Re: [abcusers] Re : Abacus 1.0.0
Jack Campin wrote: BarFly has a serious, fundamental, far-too-deeply-wired-in-to-change design mistake here, which you need to avoid repeating. No, it's not too deeply wired in to change. The reason why I haven't changed it to work with separate windows in the way that you suggest is that it would lead to a very confusing interface. BarFly is a multiple document program, and opens one window for each file. It follows Apple's Human Interface Guidelines by keeping all the information pertaining to that file together in one window. If I were to do as you suggest and use three windows per file, anyone who had lots of files open (which I do all the time) would have difficulty keeping track of which staff display corresponds to which abc text, and to which index of tunes. If BarFly was a Windows program and I followed Microsoft's multiple document architecture it would be even worse, as the whole thing would run inside an outer frame window, with the menus at the top of that, and the existing windows appearing as child windows inside. One of these days it may happen. A recent change to BarFly creates the same problem in the lateral dimension: the panels used to be stacked vertically, but now the source and index panels are side by side, which makes very wide ABC source (like a lot of mine) impossible to view or edit in split- screen mode, particularly since linewrap scrambles alignment between lines and there's no unwrapped display option with horizontal scroll. I find the new layout gives me more space, as the index doesn't need much width. On my 14 Powerbook display I can get about 130 characters wide in the abc text pane (using 9pt Monaco font), which seems to be quite enough for all practical purposes. And I would *hate* it if anything decided to float on top of either source or staff notation, getting in the way of reading and editing. Me too - I hate floating palettes. The way to do this is with separate windows that can be shuffled like any others in the user interface. The mail program Eudora (at least for the Mac - I presume the PC version is basically similar) gets this right: the list of messages in a folder is in one window, and when you open a message from the list it's in a separate window. The comparison with Eudora is invalid. Eudora is basically a single document program, in the sense that you can have only one email account open at a time. All the windows it opens (and it can have many) pertain to that same email account. If you switch to a different email account it closes all its existing windows before opening the new ones. BarFly's split-screen model has also wasted hundreds of sheets of paper for me. The print command is mode-dependent: in split-screen mode it prints the contents of the staff notation panel only, in text mode it prints the source. Particularly with a single-tune file, it is far too easy to assume you'll always get staff-notation printout if you just select Print (printing ABC source is a rare operation for most people). If there were separate windows for each kind of display, the basic Mac model where Print prints your current window would operate. (And would allow direct printing of the tune list, which needs an intermediate step at present as there's no place to put it in the user interface). Yes, I appreciate the problem with printing. The other way to do it would be to have three separate Print commands, or to add a set of radiobuttons to the Print... dialog to let you select which pane is to be printed. Pretty much every other application that offers alternative views on a single file does it by putting each view in a separate moveable window: spreadsheets use separate windows for charts, browsers use separate windows for displaying HTML source, databases offer list and form views. The only genre I can think of where single-window split-pane is the norm, and for good reason, is file comparison utilities. Try text editors and word processors, most of which offer split-screen views for looking at different parts of the text simultaneously, and all* of which work exactly like BarFly. * At least the ones which I have used, which include: MS-Word MacWrite Ready Set Go MPW Shell Editor Codewarrior IDE editor Phil Taylor To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [abcusers] Re : Abacus 1.0.0
I can't see the point of taking up valuable space on the screen for something you aren't using all the time. But for browsing several tunes it could be usefull. Maybe if this subwindow would stay on top and doesn't disappear if we load a tune (so we could move it at a corner of the screen), then we could choose another tune and so on. BarFly has a serious, fundamental, far-too-deeply-wired-in-to-change design mistake here, which you need to avoid repeating. It has two display modes, applied to open files: one allocates almost all the window to edit the ABC, much like any text editor. The other one splits the window into three panels; a staff notation display at the top, two panels under it showing the ABC source, and a list of X: field numbers and titles for all the tunes in the file. You can use the list to navigate the file (handy for large files); the source panel has the same functionality as when in single-pane mode. This is an infuriating waste of screen space. I normally use a very large monitor (21 greyscale) and even with that I find I don't have enough. I want to be able to see an entire A4 page of staff notation actual-size, and because of BarFly's multi-pane setup I can't, even on that monster. I think the Apple Cinema Display is the only screen that would allow it. (Where it gets silliest is with a multi-monitor setup: small screen for source, big one for staff notation - but the program won't let me). A recent change to BarFly creates the same problem in the lateral dimension: the panels used to be stacked vertically, but now the source and index panels are side by side, which makes very wide ABC source (like a lot of mine) impossible to view or edit in split- screen mode, particularly since linewrap scrambles alignment between lines and there's no unwrapped display option with horizontal scroll. And I would *hate* it if anything decided to float on top of either source or staff notation, getting in the way of reading and editing. The way to do this is with separate windows that can be shuffled like any others in the user interface. The mail program Eudora (at least for the Mac - I presume the PC version is basically similar) gets this right: the list of messages in a folder is in one window, and when you open a message from the list it's in a separate window. There are standard ways to shuffle windows depthwise in the Mac user interface: a Windows menu in the main menu bar for the application is the most common. Everybody understands how this works. Currently, if I click on the Window menu for Eudora, I get four items: a Send to Back command (with the keyboard shortcut displayed beside it), the addressee of this message (displayed in italic to indicate the message is open for writing), the sender of the other message I have open (the one I'm replying to), and the ABC folder. It lets you have any number of folders open, any number of messages within each folder, and edit any number of messages or text files at once. For most purposes that interface is a lot faster, more intuitive and more standard than the one BarFly provides. BarFly's split-screen model has also wasted hundreds of sheets of paper for me. The print command is mode-dependent: in split-screen mode it prints the contents of the staff notation panel only, in text mode it prints the source. Particularly with a single-tune file, it is far too easy to assume you'll always get staff-notation printout if you just select Print (printing ABC source is a rare operation for most people). If there were separate windows for each kind of display, the basic Mac model where Print prints your current window would operate. (And would allow direct printing of the tune list, which needs an intermediate step at present as there's no place to put it in the user interface). Pretty much every other application that offers alternative views on a single file does it by putting each view in a separate moveable window: spreadsheets use separate windows for charts, browsers use separate windows for displaying HTML source, databases offer list and form views. The only genre I can think of where single-window split-pane is the norm, and for good reason, is file comparison utilities. === http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/ === To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [abcusers] Re : Abacus 1.0.0 launch
IT SUPPORTS NOTATIONS like [Af2], ... I don't know why it's not in the standard, with for example a rule saying that in such a notation the longest note prevails in the counting of the times, for example I've gone for highest note prevails in the counting of the times so you can do things like - X:1 T:The Cotillion C:Trad (Bosham Band) M:4/4 L:1/8 K:G [G4D4][d4B,4]|[B2D4]AB [G2B,4]AB|[c2E4]B2[A2D4]G2|[FD4]GAF [D3A,3]D| Perhaps it should be by length of the first note in the chord. This is a very good idea, but the semantics I'd need in every instance where I've wanted it would be that the *shortest* note counts. This is more reliable than hoping you don't get pedal notes above the melody. (I suspect that most keyboard arrangements of Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring would have zillions of those). If you insist on the first note for counting you're probably going to clash with other uses of note order within chords, e.g. the way BarFly uses it to let you specify ties or slurs to and from notes within the chord. This is the sort of thing you can do: X:1 T:test M:C L:1/4 K:C [(BG(D2] A) [(cAE2)] B)| which draws slurs B - A D2 - E2 c - B and gets the timing right. I'm not sure quite how expressive BarFly's slur/tie mechanism for chords is; I haven't yet encountered anything I can't do with it, but it's not something I make much use of, and the syntax is so strange there may be non-obvious gotchas. Does any existing software attach any significance to the order of notes in a chord? ABC2Win does too. But there, it's a bug. === http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/ === To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [abcusers] Re : Abacus 1.0.0 launch
In message [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes ACTION: SystemFile: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSVBVM60.DLL (File currently on disk was already up to date) I would have thought most people wouldn't have it and those with less computer expertise would be put off by lots of technical jargon along the lines of If you've got this file do this but if not do that. Windows XP (Pro) includes msvbvm60.dll as standard. I'd *guess* that it comes along with 2K and ME as well (on the line of reasoning that they were released after VB6), but until I'm back at work next week I can't confirm that. On the principle that most users confident enough to download a programme and install it will know what version of Windows they're running (), you could perhaps get some more evidence then give a simple 'if you're running Windows 95 or 98 you'll also need to download this file'. Which is what Jim does for Abc2Win (for vbrun300.dll) IIRC. HTH -- Steve Mansfield [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.lesession.demon.co.uk - abc music notation tutorial, the uk.music.folk newsgroup FAQ, and other goodies To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Skink sound (was Re: [abcusers] re : Abacus 1.0.0 launch)
Eric == Forgeot Eric [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Eric I think Skink can be a good program to quick glance throughout Eric some tunes (to find a nice one to play/study for example), so sad Eric it still has problem with the sound, Have you tried the latest version (that just came out last week)? I still have problems playing in Linux, but I didn't hit any problems on Windows in the small amount of testing I did there. I know you can't specify the instrument yet. -- Laura (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] , http://www.laymusic.org/ ) (617) 661-8097 fax: (801) 365-6574 233 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139 To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
