Today, I want to save you $800. You will make gorgeous pages and beautiful mathematics because of what you're about to read. Even if you don't write math and science pieces, you may still find that what I'm going to show you creates wonderful page layout.

I began this series on open source software by describing OpenOffice. During the past year, I found a piece of software that has almost entirely supplanted my use of OpenOffice. It does beautiful presentations and amazing text layout. However, it is a more specialized piece of software that the common user may not need.

LYX

I discovered LYX because I teach math and science and need to use a lot of mathematics in my writing. The formula editor in Microsoft Office is a slow because it is entirely by mouse. The one in OpenOffice is a little easier. It allows either awkward mouse usage or keyboard input. Unfortunately, the output of either program is unattractive and awkward to work with...especially when making a presentation slide show.

I learned about LATEX, a language for page layout, that does gorgeous formulas. I'll review it later this week, but what scared me away was that it has a steep learning curve. That's when I discovered LYX, a friendly graphical front-end to LATEX.

LATEX is a terrifying programming language that produces gorgeous page layout. It makes books, letters, presentation slideshows, articles, and attractive mathematics. LYX hides the programming language behind a friendly front-end that feels a lot like a word processor. Better still, when you're ready, you can use LATEX to access advanced or arcane functions.

LYX is at first uncomfortable for the word processor user. There are no options for choosing font or font size. There are only labels. Every single piece of text in the document is labeled according to what its job is. It is "standard", "Section", "subsection", "margin note" or one of the other options. When you print the document, LYX then decides what it should look like based on its function. This is just like the styles that are in most word processors (the ones most people don't use). LYX forces their use.

As the user, you can install different templates. If you're really amazing, you can even make your own! If you're making a book, there are at least 5 different templates. I've fallen in love with "Memoir." That means you can easily play with layout and try different templates.

What if you're doing a slideshow? LYX requires a bit of LATEX knowledge, but it's easy. There is the Beamer class, Prosper, FoilTex, Slideshow, and a few others. I like Beamer, but hey all look good. I output them as .pdf files which I can use on almost any computer. I also use the article option to create handouts. I get transitions, special effects, and gorgeous formulas. Now, this doesn't cure what has come to be known as "bad powerpoint." That's another story and no piece of software can cure it. That's a design issue.

LYX plays well with others. The files are plain ASCII text, so they are small. The formatting commands are put right in the text. LYX can output documents to a number of different formats. Most often, I use .pdf and .html. I can use .txt, .rtf, and several others. It does not play well with Microsoft Word, but a LYX user probably won't much care.

LYX excels at cross referencing, indexing, and creating a table of contents. In my own writing, I create modular documents. That means I can assemble the pieces into master documents in many different ways (more on that later this week). LYX makes it easy and it ensure that all my links and cross references work.

There is one final point that will cause word processor users don't like about LYX. What you see on the screen is not what you will see on the printed page. On the screen, margin notes look like another paragraph (in a box). On the page, they are in the margin. On the screen, a figure may be placed in one place. On the page, it is somewhere else. On the screen, there is no way to judge how many pages a document will require.

This doesn't matter! After you use it for a while, you will recognize that LYX was programmed by experts in page design. It "knows" what makes a page look good. It takes care of hyphenation, the spread of words on the page, justification, and placement of text objects. There are consistent rules for placing every single element. After some frustrating learning experiences, you discover how to work with it. It will do a consistently better job than you (unless you are trained in page design).

Look at it this way. In a larger business, the boss can't do all jobs well. He may be an accounting geek, but he's no good at public relations or advertising design. He hires specialists to accomplish these tasks. LYX is your specialist on page layout. You are the expert on the words. Let LYX place them on the page in an attractive way. It's like making the step from a small business to a larger business. You have to give up some control for better results. Just hire good people you can trust.

LYX is "good people."

By the way, I've saved you a fortune today...depending on what you see as the competitor to Lyx. If you think it's Microsoft office, I've saved you $150 compared to the cheap version. If you think it's Scientific Workplace, I've saved you $850. If you think it's Adobe InDesign (and I would disagree) I've saved you $700. I'll enjoy the check. My students tell me I really need to update my wardrobe.

I want to save you hundreds of your dollars. If you're in a position to make software decisions for your school (or business), I can save you thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars. Feel free to send me part the savings. The magic word is "FOSS" which stands for "Free and Open Source Software."

In my personal life and my professional life, I use mostly FOSS. I use a few proprietary programs for various reasons, but most of the rest of it is FOSS. In all honesty, I do use a few proprietary programs: I love my Mac. However, this post and the next few are about FOSS. Try it! As I noted in my last 3 entries, we need to think outside the box.

OpenOffice

OpenOffice was my first introduction to FOSS. When you hear its name, think "Microsoft Office." It's a suite of programs that include a word processor, a spreadsheet, a database, a drawing program, and presentation software. I won't try to compare it to the Microsoft product. There are plenty of emotional arguments about that out there...and a few factual ones.

I will say that users of office software, either Microsoft or OpenOffice, rarely use even a fraction of what the software has available. For a huge example: how many of my readers use the "styles" on their word processors? This feature is a huge labor saver. It improves consistency of documents, portability, and it makes it easier to edit and change documents. Your boss wants headings to be blue? One quick change if you used styles.

There are a lot of other features you don't use because you don't need them. Many of us entirely avoid the entire database program in their office suite. People who could be well served by a database, use the spreadsheet instead. Of course, many of us (including me) don't most of the functions in the spreadsheet.

You probably won't miss most of the features in Microsoft Office if you switch to OpenOffice. You may have to relearn the interface, but it really isn't that different. Ever move to a new town? Migrating to a new piece of software is much easier. Try it out. The price is right.

I'll offer you a discount on that first check you're sending me. The cheap version of Microsoft office costs only $150. The professional version costs $500. By that logic, I've saved most of you $150. That should pay for the new graphing calculator I really want.

More Software

Just a quick preview: over the next few days, I want to note a few more programs to try out. At the end, I want to do two things I didn't do when I covered this topic next year. First, I want to talk about use of this software in school. Second, I want to talk about familiarity vs. functionality.

The software I plan to cover includes: LYX, KeyJNote, Dr. Geo, GIMP, Inkscape, Linux, LATEX, Firefox, Thunderbird, Seamonkey, F-Spot, Xournal, Tellico, Scribus, and Moodle. I have a few days, so I may think of some other software. Save some money.