LyX ⇒ Move to lyx from Scientific Workplace?

[CSMR]

Hi. I'm thinking of moving to lyx from scientific workplace. Mainly because it gets updated while SW hasn't for several years, and there are some bugs that haven't been fixed, whereas lyx seems to be well-maintained and to have had a lot of useful features added over the years.
I have some questions about LyX:
-Is it well supported? Is there a forum where I can go to if I have a question about using the program? This forum seems small and the lyx webpage directs to some antiquated mailing list which works by e-mail.
-Why does it have its own file format (.lyx)? I want (or have) to use latex. Is the native format completely convertible to and from latex? Is it closer to latex than SW? (SW works with .tex files but there are one or two non-standard elements unless you specifically choose to save as standard latex.)
Thanks for your help.

[Stefan Kottwitz]

Hi CSMR,

welcome to the board!
You've already visited the LyX homepage, I don't have more information than you could find there. I'm occasionally using LyX when helping a LyX user, not for myself.

I would recommend to use LaTeX directly. There are very good LaTeX editors that may be useful for you especially if you're already having some LaTeX experience and want to have the full control instead of using some document processor built upon LaTeX.

Stefan

[Maksi]

Hi. I'm thinking of moving to lyx from scientific workplace. Mainly because it gets updated while SW hasn't for several years, and there are some bugs that haven't been fixed, whereas lyx seems to be well-maintained and to have had a lot of useful features added over the years.
I have some questions about LyX:
-Is it well supported? Is there a forum where I can go to if I have a question about using the program? This forum seems small and the lyx webpage directs to some antiquated mailing list which works by e-mail.
-Why does it have its own file format (.lyx)? I want (or have) to use latex. Is the native format completely convertible to and from latex? Is it closer to latex than SW? (SW works with .tex files but there are one or two non-standard elements unless you specifically choose to save as standard latex.)
Thanks for your help.

Yes, LyX is well-maintained and the support is quite alright. You can always ask questions either here or on the LyX mailing list which you can use like a forum via Nabble.

If you don't always want to get answers such as “I recommend using LaTeX instead”, then you should not ask too many questions here. The most frequent users are all LaTeX-users and sometimes do not even have the slightest idea of LyX – but still think to be able to answer any question related to LyX.

On the LyX mailing list on the other hand, you will not get too many LaTeX-related answers such as changing things that are rather LaTeX matters. So reading some LaTeX manuals and knowing how to apply them in LyX is very useful. And when you start your questions with “How can I implement this and that in LyX?” you will always get an answer

[localghost]

[...] If you don't always want to get answers such as “I recommend using LaTeX instead”, then you should not ask too many questions here. The most frequent users are all LaTeX-users and sometimes do not even have the slightest idea of LyX – but still think to be able to answer any question related to LyX. [...]

Well, here is your chance to give support to those who struggle with LyX. Obviously you are one of those few advanced users. So, you may offer your help here more frequently. Big words alone are not helpful.

[Stefan Kottwitz]

Hi Maksi,

good to have an experienced LyX user like you on board. I'm still remembering your very good article "LaTeX für die anderen" regarding LyX. It's of great value to have LyX and like the other users here I'm glad if I can provide some help when LyX users should have questions that can be solved by some LaTeX code.

Stefan

[CSMR]

Thanks for your advice. I will go for it. I like graphical user interfaces in general because humans process information differently from a CPU and that's why I'm looking for a WYSIWYG/M application.
I looked at the nabble forum but that seems to work by sending out lots of e-mails to the list, and to receive a reply you have to be subscribed to receive all the e-mails to the list. If I have a question I'll post here.
Thanks again.