1 #LyX 2.1 created this file. For more info see http://www.lyx.org/
7 % DO NOT ALTER THIS PREAMBLE!!!
9 %This preamble is designed to ensure that the document prints
10 % out as advertised. If you mess with this preamble,
11 % parts of the document may not print out as expected. If you
12 % have problems LaTeXing this file, please contact
13 % the documentation team
14 % email: lyx-docs@lists.lyx.org
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58 \pdf_title "Introduction to LyX"
59 \pdf_author "LyX Team"
60 \pdf_subject "LyX-documentation Intro"
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123 \begin_layout Plain Layout
125 If you have comments on or corrections to this documentation, please send
126 them to the LyX Documentation mailing list:
127 \begin_inset CommandInset href
129 target "lyx-docs@lists.lyx.org"
142 \begin_layout Standard
143 \begin_inset CommandInset toc
144 LatexCommand tableofcontents
151 \begin_layout Section
152 The Philosophy of LyX
155 \begin_layout Subsection
159 \begin_layout Standard
160 LyX is a document preparation system.
161 It excels at letting you create complex technical and scientific articles
162 with mathematics, cross-references, bibliographies, indexes, etc.
163 It is very good for working with documents of any length in which the usual
164 processing abilities are required: automatic sectioning and pagination,
165 spell checking and so forth.
166 It can also be used to write a letter to your mom, though granted, there
167 are probably simpler programs available for that.
168 It is definitely not the best tool for creating banners, flyers, or advertiseme
169 nts (we'll explain why later), though with some effort all these can be
171 Here are some examples of what it is used for: memos, letters, dissertations
172 and theses, lecture notes, seminar notebooks, conference proceedings, software
173 documentation, books, articles in refereed scientific journals, scripts
174 for plays and movies, business proposals, presentations \SpecialChar \ldots{}
178 \begin_layout Standard
179 LyX is a program that provides a modern approach to writing documents with
180 a computer by using a markup language paradigm, an approach that breaks
181 with the obsolete tradition of the
182 \begin_inset Quotes eld
186 \begin_inset Quotes erd
190 It is designed for authors who want professional output quickly with a
191 minimum of effort and without becoming specialists in typesetting.
192 The job of typesetting is done mostly by the computer, not the author;
193 with LyX, the author can concentrate on the contents of his writing.
196 \begin_layout Standard
197 Part of the initial challenge of using LyX comes from the change in thinking
198 that you, the user, must make.
199 At one time, all we had for creating documents were typewriters, so we
200 all learned certain tricks to get around their limitations.
201 Underlining, which is little more than overstriking with the
202 \begin_inset Quotes eld
206 \begin_inset Quotes erd
209 character, became a way to emphasize text.
210 You were forced to figure out column sizes and tab stops, and set them,
211 before creating a table.
212 The same applied for letters and other right justified text.
213 Hyphenation at the end of a line required a careful eye and a lot of foresight.
216 \begin_layout Standard
217 In other words, we've all been trained to worry about the little details
218 of which character goes where.
219 Consequently, almost all word processors have this mentality.
220 They still use tab stops for adding whitespace.
221 You still need to worry about exactly where on the page something will
223 Emphasizing text means changing a font, similar to changing the typewriter
225 This is the underlying philosophy of a WYSIWYG word processor:
226 \begin_inset Quotes eld
229 What You See Is What You Get
230 \begin_inset Quotes erd
234 Unfortunately, that paradigm often results in
235 \begin_inset Quotes eld
238 What You See Is All You Get
239 \begin_inset Quotes erd
245 \begin_layout Standard
246 This is where LyX differs from an ordinary word processor.
247 You don't concern yourself with what character goes where.
252 and LyX takes care of the rest, following a set of rules called a
260 \begin_layout Plain Layout
261 To be fair, most recent versions of the most popular office suites now have
262 some sort of style sheets which follow a similar markup method.
263 However, our experience is that they are still rarely used in practice.
268 Let's look at a little example:
271 \begin_layout Standard
272 Suppose you are writing a report.
273 To begin your report, you want a section called
274 \begin_inset Quotes eld
277 Introduction\SpecialChar \@.
279 \begin_inset Quotes erd
282 So, you go into whatever menu it is in your word processor that changes
283 font sizes and decide on a new font size.
284 Then you turn on bold face.
286 \begin_inset Quotes eld
298 \begin_inset Quotes erd
302 Of course, if you later decide that this section belongs someplace else
303 in the document or if you insert a new section before it, you need to change
304 the numbering for this and all following sections, as well as any entry
305 in the table of contents.
308 \begin_layout Standard
309 In LyX, you go to the pull-down on the far left of the button bar and select
315 \begin_inset Quotes eld
319 \begin_inset Quotes erd
325 \begin_layout Standard
327 If you cut and paste the section, it will automatically be renumbered —
329 And if you enter references to that section correctly (by inserting cross-refer
330 ence tags), LyX will automatically update them all throughout the file so
331 that you never, ever type a section number.
334 \begin_layout Standard
335 Now let's look at the problem of consistency.
336 Five days later, you reopen your report and start Section
341 However, you forget that you were using 18
342 \begin_inset space \thinspace{}
345 pt bold instead of 16
346 \begin_inset space \thinspace{}
349 pt, so you type in the heading for Section
353 4 in a different font from the one you used for Section
358 That problem doesn't even exist in LyX.
359 The computer takes care of all that silly bookkeeping about which thing
360 has what size font, not you.
361 After all, that's what a computer is good at.
364 \begin_layout Standard
365 Here's another example.
366 Suppose you're making a list.
367 In other word processors, a list is just a bunch of tab stops and newlines.
368 You need to figure out where to put the label for each list item, what
369 that label should be, how many blank lines to put between each item, and
371 Under LyX, you have only two concerns: what kind of list is this, and what
372 do I want to put in it? That is it.
375 \begin_layout Standard
376 So, the basic idea behind LyX is: specify
386 \begin_inset Quotes eld
389 What You See Is What You Get,
390 \begin_inset Quotes erd
394 \begin_inset Quotes eld
397 What You See Is What You
402 \begin_inset Quotes erd
406 \begin_inset Quotes eld
410 \begin_inset Quotes erd
413 It's a powerful idea that greatly simplifies the mechanics of writing documents.
414 This is also why LyX isn't so good for creating posters and flyers.
419 want to specify exactly where everything goes, because there are no functional
420 units like paragraphs, sections, etc.
421 This doesn't mean LyX is missing some cool function.
422 It simply means that it isn't the right tool for the job — you don't use
423 a screwdriver to drive in nails.
426 \begin_layout Subsection
427 Differences between LyX and Other Word Processors
428 \begin_inset Argument 1
431 \begin_layout Plain Layout
435 \begin_layout Plain Layout
448 \begin_layout Plain Layout
455 and Other Word Processors
463 \begin_layout Standard
464 Here's a list of things you won't find in LyX:
467 \begin_layout Itemize
471 \begin_layout Itemize
475 \begin_layout Itemize
477 \begin_inset space \thinspace{}
481 \begin_inset space \space{}
495 \begin_layout Standard
496 Tab stops, along with a ruler showing you the position of things on the
497 page, are useless in LyX.
498 The program worries about where things go on the page, not you.
499 Extra whitespace is similar; LyX adds it where necessary, depending on
501 Not being able to type two blank lines in a row will be annoying at first,
502 but it makes more sense once you're thinking in WYSIWYM terms.
505 \begin_layout Standard
506 Here are some things that exist in LyX, but aren't used as you might think:
509 \begin_layout Itemize
513 \begin_layout Itemize
517 \begin_layout Itemize
519 \begin_inset space \thinspace{}
523 \begin_inset space \space{}
526 single spaced, double spaced, etc.)
529 \begin_layout Itemize
530 Whitespace, horizontal and vertical
533 \begin_layout Itemize
537 \begin_layout Itemize
538 Typefaces (bold, italic, underline, etc.)
541 \begin_layout Standard
542 Although they exist in LyX, you generally don't need them.
543 LyX will take care of these things for you, depending on what you're doing.
544 Different parts of the document are automatically set in a different typeface
546 Paragraph indenting is context dependent; different types of paragraphs
547 get indented differently.
548 Page breaks get handled automatically, as well.
549 In general, the space between lines, between words, and between paragraphs
550 is variable, set by LyX.
554 \begin_layout Plain Layout
555 There are ways to adjust all of these (only some of which require knowledge
556 of LaTeX), either for a whole document or for a specific location in a
574 \begin_layout Standard
575 Lastly, there are a few areas where we believe LyX (and LaTeX) surpasses
576 many word processors:
579 \begin_layout Itemize
583 \begin_layout Itemize
587 \begin_layout Itemize
591 \begin_layout Itemize
595 \begin_layout Itemize
599 \begin_layout Standard
600 Granted, many modern word processors can handle mathematical symbols, tables,
601 and hyphenation, and many have moved towards style definitions and the
603 However, they've only recently been able to do so, whereas LyX is built
604 upon the LaTeX document preparation system.
605 LaTeX has been around since 1985, and
612 \begin_layout Subsection
616 \begin_layout Standard
617 LaTeX is a document preparation system designed by Leslie Lamport in 1985.
621 \begin_layout Plain Layout
622 The source for the info in this section is
626 , by Helmut Kopka and Patrick Daly, which has an entry in the bibliography
637 It was built up from a typesetting language called TeX, created by Donald
639 TeX takes a sequence of typesetting commands, written in a script in an
640 ASCII file, and executes them.
642 \begin_inset Quotes eld
646 \begin_inset Quotes erd
649 of the printing trade were modeled by Knuth as computer algorithms and
650 incorporated into TeX, hence its excellent printed appearance.
651 What comes directly out of TeX is the portable document format
656 \begin_inset Quotes eld
660 \begin_inset Quotes erd
668 The dvi format is often used for previews and can later be converted to
669 other formats like PostScript.
673 \begin_layout Standard
674 TeX isn't only a typesetting engine; it also allows you to define macros.
675 Most people who use TeX are actually using a macro package which Knuth
676 created to hide a lot of the typesetting details.
677 This is where Leslie Lamport enters our story.
678 He wanted a macro package that was more user- and less typesetter-oriented,
679 with a set of commands that consistently typeset things like sections,
680 tables or math formulas in a uniform, consistent fashion.
681 This is how LaTeX was born.
684 \begin_layout Standard
685 Now, in parallel with the development and growth of LaTeX, other folks were
686 creating their own custom macro packages for TeX, ones to make slides or
687 articles for math journals and so on.
688 Some used the raw TeX facilities to do this, others began modifying LaTeX.
689 To try and unify this mess, a team of LaTeX-nicians began to work on LaTeX2e,
690 the current version of LaTeX, during the late 1980's.
691 This new version of LaTeX has commands which provide an easier-to-use interface
692 to TeX's macro-creating commands, aid in the use of new fonts, and so on.
693 In fact, LaTeX is quite an extensive language in its own right! Users around
694 the world have been creating their own add-ons for LaTeX beyond the standard
698 \begin_layout Standard
699 There are two ways to extend LaTeX: classes and styles.
704 is a set of LaTeX macros describing a new type of document, like a book,
706 There are classes for slides, for physics and math journals\SpecialChar \ldots{}
708 even have a class for their thesis format.
713 differs from a class in that it doesn't define a new type of document,
714 but a different type of
718 that any document can use.
719 For example, LyX controls page margins and line spacing using two different
720 LaTeX style-files designed for these purposes.
721 There are style-files for a whole slew of things: printing labels or envelopes,
722 changing indentation behavior, adding new fonts, manipulating graphics,
723 designing fancy page headings, customizing bibliographies, altering the
724 location and appearance of footnotes, tables, and figures, customizing
728 \begin_layout Standard
732 \begin_layout Description
733 TeX: Typesetting language with macro capability.
736 \begin_layout Description
737 LaTeX: Macro package built upon TeX\SpecialChar \@.
741 \begin_layout Description
742 classes: Descriptions of types of document used with LaTeX\SpecialChar \@.
746 \begin_layout Description
747 styles: Descriptions of the default behavior of particular elements of LaTeX.
750 \begin_layout Description
751 LyX: Visual, WYSIWYM document processor that uses LaTeX to do its typesetting.
754 \begin_layout Standard
755 This section attempts to explain the difference between LyX and a word processor.
756 Simply put, LaTeX is the difference.
757 By using LaTeX as its backend, LyX helps you to think more about
766 The computer then handles
773 \begin_layout Section
774 Navigating the Documentation
777 \begin_layout Standard
778 To make it easier to answer your questions and describe all of the features
779 of LyX, the documentation has been split up into several different files.
780 Each one has its own purpose, as described below.
781 Before you go ploughing into any of those files, however, you should read
782 this chapter thoroughly, since it contains a lot of useful information
783 and commentary that can save you some time.
786 \begin_layout Standard
787 Hopefully, the development of LyX will never stop; so some of the documentation
788 may be incomplete or a bit out of date, though we try to keep up-to-date.
789 Like the rest of LyX, the manuals are the work of a group of volunteers
791 \begin_inset Quotes eld
795 \begin_inset Quotes erd
798 , families, dishes to clean,
803 If you want to help out, be sure to read Section
808 \begin_inset CommandInset ref
810 reference "sec:Contrib"
814 in addition to the rest of this document.
817 \begin_layout Standard
818 Also, please do us a favor – if anything in these manuals confuses you,
819 is unclear, or wrong, don't hesitate to let us know! You can reach the
820 current document maintainers by emailing
821 \begin_inset CommandInset href
823 target "lyx-docs@lists.lyx.org"
829 If you have questions that are not obviously answered in the documentation,
830 and need help fast, there is an active users' mailing list which you can
832 \begin_inset CommandInset href
834 target "lyx-users@lists.lyx.org"
842 \begin_layout Subsection
843 The Format of the Manuals
846 \begin_layout Standard
847 Some of you may have printed out the manuals.
848 Others may be reading them within LyX.
849 There are some differences between the LyX-file and the printed version.
850 In LyX, the title is simply at the top of the document, not formatted on
851 a separate page as in some of the printed versions.
852 Nor are any of the footnotes or the Table of Contents fully visible.
853 To open a footnote, which looks like this:
854 \begin_inset Graphics
855 filename clipart/footnoteQt4.png
860 , click on it with the left mouse button.
861 For the Table of Contents, either click on the grey box or click on the
866 menu, where the contents are displayed automatically\SpecialChar \@.
870 \begin_layout Standard
871 In the printed manuals, all cross-references appear as the actual numbers
872 for a chapter, section, subsection, and so on.
873 In the LyX-file, however, all cross-references appear as light-grey boxes
875 \begin_inset Graphics
876 filename clipart/referenceQt4.png
882 If you click on such a box with the left mouse button, a dialog box will
883 appear containing a list of all the cross-references in the document.
884 You can go to the referenced section by right-clicking on the box or by
897 in the opened dialog.
898 Going back to where you came from is just as easy.
907 to go back to your earlier location.
910 \begin_layout Standard
911 Now that we've cleared up some of the differences between the printed and
912 LyX-file versions of this file, we can start looking at the format of this
914 You'll occasionally notice things in different fonts:
917 \begin_layout Itemize
922 is used for general emphasis, generic arguments, book titles, names of
923 sections of other manuals, and notes from the authors.
926 \begin_layout Itemize
931 is used for program and file names, LyX code and functions.
934 \begin_layout Itemize
939 is used for menu, button, or dialog box names, and the names of keyboard
943 \begin_layout Itemize
948 is used for people's names.
951 \begin_layout Itemize
956 is used for LaTeX code
959 \begin_layout Standard
960 When we do need to reference keys, we'll use the following prefixing convention:
963 \begin_layout Itemize
964 \begin_inset Quotes eld
972 \begin_inset Quotes erd
982 \begin_layout Itemize
983 \begin_inset Quotes eld
991 \begin_inset Quotes erd
1001 \begin_layout Itemize
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1024 \begin_layout Itemize
1025 \begin_inset Quotes eld
1033 \begin_inset Quotes erd
1036 \SpecialChar \ldots{}
1038 \begin_inset Quotes eld
1046 \begin_inset Quotes erd
1049 are the function keys.
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1061 \begin_inset Quotes erd
1067 \begin_layout Itemize
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1118 \begin_layout Itemize
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1131 \begin_inset Quotes eld
1139 \begin_inset Quotes erd
1143 \begin_inset Quotes eld
1151 \begin_inset Quotes erd
1155 \begin_inset Quotes eld
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1167 \begin_inset Quotes eld
1175 \begin_inset Quotes erd
1179 \begin_inset Quotes eld
1187 \begin_inset Quotes erd
1190 : these are the 6 keys that appear above the cursor keys on many PC keyboards.
1192 \begin_inset Quotes eld
1200 \begin_inset Quotes erd
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1251 both refer to the same key.
1252 Some keyboards label the
1257 \begin_inset Quotes eld
1261 \begin_inset Quotes erd
1265 \begin_inset Quotes eld
1269 \begin_inset Quotes erd
1272 still others have two keys.
1273 LyX treats all of them as the same key, so we'll use
1284 \begin_layout Standard
1285 The list with the currently set shortcuts can be found in the
1296 \begin_layout Subsection
1297 Units used in the Manuals
1300 \begin_layout Standard
1301 To understand the units described in this documentation, Table
1302 \begin_inset space ~
1306 \begin_inset CommandInset ref
1308 reference "tab:Units"
1312 explains all units available in LyX.
1315 \begin_layout Standard
1316 \begin_inset Float table
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1340 \begin_inset VSpace medskip
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1568 \begin_inset space \thinspace{}
1572 \begin_inset Formula $\approx$
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1623 <cell alignment="center" valignment="top" topline="true" leftline="true" rightline="true" usebox="none">
1626 \begin_layout Plain Layout
1627 % of original image width
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1790 \begin_layout Plain Layout
1802 <cell alignment="center" valignment="top" topline="true" bottomline="true" leftline="true" usebox="none">
1805 \begin_layout Plain Layout
1811 <cell alignment="center" valignment="top" topline="true" bottomline="true" leftline="true" rightline="true" usebox="none">
1814 \begin_layout Plain Layout
1816 \begin_inset space \thinspace{}
1820 \begin_inset space \thinspace{}
1841 \begin_layout Subsection
1845 \begin_layout Standard
1846 The following list describes the contents of the basic documentation files
1847 that you find in the
1854 \begin_layout Description
1855 Introduction This file.
1858 \begin_layout Description
1859 Tutorial If you are new to LyX, and have never used LaTeX before, you should
1861 If you have used LaTeX before, you should still read the
1865 , starting with the section on
1866 \begin_inset Quotes eld
1869 LyX for LaTeX users.
1870 \begin_inset Quotes erd
1873 (Skimming through the rest of the document wouldn't hurt, either.)
1876 \begin_layout Description
1878 \begin_inset space ~
1881 Guide The primary documentation.
1886 of the basic operation and available features of LyX here.
1887 The main manual assumes that you have read the
1894 \begin_layout Description
1896 \begin_inset space ~
1899 Objects Extension of the
1904 Documents in detail how to use tables, graphics, floats, notes, program
1906 It also includes many tricks of the LaTeX masters.
1909 \begin_layout Description
1910 Math Extension of the
1915 Documents in detail how to typeset any kind of formula.
1918 \begin_layout Description
1920 \begin_inset space ~
1923 Features Extension of the
1928 Documents how to use raw LaTeX commands, additional layouts and special-purpose
1932 \begin_layout Description
1933 Customization A description of advanced LyX features, including how to customize
1934 the overall behavior of LyX\SpecialChar \@.
1935 This includes such things as keybindings, internati
1936 onalization and configuration files.
1937 It also includes information about layout files, which are needed to get
1938 LyX to support LaTeX classes or packages.
1941 \begin_layout Description
1942 Shortcuts Tables of the currently defined LyX shortcuts.
1945 \begin_layout Description
1947 \begin_inset space ~
1950 Configuration A report produced by LyX about your system.
1951 This file contains information on what LyX learned about your installation.
1952 Check it to see if you're missing something you might like to have.
1955 \begin_layout Standard
1956 These files will reference one another as necessary.
1965 information on installation and customization, but refers the reader to
1968 Customization Manual
1970 for more information.
1973 \begin_layout Standard
1974 We'll state again an important point:
1977 \begin_layout Standard
1978 \begin_inset VSpace bigskip
1984 \begin_layout Standard
1986 If you are new to LyX, read the
1995 \begin_layout Standard
1996 \begin_inset VSpace bigskip
2002 \begin_layout Standard
2003 Otherwise, you could needlessly frustrate yourself.
2006 \begin_layout Section
2007 Contributing to the LyX Project
2008 \begin_inset CommandInset label
2017 \begin_layout Subsection
2021 \begin_layout Standard
2022 LyX is mostly written in C++ (the LaTeX importer is written in Python).
2023 It is a large project, and as a result it is not free from bugs, or the
2024 need for improvements in the source code.
2027 \begin_layout Subsubsection
2031 \begin_layout Standard
2032 While using LyX, you may find behavior which you consider a bug.
2033 Crashes, though rare, can happen.
2034 User interface problems are considered major bugs by the LyX team: especially
2035 helpful are indications of parts of the LyX interface you find confusing,
2039 \begin_layout Standard
2040 LyX has a bug tracking system, which you can find at
2043 \begin_inset Flex URL
2046 \begin_layout Plain Layout
2048 http://www.lyx.org/trac/wiki/BugTrackerHome
2056 You should check the bug tracker before reporting any bugs, in case it
2057 has already been reported.
2058 If you have a comment on an existing bug, or wish to report a new bug,
2059 you may either use the bug tracker, or send an e-mail to the development
2061 \begin_inset CommandInset href
2063 target "lyx-devel@lists.lyx.org"
2069 Archives of this list are linked from the main LyX website,
2072 \begin_inset Flex URL
2075 \begin_layout Plain Layout
2087 \begin_layout Standard
2088 A useful bug report will at a minimum include the version of LyX you are
2089 having the problem with.
2090 Accurate, detailed descriptions are preferred - the more time developers
2091 have to spend to pinpoint the source of a bug, the less time they have
2092 for other improvements.
2093 Mention the system and system version on which you are running LyX.
2094 Give the versions of the libraries you have installed on your system, and,
2095 if relevant, the versions of external programs that LyX uses.
2096 If it's a compilation or configuration problem, include the file
2100 , and mention which compiler you are using.
2103 \begin_layout Subsubsection
2104 Contributing fixes and new features
2107 \begin_layout Standard
2108 If you have made changes to LyX's source that you think should become part
2109 of LyX, send your changes as a diff file (in unified format) to the development
2110 list referenced above, along with a change log, and a description of what
2114 \begin_layout Subsection
2115 Contributing to the Documentation
2118 \begin_layout Standard
2119 LyX's documentation is extensive; however LyX is under constant development,
2120 and each new release adds new features.
2121 You may find some documentation needs improvement.
2122 This section describes what to do if you find an error, or have some suggestion
2123 s for improving the documentation.
2126 \begin_layout Subsubsection
2127 Reporting Errors in the Manuals
2130 \begin_layout Standard
2131 If you find a problem with the documentation, send a message to the mailing
2133 \begin_inset CommandInset href
2135 target "lyx-docs@lists.lyx.org"
2141 The documentation team will make any necessary fixes.
2144 \begin_layout Subsubsection
2145 Joining the Documentation Team.
2148 \begin_layout Standard
2149 The LyX Documentation Project, like anything else in the LyX project, can
2150 always use assistance! If you're interested in contributing to the Documentatio
2151 n Project, you need to do the following:
2154 \begin_layout Enumerate
2155 Get the latest LyX source code from
2156 \begin_inset Newline newline
2160 \begin_inset Flex URL
2163 \begin_layout Plain Layout
2165 http://www.lyx.org/trac/browser/lyxgit/lib/doc?rev=master
2173 \begin_layout Enumerate
2183 \begin_inset Newline newline
2186 The point of this exercise is to give you ideas.
2195 are likely to be the most up-to-date of all of the documentation.
2196 You should be able to glean some insights into how we want the manuals
2197 to read and to look.
2200 \begin_layout Enumerate
2201 Contact the team at:
2202 \begin_inset Newline newline
2206 \begin_inset CommandInset href
2208 target "lyx-docs@lists.lyx.org"
2214 \begin_inset Newline newline
2217 to discuss your intended changes and to get some feedback on them.
2220 \begin_layout Standard
2221 The changes you wish to make may range from improving clarity of the text,
2222 to doing major re-structuring of the documentation.
2223 Any and all improvements are gladly received.