April 10, 2019
Formatting Dissertations, Presentations, and Blogs with LATEX
TEX, LATEX, and LYX
TEX is a typesetting language with macro capability.
LATEX is a macro package built upon TEX.
LYX is a visual document processor that uses LATEX to do its typesetting.
This post is not designed to convince you to use LaTeX or LYX. If you have an interest in leveraging
LATEX to make documents and presentations, this post will get you started. LYX can be used to
create and index documents with complex formatting like equations, figures, and bibliographies. I
use LYX primarily for long, complex documents like my dissertation, but I also use it to format
short documents consistently, like these blog posts.
Articles
First, select the type of document by selecting the following menus: Document > Settings. The
document class can be selected from a dropdown menu. Most of the document classes I use are for
journal articles, like SPIE Proceedings; however, you will have to find or create document classes
for special applications. For example, I use the Beamer Article (Standard Class) for these blog
posts.
Figure 1: LYX Document Settings with the Beamer Article class selected in the Document Class dropdown.
In order to format a document you need to populate one or more Environments; LYX automatically formats content according to its Environment.
-Control+Space opens the Environments drop down menu
-Control+P+2 inserts a numbered section
-Control+P+S inserts standard text
-Command+R publishes a PDF
Presentations
LYXcan also be used to create PowerPoint-like presentations using a document class called Beamer. Beamer is especially suited to larger presentations and allows you to use the same syntax to present text, figures, and tables in documents and presentations. Unlike documents, you must manually specify the start and end of a page (slide) by inserting an Environment called a Frame.
-Insert frame using the Environments drop down menu & selecting Frame
-Control+B inserts a bulleted list
-Control+Return+Return ends the frame
Tips
1. To change the appearance of text inside of an environment: select the text then select the
following menus: Edit > Text Style > Customized...
(a) Typewriter is used for code
(b) SmallCaps are used for menus, buttons, and keyboard keys.
2. Command+R inserts an Environment for LATEX code
3. Sections are automatically indexed in the PDF
References
1. LyX - The Document Processor [online], Available: http://www.lyx.org/ (Accessed 16 Feb. 2003)
2. DeFazio, A. WRITING YOUR THESIS IN LYX — A SETUP GUIDE. Tangentially (2009). Available at: https://www.aarondefazio.com/tangentially/?p=19.
-Written by Parker Evans
