X-Git-Url: https://git.lyx.org/gitweb/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=ANNOUNCE;h=8bea8db2d0ca7a2484058cda19e9d1196e3812e2;hb=816b9b4b3c82cb2839e7e1f5e5c2180447cc70b7;hp=0e599d2827bc0530125a83bc9f9434d3a32d749a;hpb=ba4236f744c4b0d66b02240ca249a72a73cb9dc0;p=lyx.git diff --git a/ANNOUNCE b/ANNOUNCE index 0e599d2827..8bea8db2d0 100644 --- a/ANNOUNCE +++ b/ANNOUNCE @@ -1,169 +1,209 @@ -Public release of LyX version 1.3.0 +Public release of LyX version 1.4.0 =================================== -We are glad to announce the release of LyX 1.3.0. +We are glad to announce the release of LyX 1.4.0. -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! +It is the culmination of 3 years of hard work, and we sincerely hope +this you will enjoy the results. The changes are too numerous to +summarize in a few words, jump directly to the end of this message if +you want to know more. -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. +As usual with major releases, a lot of work that is not directly +visible has taken place. The core of LyX has seen more cleanups and +some of the new features are the direct results of this work. In case you are wondering what LyX is, here is what http://www.lyx.org/ has to say on the subject: - 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. + LyX is a document processor that encourages an approach to writing + based on the structure of your documents, not their appearance. It + is released under a Free Software / Open Source license. - 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. + LyX is for people that write and want their writing to look great, + right out of the box. No more endless tinkering with formatting + details, 'finger painting' font attributes or futzing around with page + boundaries. You just write. In the background, Prof. Knuth's legendary + TeX typesetting engine makes you look good. -You can download LyX 1.3.0 here : + On screen, LyX looks like any word processor; its printed output -- or + richly cross-referenced PDF, just as readily produced -- looks like + nothing else. Gone are the days of industrially bland .docs, all + looking similarly not-quite-right, yet coming out unpredictably + different on different printer drivers. Gone are the crashes 'eating' + your dissertation the evening before going to press. - 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 + LyX is stable and fully featured. It is a multi-platform, fully + internationalized application running natively on Unix/Linux and the + Macintosh and modern Windows platforms. -and it should shortly propagate to the following mirrors : +You can download LyX 1.4.0 here (the .bz2 are compressed with bzip2, +which yields smaller files): - 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 + ftp://ftp.lyx.org/pub/lyx/stable/lyx-1.4.0.tar.gz + ftp://ftp.lyx.org/pub/lyx/stable/lyx-1.4.0.tar.bz2 + ftp://ftp.devel.lyx.org/pub/lyx/lyx-1.4.0.tar.gz + ftp://ftp.devel.lyx.org/pub/lyx/lyx-1.4.0.tar.bz2 +and it should propagate shortly to the following mirrors (which will also host +the .bz2 versions): -Prebuild binaries (mainly rpms for linux distributions) should soon be -available at - ftp://ftp.lyx.org/pub/lyx/bin/1.3.0 + http://lyx.mirror.fr/stable/lyx-1.4.0.tar.gz + ftp://ftp.sdsc.edu/pub/other/lyx/stable/lyx-1.4.0.tar.gz + ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/lyx/stable/lyx-1.4.0.tar.gz + ftp://gd.tuwien.ac.at/publishing/tex/lyx/stable/lyx-1.4.0.tar.gz + ftp://ftp.ntua.gr/pub/X11/LyX/stable/lyx-1.4.0.tar.gz -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 +Note that no patch is provided to upgrade from version 1.3.7. + +Prebuilt binaries (rpms for linux distributions, Mac OS X and Windows +installers) should soon be available at + ftp://ftp.lyx.org/pub/lyx/bin/1.4.0/ + + +If you find what you think is a bug in LyX 1.4.0, 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 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. +first check out http://www.lyx.org/help/. If you can't find the answer there, +e-mail the LyX users' list (lyx-users @ lists.lyx.org). Enjoy! 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. + +What's new in version 1.4.0? +---------------------------- + +** Improved user interface + +LyX 1.4 has a re-designed layout for the menus, designed to decrease +clutter and maximise productivity. Several menu items (in the Edit +menu) are now context-sensitive, so they only appear when needed. For +the die-hard old LyX users, the older layout (referred to as the +classic UI) is still available, for now. + +It's now possible to define multiple toolbars as seen in other +editors. By default, the new LyX release has two toolbars displayed, +the standard one (similar to the static toolbar in LyX 1.3), plus the +extra toolbar. In addition, there are two pre-defined toolbars +available: one for tables, and one for math. + +Another new feature worth mentioning is popup toolbars: you can set a +toolbar such that it only appears when editing math, or when editing a +table. + +** Change tracking + +This new feature, similar to that found in Microsoft Word and others, +makes collaboration on a document a cinch. It provides a way to track +changes made to a document, and later approve, reject, or modify such +changes. + +** Much better conversion from .tex to .lyx + +The ancient and unloved Perl script, reLyX has finally bitten the dust +and been replaced by the brand new and shiny tex2lyx. tex2lyx's LaTeX +parser follows most of the rules of the real TeX and so is already +much more powerful than reLyX ever was. + +** Character styles + +For a system that purports to make it easy to write documents full of +logical (as opposed to visual markup), LyX has always had one glaring +omission: no character styles. LyX 1.4 goes some way towards +addressing this defect, although there's no dialog to define your own +styles. + + +** Branches + +The teacher who's setting an exam obviously doesn't want her pupils +seeing the answers, yet having questions and answers in the same +document will make the life of the markers of that exam much easier. + +That's just one example of someone who would benefit from LyX's new +"branches" feature. In fact, anyone who writes documents which have +more than one target audience will find this feature useful. + +** Minipages evolve to Boxes + +In 1.3, LyX only had native support for plain minipages. Now you can +use a wide range of box types and decorations directly from the LyX +GUI + +** Notes + +LyX now has three different Notes for you to add to your document from +the Insert>Note menu: + +- the "LyX Note" is not exported to LaTeX, as now. The "Comment" is +- exported to LaTeX as a comment environment and is not processed + further. +- The Greyed Out note is visible in your PostScript or PDF output as, + well, greyed-out text. + +** Better language and numbering on screen + +Two features help to make the screen rendering closer to the printed output: + +- the labels attached to layouts like Chapter are now translated in + the language of the document, which may be different from the + language of the menus; +- sectioning headers and theorems are now numbered according to the + document class specifications. + +** Word count + +Yes, it's finally there! Tools>Count Words will give you a word +count of the document or of the current selection. + +** Error Lists + +Nasty "error boxes" were eliminated in favor of a dialog with a list +of errors popping up at compilation time. + +** Improved bibliography support + +- LyX's support for natbib has been enhanced. Now, also the mysterious + "before citation" field is supported; +- We have added support for jurabib, an amazing package to produce + flexible citations that are especially well suited for the humanities + and law fields; +- Support for sectioned bibliographies (bibtopic) has been added; +- the way bibtex is called is now customizable (as is the way the + index processor is invoked). + +** Improved microtypography support + +LyX aims to produce superior typography. With 1.4, it supports: + +- more blank characters (e.g. a "thin space", which should stand here + between "e." and "g."); +- inner and outer quotation marks without the hassle of toggling the + style in the documents dialog. Just use the Alt key. +- the handling of figure and table alignment inside floats has been + improved. You can now use the paragraph dialog without getting too + much space between figure/table and caption. + +** Small bits + +- Figure and table floats can be rotated sideways + +- The external xfig inset has been improved especially with regard to + pdf generation + +- The graphics inset dialog has now an "edit" button that allows to + edit the included figure + +- For index generation, xindy can be used instead of makeindex, which + has poor support for other than English index sorting. + +** Bug fixes + +Lots of long-lasting bugs have been fixed, as documented in LyX +bugzilla. Probably some new ones have been introduced instead ;-)