Are you tired using MS word? and do you not want to spend your entire time with shifted figures and graphs on it? So, there is an alternative way to publish really smart and elegant documents which also comply with the standard book and academic article formats. Most likely, you have understood what will be explained in this article, yes it is LaTeX.
LaTeX is a document preparation system. When writing, the writer uses plain text as opposed to the formatted text found in WYSIWYG word processors like Microsoft Word, LibreOffice Writer and Apple Pages. The writer uses markup tagging conventions to define the general structure of a document (such as article, book, and letter), to stylise text throughout a document (such as bold and italics), and to add citations and cross-references. A TeX distribution such as TeX Live or MikTeX is used to produce an output file (such as PDF or DVI) suitable for printing or digital distribution. Within the typesetting system, its name is stylised as LATEX.
LaTeX is widely used in academia for the communication and publication of scientific documents in many fields, including mathematics, statistics, computer science, engineering, chemistry, physics, economics, linguistics, quantitative psychology, philosophy, and political science. It also has a prominent role in the preparation and publication of books and articles that contain complex multilingual materials, such as Tamil, Sanskrit and Greek.[5] LaTeX uses the TeX typesetting program for formatting its output, and is itself written in the TeX macro language.
However, LaTeX is a code based software and does not work with an interface you can easily click and select what shapes and alignment you want. Therefore, learning LaTeX can be defined as a long-term process sometimes. But If you really need to learn something easier and practical way to publish your papers in a good shape and LaTeX format, LyX can be your vital editor which helps to improve your visual expression in terms of academic publishing.
LyX
LyX is a document processor that encourages an approach to writing based on the structure of your documents (WYSIWYM) and not simply their appearance (WYSIWYG).
LyX combines the power and flexibility of TeX/LaTeX with the ease of use of a graphical interface. This results in world-class support for creation of mathematical content (via a fully integrated equation editor) and structured documents like academic articles, theses, and books. In addition, staples of scientific authoring such as reference list and index creation come standard. But you can also use LyX to create a letter or a novel or a theatre play or film script. A broad array of ready, well-designed document layouts are built in.
LyX is for people who want their writing to look great, right out of the box. No more endless tinkering with formatting details, “finger painting” font attributes or futzing around with page boundaries. You just write. On screen, LyX looks like any word processor; its printed output — or richly cross-referenced PDF, just as readily produced — looks like nothing else.
Nice looking LaTeX documents with LyX
Many researchers have been using LyX for a long while and still developing in order to provide satisfaction as well as LaTeX gives.
Here are some examples created by LyX :
Free and Open Source
LyX is a free and open source software and also has compatibility with Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. The source code is shared on the webpage so that users can change, and distribute the software to anyone and for any purpose.
