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Reasons to use LyX instead of LaTeX

This page lists reasons for using LyX instead of LaTeX. The page was started after this mail was sent to the user's list. The person later wrote:

I started writing my thesis with LyX, and I'm getting addicted :) so far so good! As someone stated it's much easier (at least for me) to concentrate on the contents with LyX, and I can do everything I used to do with my text editor. Another big advantage is the immediate visual feedback when writing in math-mode; it's very helpful with long and cluttered equations. I like very much the table editor too, and the ability to roll up footnotes and floating objects.

Some advantages

The main thing I like is that I don't need to write all the code, which always distracts me from concentrating on my text and I'm sure I'd be chasing mistakes in the code all the time :) /Katrin
The math mode allows you to enter formulas interactively.
- You can still write \alpha in math-mode to insert an alpha symbol
Insert->TeX offers you a way to put arbitrary (La)TeX code at (almost) any point of your document.
A simple text editor doesn't have a TOC (table of contents) that allows you to easily navigate the document.

Some disadvantages

I can use any editor for LaTeX-files, but I "have to"¹ use LyX as the editor ² of .lyx-files.
Less compatibility, i.e. you can't send your .lyx-file to co-workers (although you can always do Export->LaTeX and send a .tex-file when it works)
LyX does not give you the option of modifying the LaTeX code to fix the bugs in LyX.

Category: Uncategorized

¹ Strictly speaking, you can edit .lyx-files with any editor, but you need to know what you are doing and the internal syntax of .lyx-files (↑)

² LyX does allow you to map the keyboard shortcuts. (↑)