On 8 Jul 2005 at 23:23, Will Roberts wrote: > David W. Fenton wrote: > > > And my main objection was that I could never figure out, once the > > music was entered, how to (in Finale terms): > > > > 1. change the page percentage OR > > > > 2. change the system percentage > > > > The music was TOO BIG. I wanted it smaller. I couldn't figure out a > > way to do that. And the result was something I'd never show anyone > > else, because it looked like a kindergarten exercise. > > This is done via Layout > Document Setup, I think.
Well, I'm sure I looked at that (I couldn't save the file, so it no longer exists), since I definitely went menu hunting to try to figure out where such settings might exist. But I apparently didn't find it. I just tried one of the sample files and see that you change this by choosing a different staff size (based on their raster sizes, I guess). The results are nearly as unacceptable as the original, because it maintains interstaff spacing (up to a certain point, at which it then leaps to a different interstaff spacing, but I don't know exactly what controls that change). It looks like there are more settings in HOUSE STYLES | ENGRAVING RULES that have an impact on this. And, of course, this is what makes me crazy about Sibelius's "intuitive UI" reputation. In Finale, you operate directly on the score to adjust these things, but in Sibelius, you go to a dialog box and make changes to settings there that then change the way things look onscreen. At least in the first dialog (Document Setup) you have a preview to show you the results of your changes, but in the ENGRAVING RULES, you can't see the results onscreen. This is *easier*? I guess it's easier if you don't want to change it. This is what happens to me every time I try the Sibelius demo (and I'm still working with the Sibelius 3 demo) -- I come into it wanting to like it more than Finale, and then I realize why Finale, despite all its flaws, is still better than the alternative! And I still don't see the "intuitive" reputation of Sibelius as being earned. This is *not* about me knowing how to use Finale already -- there's a huge difference between controlling layout with settings in dialog boxes and doing it instead by operating directly on the layout objects onscreen, as in Finale. -- David W. Fenton http://www.bway.net/~dfenton David Fenton Associates http://www.bway.net/~dfassoc _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
