[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread] 

List:       lyx-users
Subject:    LyX for bill drafting
From:       Dan Fitch <dgfitch () gmail ! com>
Date:       2009-04-13 14:57:20
Message-ID: f8a037c40904130757j36e5c92fncf06fb7fee0843e6 () mail ! gmail ! com
[Download RAW message or body]

I have some general questions about using LyX for a somewhat different
type of publication than it is currently built for.

(As an aside, kudos to whoever coded the nested equation editing stuff. WOW.)


I'm curious if anyone else is trying to do this with LyX: I work at
the Wisconsin Legislature, which currently drafts bills and edits its
statutes and various other documents in a technical publishing suite
called QuickSilver, previously known in the 80s and 90s as InterLeaf.

Our current systems are somewhat template-based, like LyX, but
[unfortunately] the user base has gotten used to the idea of
formatting carrying semantic meaning; a problem I'm sure some folks on
this list have dealt with in the past. LyX tries to minimize this,
while still giving the user a good idea of what the finished product
will look like... which is awesome.

Current examples of our output, as a frame of reference for my questions:

statute: http://www.legis.state.wi.us/statutes/Stat0005.pdf
bill: http://www.legis.state.wi.us/2009/data/AB-1.pdf


We're trying to add more functionality (links, bookmarks) to our PDFs,
and possibly move to an open source editing environment in the future.
I have a few questions now after my experimenting, though!


1. The new hyperref stuff in 1.6 is very slick. Is there any way to
make a "cross reference" to a section or subsection, without adding a
label? So the user might say "As defined in s. 10.91" without having
to go to section 10.91 and adding a label?

2. Is there a facility for arbitrary section numbering that integrates
with LyX? I have seen ERT solutions that allow forcing a numbering
change; is there any way to do that through the LyX UI as of v1.6?

(Re: 1 and 2, I think we would possibly end up using section types
like Section* in the default article class and allowing the user to
input arbitrary numbers and letters at the beginning, and then having
an external filter to update labels at the correct points with the
correct names. That would then allow the users to quickly link to
arbitrary depths; a statute reference can go 6 levels deep with fairly
arbitrary numbering, like 10.91 (2m) (c) 1. a... Trust me, you
probably don't want to know more about that.)

3. Non-line-breaking sections. You will notice that if a "child"
subsection follows a section, it does not cause a line break. See the
example statute at the top after the TOC: "5.01  Scope.  (1)
Construction..." the section .01 flows directly into its first
subsection (1).  Is it possible to set up a custom document class to
do this? I'm a TeX novice at this point, so I'm just asking for "yes,
that is possible" or "no, don't even try it."

4. Line numbering. Is it possible with LaTeX to do line numbering on a
per-page, per-section-type basis? I can see how to turn it off and
back on, but look at the bill example -- the numbers need to start
over on each successive page. (Again, I have no idea why they do it
this way, but we have to figure out how to support it.)


Thanks for your time if you read this far. I really am amazed by the
program -- even if we can't quite mold it for legislation, I will
definitely be recommending it to my friends who are frustrated writing
academic papers in Word.

It makes me *want* to write a book. Scary.

Dan
[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]