X-Git-Url: https://git.lyx.org/gitweb/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=ANNOUNCE;h=b1a6a1cf09ac661ebd1b171d643e259b80ee5794;hb=2409b887af87ef9de1fd059a2443eea0c70ab82f;hp=bc5bc0ef778f705c650d7893c0edcc765d7626db;hpb=67ef45b7c842efd9c971112627109724564f0c74;p=lyx.git diff --git a/ANNOUNCE b/ANNOUNCE index bc5bc0ef77..b1a6a1cf09 100644 --- a/ANNOUNCE +++ b/ANNOUNCE @@ -1,101 +1,228 @@ -Public release of LyX version 1.1.6 +Public release of LyX version 1.5.0 (beta 2) =================================== -What is LyX? ------------- +We are glad to announce the release of LyX 1.5.0 (beta 2). -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. +Compared with the previous beta release we have fixed several bugs and +added some graphical improvements: + * A new math toolbar replaces the old (faithful) math panel. + * The converter file cache can be now configured in the graphical interface. + * The TOC dialog is now a dock widget, embedded in the main window. -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. +Apart from the described major changes, several minor improvements of +the user interface have been made, such as: -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 + - Syntax highlighting for the user preamble and the LaTeX log file + - Better parsing of BibTeX databases (in the citation dialog) + - Support optional arguments for environments + +Compare with the latest stable release this is the culmination of 1 +year of hard work, and we sincerely hope this you will enjoy the +results. The changes are too numerous to summarize in a few words, +with initial unicode support as the flagship of new features, jump +directly to the end of this message if you want to know more. + +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. + +See the file RELEASE-NOTES for some known problems in that release. + +In case you are wondering what LyX is, here is what +http://www.lyx.org/ has to say on the subject: + + 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 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. + + 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. + + 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. + +You can download LyX 1.5.0beta2 here (the .bz2 are compressed with +bzip2, which yields smaller files): + + ftp://ftp.lyx.org/pub/lyx/devel/lyx-1.5.0beta2.tar.gz + ftp://ftp.lyx.org/pub/lyx/devel/lyx-1.5.0beta2.tar.bz2 + +Note that due to the ammount of changes no patch is provided to upgrade +from version 1.4.4. + +Prebuilt binaries (rpms for linux distributions, Mac OS X and Windows +installers) should soon be available at + ftp://ftp.lyx.org/pub/lyx/devel/ + + +If you find what you think is a bug in LyX 1.5.0beta2, 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/. If you can't find the answer there, +e-mail the LyX users' list (lyx-users @ lists.lyx.org). + +Enjoy! + +The LyX team. + + +What's new in version 1.5.0 (beta 2)? +---------------------------- + +* Unicode + +LyX 1.5's big goal was to use unicode internally and so resolve a slew +of existing problems with special characters and non-alphabetic +languages. LyX 1.5 is able to output unicode (in addition to +encodings current available), so that you can use LaTeX's new utf8 +encoding or such brand new typesetting systems as XeTeX. +Since the change to unicode touched much of the code base and some +areas still need a cleanup it is very likely that some bugs related to +the unicode transition still exist. Please have a look at the Known +bugs in LyX 1.5 page if you encounter a bug that seems to be related +to unicode. If it's not there, then please report it to the lyx-devel +mailing list. + +* Integrated CJK support + +The very first result of the Unicode transition is that we have finally +merged in the externally maintained CJK-LyX branch. + +* Multiple views of the same buffer + +LyX can now display multiple views of the same buffer. I.e., you can +now open a single document in multiple windows and work on different +parts of it synchronously. + +* Outliner and embedded TOC + +LyX has another long-awaited feature: a basic outliner mode, in which +you can move chapters and sections around in the Table of Contents +dialog. (The outliner has been backported and was released with LyX +1.4.4.) The TOC dialog is now a dock widget, embedded in the main window. + +* Session managment + +LyX is now able to remember window size and position and it will +reopen the documents you worked on last time around. If you've +selected the feature in the Preferences dialog, it'll even move the +cursor to the place you were working on last! Furthermore, toolbars +can (finally!) be switched on/off in View->Toolbars and moved about in +the LyX window. The session managment will remember their state. + +* Source code Viewer + +As a kind of "anti-preview-latex", a dialog was implemented that lets +you view the source code of a given paragraph/selection or the whole document. -Read more about LyX (including screen shots) at: +* New Font Selection Interface - http://www.lyx.org/ +LyX's font selection abilities have been one of its weakest and most +outdated components. A completely new interface was implemented that +provides access to the power of LaTeX's font selection scheme. + +* Tabular extensions -What can LyX do? ----------------- +LyX's table support is certainly less powerful than that of +LaTeX. support for the booktabs package was implemented, which +provides beautiful and elegant tabulars. + -A very incomplete feature list: +* Glossaries -- "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 postscript figures support -- 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) +Native LyX support for the nomencl package was implemented. With this, +you can treat your document with all sorts of nomenclatures, +glossaries and fancy notations. -How stable is LyX? ------------------- +* Tabbed Widget -This release is considered stable, but as with any software, you should -take appropriate back-up steps in a production environment. +LyX now uses tabbed widgets to display multiple documents. -Where can I get it? -------------------- +* Enhanced Math Toolbars -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. +The math toolbar was enhanced significantly. Drop down menus were +added, that allowed to integrate all of the math panel' content to the +math toolbars. +Since this input method is much easier than the clumsy panel, the math +panel itself has been removed and superseeded by the toolbars. -The main LyX site is +* Frontend News - ftp://ftp.lyx.org/pub/lyx/ +LyX 1.5 will use the Qt4 toolkit. This is especially good news for +Windows users, since there's an official, GPL version of Qt4. They no +longer have to rely on an unofficial port of the Unix Qt3 library to +Windows. The good old XForms frontend went the way of the dodo. It +was both hated and loved, and certainly shaped the unique look of LyX +in the past. It was finally killed off, however, by the switch to +unicode. The Qt3 frontend was removed. The work on the GTK frontend +has been transfered to a branch because its development has +essentially stalled. -with mirrors at +* Change tracking enhancements - 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: +Major parts of the change tracking code were rewritten addressing +several problems that existed in the existing implementation. - ftp://ftp.lyx.org/pub/lyx/stable/lyx-1.1.6.tar.gz - ftp://ftp.devel.lyx.org/pub/lyx/lyx-1.1.6.tar.gz +* Converter file cache -and at the mirrors listed above. +A cache for converted files, such as included figures, was +implemented. This can speed up LyX's performance considerably when +displaying documents with many included figures that need conversion +to a format that can be rendered on screen. The converter file cache +is disabled by default, and it can be enabled in the Preference +Settings dialog, in the Converters section or, if you want to use it, +add the line -You need to have XForms version 0.88 or newer to compile your own -version. Version 0.88 is highly recommended. LyX should also compile -with 0.89. + \use_converter_cache true -Credits -------- +to your preferences file. -The LyX Team is composed of volunteers from around the world. Many, many -people have helped make the 1.1.x releases possible, including: +The default maximum age of a cached file is 6 months. You can change +that with the line - 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, ... + \converter_cache_maxage xxx -Special thanks should go to Matthias Ettrich who started it all. +where xxx is the maximum age in seconds. -Feedback --------- +* Unified Windows installer -Please direct any comments or questions to the appropriate mailing list as -described on the LyX homepage (http://www.lyx.org/). +The two windows installers are being merged and bug reports regarding +both installers are welcome. -Enjoy! +* Minor user interface improvements + +Apart from the described major changes, several minor improvements of +the user interface have been made, such as: + + - Syntax highlighting for the user preamble and the LaTeX log file + - Better parsing of BibTeX databases (in the citation dialog) + - Support optional argument for environments + +* Under the hood + +As usual, one big task has been the ongoing code cleanup of the LyX +core. Performing this cleanup makes the code more understandable and +easier to maintain. It also leads inevitably to a more robust +application. Nonetheless, it's an unfortunate fact of life that ugly +code is sometimes faster than pretty code. We're well aware that LyX +1.4 is slower than LyX 1.3. One important goal of this 1.5 development +series has been to bring this speed back. + +** Bug fixes -The LyX Team +Lots of long-lasting bugs have been fixed, as documented in LyX +bugzilla. Probably some new ones have been introduced instead ;-)