Using Comment notes the right way

[Daniel]

On 2023-11-15 23:31, Richard Kimberly Heck wrote:
> On 11/15/23 05:47, Daniel wrote:
>> I recently discovered that I might have been using LyX Notes while I 
>> should have been using Comment notes. I was wondering why LyX Notes 
>> inherit the font (https://www.lyx.org/trac/ticket/12939). Comment 
>> notes do not inherit the font of the surrounding text which seems 
>> sensible for a comment. LyX Notes inherit and they seem to be fitting 
>> for commenting out parts of a document out.
>>
>> My guess is that the commenting feature is what people typically 
>> expect when inserting a "sticky note" (see PDF readers' similar 
>> features and other word processors). The prominent positioning of LyX 
>> Notes (as the only notes in the toolbar) and the visualization (as a 
>> sticky note) seems to have mislead me over the years to expect that 
>> they are the analogue for what is found in other applications. What I 
>> really wanted to do most of the time is put a comment into the text.
> 
> The difference is that comments are exported as comments, whereas notes 
> are never exported. So I would use a comment where in LaTeX I would do:
> 
> % this is a comment
> 
> This is probably not a very common thing for most users to do. I'm not 
> sure I've ever used a comment! I always use LyX Notes for, well, notes 
> to myself (or my collaborators), which I do not usually want in the 
> exported LaTeX (which I might be sending to a journal).
> 
> That said, LyX uses a comment *environment* for the export, which means 
> that you can \renewenvironment{comment} if you want them printed somehow.
> 
> It would be possible (and might make good sense) to make the toolbar 
> button a drop down sort of thing, like with View, so you could choose 
> the note type from there.
> 
> 
>> A couple of things would be nice.
>>
>> 1. Make Comments more prominent and visualize them as sticky notes 
>> instead of LyX Notes.
> 
> I'm curious whether you still think this is needed, given what I've just 
> said. I'm also not sure what you mean by "visualized as sticky notes". 
> Comments and notes look the same to me (in LyX), except for the color 
> choices.
> 
> 
>> 2. Allow free spacing in Comments. That is typically a feature in 
>> sticky notes in other applications which is handy if one wants just to 
>> quickly type stuff down without bothering with special formatting.
> 
> Easy to do in Local Layout. Not to say it wouldn't be a good default. I 
> wouldn't want to do it now, though, as that is a format change (since 
> 'free spacing' would get eaten on conversion to older formats).
> 
> 
>> 3. Make it optional whether Comments are exported or not. Another 
>> typical feature. There could be both a global (for all comments) 
>> setting and a local (for individual comments).
> 
> Comments are always exported---as comments. If you want to make export 
> conditional (in a broadly global way), then use branches. Or you can do 
> something like:
> 
> InsetLayout Note:Comment
>      LatexName MyComment
>      Preamble
>          \newenvironment{MyComment}{...}{...}
>      EndPreamble
> End
> 
> To get local control, define a Flex inset and give it an argument which 
> acts as a flag: Visible or not. I.e., if the flag is empty, it acts like 
> a comment; if not, then it acts like some other environment, or just 
> prints the argument.
> 
> One thing that would be cool, actually, would be to be able to define 
> new kinds of Note insets, the way we do Flex insets, but have them then 
> be handled like other notes. E.g.:
> 
> InsetLayout Note:MyNote
>      Etc
> End
> 
> And now that would appears in the Notes menu and context menu.
> 
> Riki

By "visualized as sticky notes", I meant that the (default) toolbar 
button for LyX Notes shows a sticky note icon and the inset has a yellow 
color (though not a very pleasant one). I don't see why sticky notes on 
a text should inherit font. Also, if you use LyX Notes for comments to 
collaborators, isn't it annoying when you put a note on a heading and 
get this massive inset due to font inheritance?

Even if the toolbar would provide all different note insets, I still 
think that it could be improved. You say that you use LyX Notes because 
these are comments to your collaborators and you don't want them to be 
in the final LaTeX file send to a journal. But couldn't there be a case 
where you want some people to get the comments in LaTeX but not others? 
Why do I have to make a decision on this by choosing a particular note. 
Yes, I could put stuff into branches but it feels a bit like taking a 
sledgehammer to break a nut. I must confess that I have never really 
used branches. But it seems to me that a seemingly simple decisions 
about whether notes should be exported shouldn't depend on having used 
branches or a specific note type rather than another.

Another awesome thing would of course be even the option to export the 
notes to PDF. But I am getting carried away...

It just seems to me that the default commenting in LyX taking could be 
improved to be more useful to the user.

Daniel