X-Git-Url: https://git.lyx.org/gitweb/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=ANNOUNCE;h=18fee788a7e8f84a24978b6e6612855e0f798c85;hb=379467599e9d3f7831ff1b473a9a71a564b2f279;hp=4e4e901f8937bf69185c50c29d3d723f0f859c2e;hpb=f28f62b420d603d7d78ee204669f523cac58d5c7;p=lyx.git diff --git a/ANNOUNCE b/ANNOUNCE index 4e4e901f89..18fee788a7 100644 --- a/ANNOUNCE +++ b/ANNOUNCE @@ -1,101 +1,169 @@ -Public release of LyX version 1.2.0 +Public release of LyX version 1.3.0 =================================== -What is LyX? ------------- +We are glad to announce the release of LyX 1.3.0. -LyX is an advanced open-source "document processor". Unlike standard -word processors, LyX encourages writing based on the structure of your -documents, not their appearance, It lets you concentrate on writing, -leaving details of visual layout to the software. +As with the previous major version 1.2.0, many things make this new +release an exciting one. One of the major projects that has been going +on behind the scenes is the so-called GUI-independence project. We are +glad to announce that version 1.3.0 shows the first results of this. +LyX now comes in two flavours: Qt-LyX and xforms-LyX! -With the familiar face of a WISYWIG word processor, LyX produces high -quality, professional output -- using LaTeX, an industrial -strength typesetting engine. No knowledge of LaTeX is required to -use LyX; however, there is also a "TeX mode" which allows you to enter -plain LaTeX commands. +Although this is the most visible change in version 1.3, this should not +hide the fact that the `under the hood' changes to the code have again +been very important. A detailed list can be found below. -All in all, LyX is a complete environment for writing documents. It has -superior support for scientific writing, but works well for any kind of -document. +In case you are wondering what LyX is, here is what +http://www.lyx.org/ has to say on the subject: -Read more about LyX (including screenshots) at: + LyX is an advanced open source document processor that encourages an + approach to writing based on the structure of your documents, not their + appearance. LyX lets you concentrate on writing, leaving details of + visual layout to the software. - http://www.lyx.org/ + LyX runs on many Unix platforms (including MacOS X), OS/2, and under + Windows/Cygwin. Note that all these ports use the same xforms interface + and therefore need an X server. -What can LyX do? ----------------- +You can download LyX 1.3.0 here : -A very incomplete feature list: + ftp://ftp.lyx.org/pub/lyx/stable/lyx-1.3.0.tar.gz + ftp://ftp.devel.lyx.org/pub/lyx/lyx-1.3.0.tar.gz -- "standard" word processing: fonts, cut & paste, infinite undo... -- footnotes, citations, cross-referencing, faxes, spellchecking -- almost any math expression (with a simple, but powerfull interface) -- automatic, multilevel outline support (enumerated or bullets) -- tables and embedded figures support (with automatic conversion) -- import LaTeX or ASCII -- export LaTeX, ASCII, DVI, PostScript, LinuxDoc-SGML, DocBook-SGML -- fair support for non-English documents and/or menus -- extensive documentation, including a tutorial -- version control using RCS (some support for CVS) +and it should shortly propagate to the following mirrors : -How stable is LyX? ------------------- + ftp://ftp.sdsc.edu/pub/other/lyx/stable/lyx-1.3.0.tar.gz + ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/lyx/stable/lyx-1.3.0.tar.gz + ftp://gd.tuwien.ac.at/publishing/tex/lyx/stable/lyx-1.3.0.tar.gz + ftp://ftp.ntua.gr/pub/X11/LyX/stable/lyx-1.3.0.tar.gz + ftp://ftp.icm.edu.pl/vol/rzm0/lyx/stable/lyx-1.3.0.tar.gz -This release is considered stable, but as with any software, you should -take appropriate back-up steps in a production environment. -Where can I get it? -------------------- +Prebuild binaries (mainly rpms for linux distributions) should soon be +available at + ftp://ftp.lyx.org/pub/lyx/bin/1.3.0 + +If you find what you think is a bug in LyX 1.3.0, you may either +e-mail the LyX developers' mailing list (lyx-devel@lists.lyx.org), or open +a bug report at http://bugzilla.lyx.org -LyX is distributed under the GNU General Public Licence (GPL), which -means that you can not only use it freely, but also modify and -redistribute it, provided that you include the source of the program. +If you're having trouble using the new version of LyX, or have a question, +first check out http://www.lyx.org/help/, and e-mail the LyX users' list +(lyx-users@lists.lyx.org) if you can't find an answer there. -The main LyX site is - - ftp://ftp.lyx.org/pub/lyx/ - -with mirrors at - - ftp://alpha.tat.physik.uni-tuebingen.de/pub/lyx - ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/lyx/ - ftp://ftp.chg.ru/packages/lyx/ - ftp://ftp.sdsc.edu/pub/other/lyx/ - ftp://ftp.fciencias.unam.mx/pub/Lyx/ - ftp://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/LyX/ - -The source code package is available at: - - ftp://ftp.lyx.org/pub/lyx/stable/lyx-1.2.0.tar.gz - ftp://ftp.devel.lyx.org/pub/lyx/lyx-1.2.0.tar.gz - -and at the mirrors listed above. - -You need to have XForms version 0.88 or newer to compile your own -version. Version 0.89 is highly recommended. LyX should also compile -with 0.88. - -Credits -------- - -The LyX Team is composed of volunteers from around the world. Many, many -people have helped make the 1.2.0 release possible, including: - - Lars Gullik Bjoennes, Alejandro Aguilar Sierra, Asger Alstrup, - Jean-Marc Lasgouttes, Juergen Vigna, John P. Weiss, Bernhard Iselborn, - Andre Spiegel, Allan Rae, Henner Zeller, Robert van der Kamp, - David L. Johnson, Amir Karger, Joacim Persson, Peter Suetterlin, - SMiyata, Alkis Polyzotis, ... - -Special thanks should go to Matthias Ettrich who started it all. - -Feedback --------- +Enjoy! -Please direct any comments or questions to the appropriate mailing list as -described on the LyX homepage (http://www.lyx.org/). +The LyX team. + + +New features +============ + +** Qt frontend + +This is of course the most visible new feature. This frontend supports +either Qt 2.x or 3.x and is mostly feature complete. Note that some +of the dialogs are slightly different in design, but are generally +functionally equivalent. + +** Xforms frontend + +The advent of the Qt frontend does not mean that the historical xforms +frontend is dead. Actually, it is still the one which is the best +implemented, because we have had more time to polish it. In this release, +most of the dialogs have been redesigned to be tighter. + +Note also that the xforms library has been very recently updated to +version 1.0. This version has been released under the LGPL (Lesser +General Public License), and the availability of the source means that +many bugs that have been plaguing LyX have been fixed in xforms. You +are advised to upgrade to xforms 1.0 to enjoy all these new fixes. +In fact, LyX 1.3.0 no longer supports versions of xforms older than 0.89.5. +Moreover, support for xforms older than 1.0 will be removed in the next +release. You have been warned ;-) + +In most cases the dialogs have been designed to make it impossible to input +invalid parameters. The exception to this rule is the input of length data. +Power LaTeX users can still input obtuse "glue lengths", but the widgets are +highlighted in red if this input is invalid or incomplete. This visual +feedback makes it easy to see why LyX won't allow you to Apply your changes. + +** Gnome frontend + +Unfortunately, the development of the Gnome frontend has mostly +stopped recently and we have therefore chosen to disable it. We +strongly invite anyone willing to revive this port to volunteer on the +developer's list. + +** Instant preview + +preview-latex is an emacs package for LaTeX that allows "instant previews" +of LaTeX code, so you can immediately see the visual rendering of the +LaTeX in the document. Its project home page can be found at +http://sourceforge.net/projects/preview-latex. With the help of David +Kastrup, the author, LyX 1.3.0 can harness this functionality to +allow instant previews in the LyX window of math equations and +figures. This feature can be immensely useful, ensuring that the +rendering of your equation will look right in the final output. The +preview is only displayed (if enabled) when you're not editing the +actual equation, so it's unobtrusive too. + +** Math editor + +There have been a few visible and some not-so-visible changes. On the +visible side we have better visual feedback regarding the structure of +a formula, showing the nesting by small purple decorations in the +formula itself and revealing the names of the nesting levels in the +minibuffer. There is now native support for symbols from the wasy +package containing e.g. the zodiac symbols. New also is the internal +structure of font changes which are now proper "insets", just like +anything else from a square root to an array. This not only simplifies +the code greatly but also allows the same editing tricks as for the +"regular" math. However, it was not possible to tweak the visible +behaviour to mimic 1.2 in all cases, so this might take some time to +get accustomed to. On the pro side, the new structure allowed +support for LaTeX's \mbox and \fbox to be implemented and general +"switching back to text mode within math", so a lot of "evil red text" +trickery is not needed anymore. The most visible changes are the following: + +- Pressing { and } will insert LaTeX's \{ and \} which show up as { } + in the printout. To get LaTeX's {} nesting, you need to type \{. + +- Fonts changes now really nest. Repeated application of a font change + will result in nested font changes! To remove a font change without + removing the "contents", it is now possible to "pull the argument" + like in other insets, i.e. put the cursor in the first position of + the inset and press 'backspace'. + +** Reading old files + +LyX now has a new script lyx2lyx which enables the reading of any file +produced by LyX versions as old as 0.12. Work is in progress on files +created with LyX 0.10 (LyX 1.4 time-line) and still older files are +in the forge. Basically if lyx wrote it LyX will read it. :-) + +There is also a strong demand to be able to read files produced by +_newer_ versions of LyX. While lyx2lyx has the infrastructure in place +to do such things, the filters to `downgrade' LyX files (from 1.3.0 to +1.2.x, for example) have not yet been written. + +** Miscellaneous changes + +- LyX now automatically uses TeX fonts for screen rendering of math + equations if they are available (it is not necessary anymore to + configure your font server). + +- The Insert>Short Title allows the addition of an optional text + for section headings and captions that is designed to be used in + tables of contents. + +- The Insert>Float>Floatflt Figure menu item restores the ability + to wrap text around an image which was present in 1.1.6 and + removed in 1.2.0 + +- If you configure with --with-pspell (which uses the PSpell library for + spellchecking), you will be able to automatically spell-check + multi-language documents, assuming you have the right dictionaries + installed. -Enjoy! -The LyX Team