beamer usability

Scott Kostyshak skostysh at lyx.org
Fri Aug 18 15:20:39 UTC 2023


On Fri, Aug 18, 2023 at 10:59:20AM -0400, Neal Becker wrote:
> On Fri, Aug 18, 2023 at 10:13 AM Scott Kostyshak <skostysh at lyx.org> wrote:
> 
> > On Fri, Aug 18, 2023 at 07:49:45AM -0400, Neal Becker wrote:
> > > I've been using LyX for quite a while and beamer for even quite a while
> > > longer, but my knowledge of LyX is fairly superficial.
> > >
> > > I frequently produce slides which incorporate a graph on the left with
> > > bulleted text on the right.  An example LaTeX code is below.  I do need
> > to
> > > use ERT for the minipage.  The reason for the minipage is to shrink the
> > > text on the left.  I cut/paste LaTeX here because pasting LyX doesn't
> > seem
> > > to include the ERT.
> > >
> > > Since this structure is a bit tedious to enter I usually prefer to
> > > copy/paste the frame, changing the text and the figure but keeping the
> > > structure.
> > >
> > > This copy/pasting is a bit more difficult than I would hope.  Firstly, to
> > > successfully copy/paste a beamer frame it is best to make sure there is a
> > > frame separator.  Position the cursor just at the end of this frame
> > > separator before the frame you wish to copy, then select down to the end
> > of
> > > the frame.
> > >
> > > When pasting, it seems best to position cursor just after a frame
> > > separator.  If this is not done (frame separators not used) I frequently
> > > wind up with a frame title outside of a frame, a situation that seems
> > > difficult to recover from (although at least 1 time I did fix it by
> > > positioning the cursor near the start of the frame title and selecting
> > > "frame").
> > >
> > > Assuming I've placed the cursor at the end of the graphic of the frame
> > I'd
> > > like to copy, the procedure to get frame separator inserted seems
> > tedious.
> > > 1.  Hit enter.  Now I'm in "columns"
> > > 2. Hit dedent.  Now I'm still in "columns" but outside the frame
> > > 3. Change to "standard" . For some reason, this moves cursor back inside
> > > frame
> > > 4. Hit dedent again.  Now finally I can hit enter to produce the frame
> > > separator.
> > >
> > > Is there an easier way?
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > > Neal
> >
> > For your specific question, does this thread help you out?
> >
> >   https://www.mail-archive.com/lyx-users@lists.lyx.org/msg104013.html
> >
> > Basically, if you figure out a command sequence that does what you want
> > then you can bind it to a shortcut. I know this isn't out-of-the-box
> > user-friendly, but perhaps it helps your use case.
> >
> > More generally, I've also found similar workflows to be unexpectedly
> > complicated. I think that LyX's beamer workflow needs some improvements.
> > Thankfully, LyX's beamer support was hugely improved several years ago.
> > Before then, from what I understand it was a bunch of Beamer-specific hacks
> > cobbled together; now it is just a well-defined special case of a document
> > class. So I think the hard work is done, and all the required functionality
> > is there, we just need to improve the interface/workflow.
> >
> > I have some ideas, based on sporadic discussions on the list. But I have
> > no time to work on the code, and I do not want to start long conversations
> > unless there is a volunteer willing to work on the code. Anyone who would
> > be interested in working on the code, let me know and I will put the time
> > into organizing my thoughts.
> >
> > In the meantime, I think it would be helpful to collect several use cases
> > that are unexpected complicated, like the one that you bring up.
> >
> > Thanks.  I've never learned about key bindings or command sequences, maybe
> it's time to learn about that.
> Since insert frame separator is no longer on the menu it seems my procedure
> has become more complex.
> I looked at the email thread.  First thing suggest edit/start new parent
> environment(frame).  I don't see this in edit.  I'm on
> lyx-2.4.0beta3.

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Does Insert > Separated Frame [above/below] help?

Scott
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