Using Comment notes the right way

[Daniel]

On 2023-11-16 10:58, Daniel wrote:
> 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
> 

As an alternative to the "sticky notes", a "speech bubble" seems to be a 
common symbol in modern word processors and pdf readers. So, maybe that 
could be used for proper comments and the "sticky notes" be retired from 
the toolbars *if* comments become more flexible to satisfy the need to 
not necessarily be exported.

Daniel