On Jun 6, 2004, at 5:01 AM, dhbailey wrote:
Style sheets would be a fantastic addition to Finale!
I could be wrong, but my sense is that incorporating style sheets directly into Finale is too impractical to even consider as a feature request to MakeMusic.
What is less impractical, I think, is to achieve more or less the same thing with an auxiliary program operating on the XML data, sort of in the manner of Recordare's Dolet program.
As I understand it, the information captured in the XML data corresponds pretty closely to the basic information which we would expect to be preserved under any style -- the notes, markings, etc. -- whereas the information which is NOT included in the XML data corresponds pretty closely to the sort of information which we would expect to be adjusted following the style sheet -- size, font, layout, etc.
The auxiliary program, then, would have define a data structure for the style sheet itself -- size and font specs, various layout preferences, etc. -- along with an interface that allows the user to edit and save style sheets. Then there is a function which takes an XML file as input, combines it with a style sheet chosen by the user, and outputs a Finale file which will display the music according to the style definition.
In my opinion, an approach like that is much more practical than hoping that Coda is going to somehow implement style sheets directly into the Finale program, and it would be just as useful. I'm sure it could be written, it's just a question of whether there's enough demand for it to make it worth someone's while to do all the work.
My feeling is that this sort of definition of printed music is the way of a future. That is, the essence of your file is not a "Finale file" at all, but rather the basic XML file, combined with a style definition that tells how to display it. Finale is not the creator nor definer of the file, but rather a vehicle for displaying it or manipulating it. The new program I am describing serves a function analogous to that of a Web browser, with Finale being its output device. (Well, sort of. I realize the analogy isn't quite perfect.)
But I don't think that future is here quite yet.
mdl
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