At 7:16 PM 09/08/03, Noel Stoutenburg wrote: >First, I find, to my disappointment, that 2k4 does not fix a lyrics >issue I previously reported, in which editing previously entered lyrics >via "type into score" and "edit lyrics" do not give the same result. [...]
I don't have 2k4 yet, so I can't try your example in the new version, but what you describe sounds like the same situation as it's been for a while now. If your point is that the whole lyric system is kludgy and awkward and very much needs an overhaul, I am in complete agreement. But to phrase it by saying that doing the same thing in both "type in score" and "edit lyrics" yields different results just isn't accurate. In the procedure you describe, you're not doing the same thing at all; you're doing two entirely different things. The confusion seems to arise from the (understandable) misconception that when you type a hyphen -- in either context -- it's just like typing a character, which it most certainly is not. When you type a hyphen (or space, or return) in "type in score" mode, it isn't like typing any other character; it's executing a command to move to the next syllable place. Similarly, when a hyphen (or space, or return) appears in the Edit Lyrics window, it isn't treated like a normal character; it's a separator code that indicates a new syllable. Thus in your example, where you say: [in type in score] >2) select the syllable "seven", and backspace to remove the last two >letters, and attempt to type a hyphen, and then the second syllable. you aren't adding a hyphen character at all, you're advancing your cursor to the next syllable box. And where you say: [in Edit Lyrics] >2) insert a hyphen so that it reads "sev-en"; close the menu and >observe the result in the score; you aren't inserting a hyphen character at all; you're creating a new syllable in the middle of the list and shifting every syllable that follows it. -- As I said, I'm still in 2k2, but I gather that except for fixing hyphenation over a system break (hurray!) lyrics haven't changed much in 2k3 or 2k4. The lyric system needs a whole lot of fixes, on both the type-in-score and edit-lyrics side. For one thing, as part and parcel of a major revamp of the embarrassingly bad UI on the Edit Lyrics box, characters such as the hyphen which are really codes need to appear as some sort of grayed out symbol, as they do in so many word processors, so that it will be immediately clear that it's a special code character. Furthermore, there should be a mode available where you can see the actual tags and type them out literally. That would open the door to all sorts of lyric/hyphen flexibility which is currently lacking -- hard hyphens, spaces and returns which don't act as separators; non-hyphen characters acting like a hyphen; individual adjustment of hyphen spacing styles, baseline, etc. One doesn't require these things often, but when one does it's a real bitch, and one of the few things that is almost impossible to kludge your way out of. This would also pave the way for adding additional special code characters for the Edit Lyrics box which would affect multiple Click Assignment -- eg, a skip code for melismas, a stop code, etc. -- which could make things a lot faster for those of us who use Edit Lyrics and waste a lot of type clicking around in Shift Lyrics mode to get things lined up right. On the Type-in-Score side, what is needed is a function which does a one-time read through of the lyric data and rearranges all the syllables so that they're in a logical tidy order in the Edit Lyrics box but everything remains the same on the page. Say it's called "Clean up Lyric Data". Once that is in place, you can have an option called "Automatic Clean up Lyric Data", analogous to Automatic Update Layout and Automatic Music Spacing. Those users who typically stay in Type in Score mode and rarely if ever use Edit Lyrics can leave this turned on, so that no matter what lyrics they type in, it will keep itself in proper order in the Edit Lyrics box. The point of this is that on the rare occasions when a Type in Score user does look at Edit Lyrics he isn't faced with the baffling jumble which leads so many to despair of using Edit Lyrics at all. A happy side effect of this would be that is the option is left on while in Edit Lyrics, any of the "dangerous" changes in the Edit Lyrics box -- such as inserting a syllable which would shift all the syllables over, or -- would be rendered impossible because the automatic cleanup would immediately reject the new syllable unless it's in its proper place. mdl _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
