While LyX is not perfect and does not wholly encapsulate LaTeX in my experience it provides 99% of the functionality for 90% of the people. While it complicate

While LyX is not perfect and does not wholly encapsulate LaTeX in my experience it provides 99% of the functionality for 90% of the people. While it complicates things a bit when dealing with custom or non-standard LaTeX layouts, it makes writing so much easier and more efficient. One way to get the best of both worlds is to write the document in LyX until it is almost done (except some weird layout things for journals) and then export it to LaTeX and give it the final touches there.