I have been dancing around moving to LyX/LaTeX for formatting and printing documents. I have the MacTeX installation of the full TeX Live package and LyX 2.0. For longer writing projects I use Scrivener, which can compile Multimarkdown encoded documents to LaTeX. I am a complete novice regarding LyX/LaTeX, having completed about half of the LyX tutorial, and tried importing, formatting and printing a few simple shorter and longer documents. I plan to devote the day to completing the tutorial.
My writing is mostly letters, memos, short to medium length reports, and longer projects including proposals and articles. I always keep formatting to the simplest minimum possible. I would like to make the break and actually start using LyX/LaTeX, focusing initially on shorter documents. So far this has involved importing text or LaTeX coded documents into LyX, modifying the format to suit my tastes using the menu and toolbar. My ability to make documents look the way I want them to is limited. In addition, I have to start from scratch with each document. I am not developing what I think in LyX/LaTeX are called "layouts" that could be used repeatedly. I am conscious of the fact that this may be the kind of excessively broad question that makes it difficult for knowledgeable people to be helpful. Nevertheless, since I am to a large extent at a loss regarding the answer I will ask it: Where do I start? Perhaps better, how do I go about creating a layout for a document type. At this point the document would be very simple, e.g., a few pages, a flush left title with up to three lines of single spaced bold text using the same font only slightly larger than the body text, and a few flush left bolded section heads using the same font the same size as the body text. I understand that to getting conversant with LyX/LaTeX will require more than a little reading and study. My experience with software has been that I learn best in the context of trying to actually use the software. If anyone can venture a suggestion that would help me get going I would be very grateful. Sincerely, ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Eric Weir Decatur, GA USA eew...@bellsouth.net
