Main Area and Open Discussion > General Software Discussion
Lyx is the answer
superboyac:
Hmmm...interesting, fodder.
Here's what I make out of all of this. I like DTP software like Indesign because it has a "modern" interface. There are buttons, and when I look on the screen, I see pretty much exactly what I'm going to print. Now, what I find very attractive about Latex is that I can spend some time up front and really get styles just the way I want it, and then I don't have to do it again. I also like that it can handle math stuff very well. Indesign has styles also, I just don't know how good they are (I haven't tried it yet). Also, getting math stuff into Indesign is a pretty big hassle. I'd like to streamline as much of this as possible...BUT, I need to be able to see live previews of my document as I make changes. I don't want to go back and forth between printing and a simple interface while trying to check things.
I really like the idea of Latex, I just wish it had a live preview. All the latex people say that there's no preview because it's intentional. "It's not WYSIWYG". But I don't think that's the real reason. I think the real reason is that it's difficult and takes a lot of time to program an interface that accurately (somewhat) shows to live document with all the styles attached. And then they defend it with the usual language that programmers like to tell people like me: it's more efficient, keyboard shortcuts are better, I can do more with [insert more difficult method here] way.
Lyx says the same things. "Don't worry about what it looks like, we'll take care of it." But they do have some kind of preview interface. The fonts are styled, there are colors and highlights, the line spacings are there. It's just a matter of adding more of the interface features like making the window look like a page, showing columns for newspaper style articles. But I know that takes a lot of work, and this is all freeware stuff, and like most good freeware utilities, it's going to take shortcuts with command line stuff and programming-like elements. It's always this idea of "We want maximum power. Whether it's easy to use or not is not our concern."
superboyac:
To sum up:
Why wouldn't somebody want Latex with a live preview? Let's say it was available right now, and implemented really well. Most people would NOT prefer to go back to another way. That's all I'm saying.
superboyac:
I think I'm sticking with indesign. I got a little excited yesterday.
mahesh2k:
As I am new in this community, I didn't see your past posts. But I can say about your style. Because I'm answering your present post.
No big words for you, I just impressed.
-zaminur143 (March 16, 2011, 02:02 AM)
--- End quote ---
S P A M
kfitting:
Regarding preview, does this help: http://wiki.lyx.org/LyX/NewInLyX20#toc22
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version