some time for me... if not mistaken the effort of writing Lyx actually inspires the existence of KDE, which is a lot bigger project than just a LaTeX Editor :)
ReplyDelete@liantze: been contemplating on what to write for days. I find it quicker to use Lyx to create beamer presentation. less time typing \begin{frame} \end{frame}. simply click, scroll, click again.
ReplyDelete@najmi: didn't know that. hah. i am not the history reading kind.
BTW. Shouldn't that be WYSIWYM (what you see is what you mean)?
ReplyDeleteyes. i stand corrected.
ReplyDelete