1 #LyX 2.0 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"
61 \pdf_keywords "LyX, documentation"
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114 \begin_layout Plain Layout
116 If you have comments or error corrections, please send them to the LyX Documenta
118 \begin_inset CommandInset href
120 target "lyx-docs@lists.lyx.org"
133 \begin_layout Standard
134 \begin_inset CommandInset toc
135 LatexCommand tableofcontents
142 \begin_layout Section
143 The Philosophy of LyX
146 \begin_layout Subsection
150 \begin_layout Standard
151 LyX is a document preparation system.
152 It excels at letting you create complex technical and scientific articles
153 with mathematics, cross-references, bibliographies, indices, etc.
154 It is very good at documents of any length in which the usual processing
155 abilities are required: automatic sectioning and pagination, spell checking,
157 It can also be used to write a letter to your mom, though granted, there
158 are probably simpler programs available for that.
159 It is definitely not the best tool for creating banners, flyers, or advertiseme
160 nts (we'll explain why later), though with some effort all these can be
162 Some examples of what it is used for: memos, letters, dissertations and
163 theses, lecture notes, seminar notebooks, conference proceedings, software
164 documentation, books, articles in refereed scientific journals, scripts
165 for plays and movies, business proposals, presentations \SpecialChar \ldots{}
169 \begin_layout Standard
170 LyX is a program that provides a modern approach to writing documents with
171 a computer by using a markup language paradigm, an approach that breaks
172 with the obsolete tradition of the
173 \begin_inset Quotes eld
177 \begin_inset Quotes erd
181 It is designed for authors who want professional output quickly with a
182 minimum of effort without becoming specialists in typesetting.
183 The job of typesetting is done mostly by the computer, not the author;
184 with LyX, the author can concentrate on the contents of his writing.
187 \begin_layout Standard
188 Part of the initial challenge of using LyX comes from the change in thinking
189 that you, the user, must make.
190 At one time, all we had for creating documents were typewriters, so we
191 all learned certain tricks to get around their limitations.
192 Underlining, which is little more than overstriking with the
193 \begin_inset Quotes eld
197 \begin_inset Quotes erd
200 character, became a way to emphasize text.
201 You were forced to figure out column sizes and tab stops, and set them,
202 before creating a table.
203 The same applied for letters and other right justified text.
204 Hyphenation at the end of a line required a careful eye and a lot of foresight.
207 \begin_layout Standard
208 In other words, we've all been trained to worry about the little details
209 of which character goes where.
210 Consequently, almost all word processors have this mentality.
211 They still use tab stops for adding whitespace.
212 You still need to worry about exactly where on the page something will
214 Emphasizing text means changing a font, similar to changing the typewriter
216 This is the underlying philosophy of a WYSIWYG word processor:
217 \begin_inset Quotes eld
220 What You See Is What You Get
221 \begin_inset Quotes erd
225 Unfortunately, that paradigm often results in
226 \begin_inset Quotes eld
229 What You See Is All You Get
230 \begin_inset Quotes erd
236 \begin_layout Standard
237 This is where LyX differs from an ordinary word processor.
238 You don't concern yourself with what character goes where.
243 and LyX takes care of the rest, following a set of rules called a
251 \begin_layout Plain Layout
252 To be fair, most recent versions of the most popular office suites now have
253 some sort of style sheets which follow a similar markup method.
254 However, our experience is that they are still rarely used in practice.
259 Let's look at a little example:
262 \begin_layout Standard
263 Suppose you are writing a report.
264 To begin your report, you want a section called
265 \begin_inset Quotes eld
268 Introduction\SpecialChar \@.
270 \begin_inset Quotes erd
273 So, you go into whatever menu it is in your word processor that changes
274 font sizes and decide on a new font size.
275 Then you turn on bold face.
277 \begin_inset Quotes eld
289 \begin_inset Quotes erd
293 Of course, if you later decide that this section belongs someplace else
294 in the document, or if you insert a new section before it, you need to
295 change the numbering for this and all following sections, as well as any
296 entry in the table of contents.
300 \begin_layout Standard
301 In LyX, you go to the pull-down on the far left of the button bar and select
307 \begin_inset Quotes eld
310 Introduction\SpecialChar \@.
312 \begin_inset Quotes erd
318 \begin_layout Standard
320 If you cut and paste the section, it will automatically be renumbered —
322 And if you enter references to that section correctly (by inserting cross-refer
323 ence tags), LyX will automatically update them all throughout the file so
324 that you never, ever type a section number.
327 \begin_layout Standard
328 Now let's look at the problem of consistency.
329 Five days later, you reopen your report and start Section
334 However, you forget that you were using 18
335 \begin_inset space \thinspace{}
338 pt bold instead of 16
339 \begin_inset space \thinspace{}
342 pt, so you type in the heading for Section
346 4 in a different font from the one you used for Section
351 That problem doesn't even exist in LyX.
352 The computer takes care of all that silly bookkeeping about which thing
353 has what size font, not you.
354 After all, that's what a computer is good at.
357 \begin_layout Standard
358 Here's another example.
359 Suppose you're making a list.
360 In other word processors, a list is just a bunch of tab stops and newlines.
361 You need to figure out where to put the label for each list item, what
362 that label should be, how many blank lines to put between each item, and
364 Under LyX, you have only two concerns: what kind of list is this, and what
365 do I want to put in it.
369 \begin_layout Standard
370 So, the basic idea behind LyX is: specify
380 \begin_inset Quotes eld
383 What You See Is What You Get,
384 \begin_inset Quotes erd
388 \begin_inset Quotes eld
391 What You See Is What You
396 \begin_inset Quotes erd
400 \begin_inset Quotes eld
404 \begin_inset Quotes erd
407 It's a powerful idea that greatly simplifies the mechanics of writing documents.
408 This is also why LyX isn't so good for creating posters and flyers.
413 want to specify exactly where everything goes, because there are no functional
414 units like paragraphs, sections, etc.
415 This doesn't mean LyX is missing some cool function.
416 It simply means that it isn't the right tool for the job — you don't use
417 a screwdriver to drive in nails.
420 \begin_layout Subsection
421 Differences between LyX and Other Word Processors
422 \begin_inset Argument
425 \begin_layout Plain Layout
429 \begin_layout Plain Layout
442 \begin_layout Plain Layout
449 and Other Word Processors
457 \begin_layout Standard
458 Here's a list of things you won't find in LyX:
461 \begin_layout Itemize
465 \begin_layout Itemize
469 \begin_layout Itemize
471 \begin_inset space \thinspace{}
475 \begin_inset space \space{}
489 \begin_layout Standard
490 Tab stops, along with a ruler showing you the position of things on the
491 page, are useless in LyX.
492 The program worries about where things go on the page, not you.
493 Extra whitespace is similar; LyX adds them where necessary, depending on
495 Not being able to type two blank lines in a row will be annoying at first,
496 but it makes more sense once you're thinking in WYSIWYM terms.
499 \begin_layout Standard
500 Here are some things that exist in LyX, but aren't used as you might think:
503 \begin_layout Itemize
507 \begin_layout Itemize
511 \begin_layout Itemize
513 \begin_inset space \thinspace{}
517 \begin_inset space \space{}
520 single spaced, double spaced, etc.)
523 \begin_layout Itemize
524 Whitespace, horizontal and vertical
527 \begin_layout Itemize
531 \begin_layout Itemize
532 Typefaces (bold, italic, underline, etc.)
535 \begin_layout Standard
536 Although they exist in LyX, you generally don't need them.
537 LyX will take care of these things for you, depending on what you're doing.
538 Different parts of the document are automatically set in a different typeface
540 Paragraph indenting is context dependent; different types of paragraphs
541 get indented differently.
542 Page breaks get handled automatically, as well.
543 In general, the space between lines, between words, and between paragraphs
544 is variable, set by LyX.
548 \begin_layout Plain Layout
549 There are ways to adjust all of these (only some of which require knowledge
550 of LaTeX), either for a whole document or for a specific location in a
568 \begin_layout Standard
569 Lastly, there are a few areas where we believe LyX (and LaTeX) surpasses
570 many word processors:
573 \begin_layout Itemize
577 \begin_layout Itemize
581 \begin_layout Itemize
585 \begin_layout Itemize
589 \begin_layout Itemize
593 \begin_layout Standard
594 Granted, many modern word processors can handle mathematical symbols, tables,
595 and hyphenation, and many have moved towards style definitions and the
597 However, they've only recently been able to do so, whereas LyX is built
598 upon the LaTeX document preparation system.
599 LaTeX has been around for over 20 years, and
606 \begin_layout Subsection
610 \begin_layout Standard
611 LaTeX is a document preparation system designed by Leslie Lamport in 1985.
615 \begin_layout Plain Layout
616 The source for the info in this section is
617 \begin_inset Quotes eld
625 \begin_inset Quotes erd
628 by Helmut Kopka and Patrick Daly, which has an entry in the bibliography
639 It was built up from a typesetting language called TeX, created by Donald
641 TeX takes a sequence of typesetting commands, written in a script in an
642 ASCII file, and executes them.
644 \begin_inset Quotes eld
648 \begin_inset Quotes erd
651 of the printing trade were modeled by Knuth as computer algorithms and
652 incorporated into TeX, thus its excellent printed appearance.
653 What comes directly out of TeX is the portable document format
658 \begin_inset Quotes eld
662 \begin_inset Quotes erd
670 The dvi format is often used for previews and can later be converted to
671 other formats like PostScript.
675 \begin_layout Standard
676 TeX isn't only a typesetting engine; it also allows you to define macros.
677 Most people who use TeX are actually using a macro package which Knuth
678 created to hide a lot of the typesetting details.
679 This is where Leslie Lamport enters our story.
680 He wanted a macro package that was more user- and less typesetter-oriented,
681 with a set of commands that consistently typeset things like sections,
682 tables or math formulas in an uniform, consistent fashion.
683 This is how LaTeX was born.
686 \begin_layout Standard
687 Now, in parallel with the development and growth of LaTeX, other folks were
688 creating their own custom macro packages for TeX, ones to make slides or
689 articles for math journals and so on.
690 Some used the raw TeX facilities to do this, others began modifying LaTeX.
691 To try and unify this mess, a team of LaTeX-nicians began to work on LaTeX2e,
692 the current version of LaTeX, during the late 1980's.
693 This new version of LaTeX has commands which provide an easier-to-use interface
694 to TeX's macro-creating commands, aid in the use of new fonts, and so on.
695 In fact, LaTeX is quite an extensive language in its own right! Users around
696 the world have been creating their own add-ons for LaTeX beyond the standard
700 \begin_layout Standard
701 There are two ways to extend LaTeX: classes and styles.
706 is a set of LaTeX macros describing a new type of document, like a book,
708 There are classes for slides, for physics and math journals\SpecialChar \ldots{}
710 even have a class for their thesis format! A
714 differs from a class in that it doesn't define a new type of document,
715 but a different type of
719 that any document can use.
720 For example, LyX controls page margins and line spacing using two different
721 LaTeX style-files designed for these purposes.
722 There are style-files for a whole slew of things: printing labels or envelopes,
723 changing indentation behavior, adding new fonts, manipulating graphics,
724 designing fancy page headings, customizing bibliographies, altering the
725 location and appearance of footnotes, tables, and figures, customizing
729 \begin_layout Standard
733 \begin_layout Description
734 TeX: Typesetting language with macro capability.
737 \begin_layout Description
738 LaTeX: Macro package built upon TeX\SpecialChar \@.
742 \begin_layout Description
743 classes: Descriptions of a type of document, using LaTeX\SpecialChar \@.
747 \begin_layout Description
748 styles: Alters the default behavior of LaTeX in some way.
751 \begin_layout Description
752 LyX: Visual, WYSIWYM word-processor that uses LaTeX to do its typesetting.
755 \begin_layout Standard
756 This section attempts to account for the difference between LyX and other
758 Simply put, LaTeX is the difference.
759 By using LaTeX as its backend, LyX helps you think more about
768 The computer then handles
775 \begin_layout Section
776 Navigating the Documentation
779 \begin_layout Standard
780 To make it easier to answer your questions and describe all of the features
781 of LyX, the documentation has been split up into several different files.
782 Each one has its own purpose, as described below.
783 Before you go ploughing into any of those files, however, you should read
784 this chapter thoroughly first, since it contains a lot of useful information
785 and commentary that can save you some time.
788 \begin_layout Standard
789 The developing of LyX will hopefully never stop, so that some of the documentati
790 on may be incomplete or a bit out of date, though we try to keep up.
791 Like the rest of LyX, the manuals are the work of a group of volunteers
793 \begin_inset Quotes eld
797 \begin_inset Quotes erd
800 , families, dishes to clean, kitty litter to dispose of, et cetera.
801 If you want to help out, be sure to read Section
806 \begin_inset CommandInset ref
808 reference "sec:Contrib"
812 in addition to the rest of this document.
815 \begin_layout Standard
816 Also, please do us a favor – if anything in these manuals confuses you,
817 is unclear, or wrong, don't hesitate to let us know! You can reach the
818 current document maintainers by mailing to
819 \begin_inset CommandInset href
821 target "lyx-docs@lists.lyx.org"
827 If you have questions which are not obviously answered in the documentation,
828 and need help fast, there is an active users' mailing list which you can
830 \begin_inset CommandInset href
832 target "lyx-users@lists.lyx.org"
840 \begin_layout Subsection
841 The Format of the Manuals
844 \begin_layout Standard
845 Some may have printed out the manuals.
846 Others may be reading it within LyX.
847 There are some differences between the LyX-file and the printed version.
848 First, the title is simply at the top of the document, not formatted on
849 a separate page as in some of the printed versions.
850 Nor are any of the footnotes or the Table of Contents fully visible.
851 To open a footnote, which looks like this:
852 \begin_inset Graphics
853 filename clipart/footnoteQt4.png
858 , click on it with the left mouse button.
859 For the Table of Contents, either click on the grey box or click on the
864 menu, where the contents are displayed automatically\SpecialChar \@.
868 \begin_layout Standard
869 In the printed manuals, all cross-references appear as the actual numbers
870 for a chapter, section, subsection, and so on.
871 Online, however, all cross-references appear as a light-grey box like the
873 \begin_inset Graphics
874 filename clipart/referenceQt4.png
880 If you click on that box with the left mouse button, a dialog box will
881 appear containing a list of all the cross-references in the document.
882 You can go to the referred section by right-clicking on the box or by clicking
895 in the opened dialog.
896 Going back to where you came from is just as easy.
905 to go back to your earlier location.
908 \begin_layout Standard
909 Now that we've cleared up some of the differences between the printed and
910 online versions of this file, we can start looking at the format of this
912 You'll occasionally notice things in different fonts:
915 \begin_layout Itemize
920 is used for general emphasis, generic arguments, book titles, names of
921 sections of other manuals, and notes from the authors.
924 \begin_layout Itemize
929 is used for program and file names, LyX code and functions.
932 \begin_layout Itemize
937 is used for menu, button, or dialog box names, and the names of keyboard
941 \begin_layout Itemize
946 is used for people's names.
949 \begin_layout Itemize
954 is used for LaTeX code
957 \begin_layout Standard
958 When we do need to reference keys, we'll use the following prefixing convention:
961 \begin_layout Itemize
962 \begin_inset Quotes eld
970 \begin_inset Quotes erd
980 \begin_layout Itemize
981 \begin_inset Quotes eld
989 \begin_inset Quotes erd
999 \begin_layout Itemize
1000 \begin_inset Quotes eld
1008 \begin_inset Quotes erd
1022 \begin_layout Itemize
1023 \begin_inset Quotes eld
1031 \begin_inset Quotes erd
1034 \SpecialChar \ldots{}
1036 \begin_inset Quotes eld
1044 \begin_inset Quotes erd
1047 are the function keys.
1050 \begin_layout Itemize
1051 \begin_inset Quotes eld
1059 \begin_inset Quotes erd
1065 \begin_layout Itemize
1066 \begin_inset Quotes eld
1074 \begin_inset Quotes erd
1078 \begin_inset Quotes eld
1086 \begin_inset Quotes erd
1090 \begin_inset Quotes eld
1098 \begin_inset Quotes erd
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1110 \begin_inset Quotes erd
1116 \begin_layout Itemize
1119 \begin_inset Quotes eld
1125 \begin_inset Quotes erd
1129 \begin_inset Quotes eld
1137 \begin_inset Quotes erd
1141 \begin_inset Quotes eld
1149 \begin_inset Quotes erd
1153 \begin_inset Quotes eld
1161 \begin_inset Quotes erd
1165 \begin_inset Quotes eld
1173 \begin_inset Quotes erd
1177 \begin_inset Quotes eld
1185 \begin_inset Quotes erd
1188 : these are the 6 keys that appear above the cursor keys on many PC keyboards.
1190 \begin_inset Quotes eld
1198 \begin_inset Quotes erd
1202 \begin_inset Quotes eld
1210 \begin_inset Quotes erd
1214 \begin_inset Quotes eld
1222 \begin_inset Quotes erd
1226 \begin_inset Quotes eld
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1249 both refer to the same key.
1250 Some keyboards label the
1255 \begin_inset Quotes eld
1259 \begin_inset Quotes erd
1263 \begin_inset Quotes eld
1267 \begin_inset Quotes erd
1270 still others have two keys.
1271 LyX treats all of them as the same key, so we'll use
1282 \begin_layout Standard
1283 The list with the currently set shortcuts can be found in the
1294 \begin_layout Subsection
1295 Units used in the Manuals
1298 \begin_layout Standard
1299 To understand the units described in this documentation, Table
1300 \begin_inset space ~
1304 \begin_inset CommandInset ref
1306 reference "cap:Units-for-image"
1310 explains all units available in LyX.
1313 \begin_layout Standard
1314 \begin_inset Float table
1320 \begin_layout Plain Layout
1321 \begin_inset Caption
1323 \begin_layout Plain Layout
1324 \begin_inset CommandInset label
1326 name "cap:Units-for-image"
1338 \begin_layout Plain Layout
1339 \begin_inset VSpace medskip
1345 \begin_layout Plain Layout
1347 \begin_inset Tabular
1348 <lyxtabular version="3" rows="20" columns="2">
1349 <features tabularvalignment="middle">
1350 <column alignment="center" valignment="top" width="0">
1351 <column alignment="center" valignment="top" width="0">
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1376 \begin_layout Plain Layout
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1385 \begin_layout Plain Layout
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1396 \begin_layout Plain Layout
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1405 \begin_layout Plain Layout
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1416 \begin_layout Plain Layout
1422 <cell alignment="center" valignment="top" topline="true" leftline="true" rightline="true" usebox="none">
1425 \begin_layout Plain Layout
1433 <cell alignment="center" valignment="top" topline="true" leftline="true" usebox="none">
1436 \begin_layout Plain Layout
1442 <cell alignment="center" valignment="top" topline="true" leftline="true" rightline="true" usebox="none">
1445 \begin_layout Plain Layout
1447 \begin_inset space \thinspace{}
1451 \begin_inset space \thinspace{}
1461 <cell alignment="center" valignment="top" topline="true" leftline="true" usebox="none">
1464 \begin_layout Plain Layout
1470 <cell alignment="center" valignment="top" topline="true" leftline="true" rightline="true" usebox="none">
1473 \begin_layout Plain Layout
1475 \begin_inset space \thinspace{}
1479 \begin_inset space \thinspace{}
1489 <cell alignment="center" valignment="top" topline="true" leftline="true" usebox="none">
1492 \begin_layout Plain Layout
1498 <cell alignment="center" valignment="top" topline="true" leftline="true" rightline="true" usebox="none">
1501 \begin_layout Plain Layout
1503 \begin_inset space \thinspace{}
1507 \begin_inset space \thinspace{}
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1520 \begin_layout Plain Layout
1526 <cell alignment="center" valignment="top" topline="true" leftline="true" rightline="true" usebox="none">
1529 \begin_layout Plain Layout
1531 \begin_inset space \thinspace{}
1535 \begin_inset space \thinspace{}
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1554 <cell alignment="center" valignment="top" topline="true" leftline="true" rightline="true" usebox="none">
1557 \begin_layout Plain Layout
1559 \begin_inset space \thinspace{}
1563 \begin_inset Formula $\approx$
1567 \begin_inset space \thinspace{}
1577 <cell alignment="center" valignment="top" topline="true" leftline="true" usebox="none">
1580 \begin_layout Plain Layout
1586 <cell alignment="center" valignment="top" topline="true" leftline="true" rightline="true" usebox="none">
1589 \begin_layout Plain Layout
1591 \begin_inset space \thinspace{}
1595 \begin_inset space \thinspace{}
1605 <cell alignment="center" valignment="top" topline="true" leftline="true" usebox="none">
1608 \begin_layout Plain Layout
1614 <cell alignment="center" valignment="top" topline="true" leftline="true" rightline="true" usebox="none">
1617 \begin_layout Plain Layout
1618 % of original image width
1625 <cell alignment="center" valignment="top" topline="true" leftline="true" usebox="none">
1628 \begin_layout Plain Layout
1634 <cell alignment="center" valignment="top" topline="true" leftline="true" rightline="true" usebox="none">
1637 \begin_layout Plain Layout
1645 <cell alignment="center" valignment="top" topline="true" leftline="true" usebox="none">
1648 \begin_layout Plain Layout
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1657 \begin_layout Plain Layout
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1668 \begin_layout Plain Layout
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1677 \begin_layout Plain Layout
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1688 \begin_layout Plain Layout
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1697 \begin_layout Plain Layout
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1717 \begin_layout Plain Layout
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1728 \begin_layout Plain Layout
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1737 \begin_layout Plain Layout
1745 <cell alignment="center" valignment="top" topline="true" leftline="true" usebox="none">
1748 \begin_layout Plain Layout
1754 <cell alignment="center" valignment="top" topline="true" leftline="true" rightline="true" usebox="none">
1757 \begin_layout Plain Layout
1769 <cell alignment="center" valignment="top" topline="true" leftline="true" usebox="none">
1772 \begin_layout Plain Layout
1778 <cell alignment="center" valignment="top" topline="true" leftline="true" rightline="true" usebox="none">
1781 \begin_layout Plain Layout
1793 <cell alignment="center" valignment="top" topline="true" bottomline="true" leftline="true" usebox="none">
1796 \begin_layout Plain Layout
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1807 \begin_inset space \thinspace{}
1811 \begin_inset space \thinspace{}
1832 \begin_layout Subsection
1836 \begin_layout Standard
1837 The following list describes the contents of the basic documentation files
1838 that you find in the
1845 \begin_layout Description
1846 Introduction This file.
1849 \begin_layout Description
1850 Tutorial If you are new to LyX, and have never used LaTeX before, you should
1852 If you have used LaTeX before, you should still read the
1856 , starting with the section on
1857 \begin_inset Quotes eld
1860 LyX for LaTeX users.
1861 \begin_inset Quotes erd
1864 (Skimming the rest of the document wouldn't hurt, either.)
1867 \begin_layout Description
1869 \begin_inset space ~
1872 Guide The primary documentation.
1877 of the basic operation and available features of LyX here.
1878 The main manual assumes that you've read the
1885 \begin_layout Description
1887 \begin_inset space ~
1890 Objects Extension of the
1895 Documents in detail how to use tables, graphics, floats, notes, program
1896 listings, and boxes.
1897 It also includes many tricks of the LaTeX masters.
1900 \begin_layout Description
1901 Math Extension of the
1906 Documents in detail how to typeset any kind of formulas.
1909 \begin_layout Description
1911 \begin_inset space ~
1914 Features Extension of the
1919 Documents how to use raw LaTeX commands, additional layouts, and special-purpos
1923 \begin_layout Description
1924 Customization A description of advanced LyX features, including how to customize
1925 the overall behavior of LyX\SpecialChar \@.
1926 This includes such things as keybindings, internati
1927 onalization, and configuration files.
1928 It also includes information about layout files, which are needed to get
1929 LyX to support LaTeX classes or packages.
1932 \begin_layout Description
1933 Shortcuts Tables with the currently defined LyX shortcuts.
1936 \begin_layout Description
1938 \begin_inset space ~
1941 configuration LyX investigates your system upon installation.
1942 This file contains info on what LyX learned about your installation.
1943 Check it to see if you're missing something you might like to have.
1946 \begin_layout Standard
1947 These files will reference one another as necessary.
1956 information on installation and customization, but refers the reader to
1959 Customization Manual
1961 for more information.
1964 \begin_layout Standard
1965 We'll state again an important point:
1968 \begin_layout Standard
1969 \begin_inset VSpace bigskip
1975 \begin_layout Standard
1977 If you are new to LyX, read the
1986 \begin_layout Standard
1987 \begin_inset VSpace bigskip
1993 \begin_layout Standard
1994 Otherwise, you could needlessly frustrate yourself.
1997 \begin_layout Section
1998 Contributing to the LyX Project
1999 \begin_inset CommandInset label
2008 \begin_layout Subsection
2012 \begin_layout Standard
2013 LyX is mostly written in C++ (the LaTeX importer is written in Python).
2014 It is a large project, and as a result it is not free from bugs, or the
2015 need for improvements in the source code.
2018 \begin_layout Subsubsection
2022 \begin_layout Standard
2023 While using LyX, you may find behavior which you consider a bug.
2024 Crashes, though rare, can happen.
2025 User interface problems are considered major bugs by the LyX team: especially
2026 helpful are indications of parts of the LyX interface you find confusing,
2030 \begin_layout Standard
2031 LyX has a bug tracking system, which you can find at
2034 \begin_inset Flex URL
2037 \begin_layout Plain Layout
2039 http://www.lyx.org/trac/wiki/BugTrackerHome
2047 You should check the bug tracker before reporting any bugs, in case it
2048 has already been reported.
2049 If you have a comment on an existing bug, or wish to report a new bug,
2050 you may either use the bug tracker, or send an e-mail to the development
2052 \begin_inset CommandInset href
2054 target "lyx-devel@lists.lyx.org"
2060 Archives of this list are linked from the main LyX website,
2063 \begin_inset Flex URL
2066 \begin_layout Plain Layout
2078 \begin_layout Standard
2079 A useful bug report will at a minimum include the version of LyX you are
2080 having the problem with.
2081 Accurate, detailed descriptions are preferred - the more time developers
2082 have to spend to pinpoint the source of a bug, the less time they have
2083 for other improvements.
2084 Mention the system and system version you are running LyX with.
2085 Give the versions of the libraries you have installed on your system, and,
2086 if relevant, the versions of external programs that LyX uses.
2087 If it's a compilation or configuration problem, include the file
2091 , and mention which compiler you are using.
2095 \begin_layout Subsubsection
2096 Contributing fixes and new features
2099 \begin_layout Standard
2100 If you have made changes to LyX's source that you think should become part
2101 of LyX, send your changes as a diff file (in unified format) to the development
2102 list referenced above, along with a change log, and a description of what
2106 \begin_layout Subsection
2107 Contributing to the Documentation
2110 \begin_layout Standard
2111 LyX's documentation is extensive; however LyX is under constant development,
2112 and each new release adds new features.
2113 You may find some documentation needs improvement.
2114 This section describes what to do if you find an error, or have some suggestion
2115 s for improving the documentation.
2118 \begin_layout Subsubsection
2119 Reporting Errors in the Manuals
2122 \begin_layout Standard
2123 If you find a problem with the documentation, send a message to the mailing
2125 \begin_inset CommandInset href
2127 target "lyx-docs@lists.lyx.org"
2133 The documentation team will make any necessary fixes.
2136 \begin_layout Subsubsection
2137 Joining the Documentation Team.
2140 \begin_layout Standard
2141 The LyX Documentation Project, like anything else in the LyX project, can
2142 always use assistance! If you're interested in contributing to the Documentatio
2143 n Project, you need to do the following:
2146 \begin_layout Enumerate
2147 Get the latest LyX source code from
2148 \begin_inset Newline newline
2152 \begin_inset Flex URL
2155 \begin_layout Plain Layout
2157 http://www.lyx.org/trac/browser/lyx-devel/trunk/lib/doc
2165 \begin_layout Enumerate
2175 \begin_inset Newline newline
2178 The point of this exercise is to give you ideas.
2187 is likely to be the most up-to-date of all of the documentation.
2188 You should be able to glean some insights into how we want the manuals
2189 to read and to look.
2192 \begin_layout Enumerate
2193 Contact the team at:
2194 \begin_inset Newline newline
2198 \begin_inset CommandInset href
2200 target "lyx-docs@lists.lyx.org"
2206 \begin_inset Newline newline
2209 to discuss your intended changes, and get some feedback on them.
2212 \begin_layout Standard
2213 The changes you wish to make may range from improving clarity of the text,
2214 to doing major re-structuring of the documentation.
2215 Any and all improvements are gladly received.