What about a LaTeX class editor (Score 1)

Assuming Lyx or Scientific word provide adequate editing interfaces, it strikes me that the missing piece is a LaTeX class editor (a la CSSEdit) that helps you modify or create classes to achieve your desired layout.

My experience with LaTeX, Lyx etc is similar to the original poster's and my primary problems are in getting the class right, not in generating the content. For what it's worth, I find the KomaScript classes to be the best basis for modern-looking documents with reasonable fonts.

Perhaps there is also an opportunity here for a service provider to offer LaTeX class design services.