LyX ⇒ Layout questions

[TriKri]

Hello!

I am writing my physics report using LyX. I write the text in word and then I import it into LyX. I like LyX since it is so strict and fixes much problem thanks of that, but it also creates some problem, if you don't know how to do it correctly of course.

Since I'm writing a report, the top level branches in the document are chapters. But it shows like "Chapter 1", then a new line, the "Introduction" (say my first chapter is intro). Instead I want it to be "1 Introduction". And a section, "1.1 The first section", etc. How do I fix that?

My next question is about the page numbers. At the title page and at the abstract page there is no page numbers. On the content page on the other hand there is, and it is 2. 2? Why? Then the first chapter comes and it has page number 1 as it should. ^^ Why is there a 2 as page number at the content page where there should really be no page number and how do I change/fix it? The first page number should be where chapter 1 starts.

My third question is about formatting the text. On the title page, I write the title, the author (which is my name), then I also want to write the name of my university, its location and finally the date of today. All this is going to be on separate rows. I can only find title, author, and date in the scroll down bar, but not the rest. How do I enter those two? As standard text? In that case I also haven't found any way to center the text. I would also like to be able to format the text more. Running text for example, is it even possible to center it? Or to make it bigger or with another font? Can I make custom text styles? How do I choose if the paragraphs are going to be justified or not, or whether a new paragraph is going to be marked by indenting the first line or making an empty line before it?

Then I also have a question about the chapter linking in the generated pdf file. Is it possible to make the chapters in the table of content link to the places in the document where the chapters are located? This is not as important though, just a cool feature!

[dimarcom]

check the answer to the post called "Chapter headings without the word chapter!"

[Maksi]

Since I'm writing a report, the top level branches in the document are chapters. But it shows like "Chapter 1", then a new line, the "Introduction" (say my first chapter is intro). Instead I want it to be "1 Introduction". And a section, "1.1 The first section", etc. How do I fix that?

You will need a chapter style for that. This depends on the document class you use. I like using Memoir, as it is very easy to configure. For the desired chapter style I would simply put \chapterstyle{section} into the LaTeX preamble (check also this link out). I do not know how to do it in other document classes, you will have to search the documentation of them. If you are using the standard report class, then I would recommend Memoir anyway, if you are using KOMA script, then check the KOMA handbook.

My next question is about the page numbers. At the title page and at the abstract page there is no page numbers. On the content page on the other hand there is, and it is 2. 2? Why? Then the first chapter comes and it has page number 1 as it should. ^^ Why is there a 2 as page number at the content page where there should really be no page number and how do I change/fix it? The first page number should be where chapter 1 starts.

Again, this is due to the settings of the document class that you use. You can configure page numbering by inserting some ERT; for the front matter (title, table of contents etc.) I use a a \pagenumbering{roman} on the first page to start a page numbering with lowercase roman numerals and \pagenumbering{arabic} on the first page of the first chapter to start a numbering with arabic numerals. They always start with number 1, as is usually done in books.

My third question is about formatting the text. On the title page, I write the title, the author (which is my name), then I also want to write the name of my university, its location and finally the date of today. All this is going to be on separate rows. I can only find title, author, and date in the scroll down bar, but not the rest. How do I enter those two? As standard text? In that case I also haven't found any way to center the text. I would also like to be able to format the text more. Running text for example, is it even possible to center it? Or to make it bigger or with another font? Can I make custom text styles? How do I choose if the paragraphs are going to be justified or not, or whether a new paragraph is going to be marked by indenting the first line or making an empty line before it?

Title page customization is such a individual task that there is no general setting in LaTeX/LyX for it. Again, the different document classes have different possibilities to do that, here is how I do it in Memoir. Title page customization is one of LyX’s few weaknesses, as far as I know.
Text style customization in the text can be done via the paragraph- and the ab-button.

Then I also have a question about the chapter linking in the generated pdf file. Is it possible to make the chapters in the table of content link to the places in the document where the chapters are located? This is not as important though, just a cool feature! 8-)

Yes, it is. Check the hyperref package to do that or be a little patient; easy hyperref support will be included in LyX 1.6.x which is currently in alpha status.