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List:       lyx-users
Subject:    Re: Strategies for Writing Co-operation with Non-LyX Users?
From:       Ehud Kaplan <ehud.kaplan () mssm ! edu>
Date:       2009-01-26 16:07:41
Message-ID: 497DDFCD.4070900 () mssm ! edu
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My own problems with using Lyx for a committee-composed documents are 
much more prosaic:

   1. It is difficult to tell which is newly inserted text vs deleted
      text-- it is all blue on my screen
   2. There is no tracking of who changed what, as is nicely done in MS WORD
   3. There are no keyboard shortcuts for accepting/rejecting changes,
      making the process tedious
   4. Inserting notes into the text is not as nicely done as it used to
      be in previous version of MS WORD-- it is simply hard to see where
      the notes are, or what is their contents.

That being said, the tracking of changes is the MAIN reason I use Lyx in 
the first place, since, in general, I prefer Latex with Kile (under 
Linux) or WinEdt (under Windows), but Latex does not provide convenient 
ways of tracking changes, as far as I know.

E. Kaplan

Steve Litt wrote:
> On Monday 26 January 2009 09:29:16 am Vincent van Ravesteijn - TNW wrote:
>   
>>> While I agree, more or less, with Piero Faustini that _one_ way to
>>> push LyX further is to ignore other documents (especially .doc's) I
>>> still think that a tool should be interoperable meaning, except of
>>> getting it working on most operating systems, that it is able to
>>> handle most known/established document formats (painless
>>>       
>> import/export).
>>
>> Even if we can get LyX to handle 'all' document formats, saving your
>> work as e.g. MS Word format, will inevitably reduce the representation
>> of the document. That is, not all options of LyX are supported in the MS
>> Word format and vice versa.
>>
>> Thus, painless import/export won't be possible. Maybe we should find a
>> way to perfectly support content-only collaboration:
>>     
>
> Styles give you content-only collaboration. If you can find a way of 
> converting an MS Word doc, including its styles, into a LyX doc, including 
> styles, and vice versa, neither side needs to forego layout.
>
> So for instance, if the MS Word author has a paragraph in his "mycode" style, 
> convert it to LyX in the "mycode" environment. Then it's just a matter of 
> making the two environments look somewhat similar.
>
> When I was assigned main authorship of "Samba Unleashed", Sams Publishing sent 
> me (and all the contributing authors) the MSWord equivalent of a layout file 
> (I think they called it a style file), and a 4 page document on what styles 
> to use when. They forbid formatting without styles, and IIRC strongly 
> recommended against my making my own styles. The result was that my choice of 
> styles was dictated by the style guide, and once I got used to the style 
> guide, I didn't need to think about formatting at all -- I became a 
> content-only author, which pleased both Sams and me.
>
> At the start of a project with some using MSWord and some using LyX, it 
> wouldn't be that difficult to supply the LyXers with a complete layout file 
> and style guide, and the Worders with a complete style file and identical 
> style guide. Once done, as long as the LyX import and export preserved 
> paragraph and character styles, it would be pretty easy.
>
> SteveT
>
> Steve Litt
> Recession Relief Package
> http://www.recession-relief.US
>
>   


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