Laura:
>> The reason the guitar chord notation got co-opted for text annotations
>> is that many, many users needed a text annotation of some kind.
Bryan:
> No. This is a reason for developing a text annotation system, not a reason
> for co-opting the guitar chord notation. Couldn't they have developed
> something new instead of messing up something that already existed?
Not all users are developers. With my hardware, the only ABC app I can
run is BarFly, which is not user-extensible. For one group of projects
I needed something - anything - that would let me put 1700ish ornament
signs into the ABC score and let me print them in staff notation after
a fashion. So I just used things like "=" and "||" to represent them,
or in some places used Mac-specific 8-bit characters. This looks
horrible with recorder or flute music because they crash into the
noteheads, but at least I know I've got an accurate transcription of
the manuscripts I was working with. Someday some piece of ABC software
will be able to print it in a score somebody else but me can read, maybe
after a bit of trivial search/replace.
This particular user doesn't give a damn about conflicts with the guitar
chord syntax because I never need to write guitar chordings (and usually
remove them from other people's ABC before using it myself).
The Internet tune exchange aspect of ABC is also irrelevant to this
stuff since I've never shared the bulk of it in source form with anybody
else and am not likely to any time soon.
Developers are *not* the only people who get a say in what ABC ought
to be, or what it should be used for.
Question prompted by the above: is there any ABC implementation out
there with the ability to automatically place guitar chords or text
annotations clear of notes on leger lines?
Entirely non-ABC-related question: is there a free or bundled-with-an-OS
TrueType Mac symbol font with sharp, flat and natural signs?
=================== <http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/> ===================
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