RE: partial rearrangement done, technical problems

2007-09-22 Thread Trevor Daniels

Graham

 Remember that I'm totally open to renaming this 
 chapter name (if we keep
 it as a chapter).  I'll do it as soon as I get 
 something better than
 Purpose-specific notation.
 

OK.  No objection to keeping them if the heading
is broadened.  So I tried headings like
esoteric topics, arcane incantations, and
rejected them all.  Going off to make a cup of
coffee I asked my wife what she would suggest.
She said instantly, Specialist topics or
Topics for Specialists.  I could add 
Specialist Notation or Notation for 
Specialists.  Any of these any good?
I prefer the last one.

Trevor




___
lilypond-user mailing list
lilypond-user@gnu.org
http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/lilypond-user


Re: partial rearrangement done, technical problems

2007-09-22 Thread Eyolf Østrem
On 22.09.2007 (11:09), Trevor Daniels wrote:
   Going off to make a cup of
 coffee I asked my wife what she would suggest.
 She said instantly, Specialist topics or
 Topics for Specialists.  I could add 
 Specialist Notation or Notation for 
 Specialists.  Any of these any good?
 I prefer the last one.

I think your wife is a genius. I like it. I prefer Specialist
notation because one doesn't have to be a specialist to need
'specialist notation'. 
Great idea. Case closed, as far as I'm concerned.

Eyolf


-- 
At the end of the money I always have some month left.


___
lilypond-user mailing list
lilypond-user@gnu.org
http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/lilypond-user


Re: partial rearrangement done, technical problems

2007-09-22 Thread Valentin Villenave
2007/9/22, Eyolf Østrem [EMAIL PROTECTED]:
 On 22.09.2007 (11:09), Trevor Daniels wrote:
Going off to make a cup of
  coffee I asked my wife what she would suggest.
  She said instantly, Specialist topics or
  Topics for Specialists.  I could add
  Specialist Notation or Notation for
  Specialists.  Any of these any good?
  I prefer the last one.

 I think your wife is a genius. I like it. I prefer Specialist
 notation because one doesn't have to be a specialist to need
 'specialist notation'.
 Great idea. Case closed, as far as I'm concerned.

+1 for specialist notation

I had proposed Specific Notation, but I guess it isn't very... specific :)

Valentin


___
lilypond-user mailing list
lilypond-user@gnu.org
http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/lilypond-user


Re: partial rearrangement done, technical problems

2007-09-22 Thread Graham Percival

Trevor Daniels wrote:

 Going off to make a cup of
coffee I asked my wife what she would suggest.
She said instantly, Specialist topics or
Topics for Specialists.  I could add 
Specialist Notation or Notation for 
Specialists.  Any of these any good?

I prefer the last one.


I agree with other people; you've got a smart wife.  :)   I prefer 
specialist notation; as Eyolf said, you don't need to be a specialist 
to write it.


Cheers,
- Graham


___
lilypond-user mailing list
lilypond-user@gnu.org
http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/lilypond-user


RE: partial rearrangement done, technical problems

2007-09-21 Thread Trevor Daniels

Graham (late cc to list)

 GENERAL DISCUSSION

 - I still like the division of musical notation /
 instrument-specific? No?  Nobody else?

Well, yes - at least one other likes it.  But only if every
sub-section within it concerns an actual instrument, and the
list of instruments is complete (at least as far as the
instrument-specific parts of LP are concerned).  So the
sub-sections should not include Chord Names nor Ancient
Notation - these should be sections in 1. Musical
Notation.

I don't like a the name Other instrument-specific.  Just
drop it and promote Orchestral Strings and Bagpipes to sub-
sections.  This section then becomes easily extensible in
the future to include further instruments that also have
instrument-specific notation.

Why do I prefer it?  Well, it separates out those parts
of the manual which are of interest only if you are writing
for that particular instrument.  Others can simply ignore
sections that don't concern them.  In effect it shortens
the manual without removing anything.

 - Assuming that the technical issues are solved,
 how do you want these
 merged subsections to look?  Specifically,
 consider 1.2.3. Displaying
 rhythms.  There's

 Time signature
 - @commonprop
 - @seealso
 - @refbugs
 Upbeats
 - @refbugs
 Unmetered music
 - @refbugs
 ...
 Automatic note splitting
 - @refbugs
 - @seealso


 Do you like this format, or would you prefer one
 @commonprop at the end
 of each page?  Do you want links to LSR stuff at
 the end of each
 portion, or just one set of links at the bottom
 of the page?

Assuming that the links to each of the sub-sections
will take you to that sub-section within the page and
not the top of the page, then I prefer this format.
The bottom of the page is too far away for all the
links to be there.

 ... and are you guys _sure_ you prefer the manual
 like this?

Yes.  Although I would prefer a click on, for example,
1.2 Rhythms to return a monster page containing all
the contained sub-sections rather than just the TOC for
that section.  This would permit a more comprehensive
search for anything that was to do with rhythms but
which did not fall obviously in any of the sub-sections,
for example hemiola (which actually appears nowhere).
If this is technically possible and does not give
rise to serious maintenance issues maybe this could
be extended to chapters too.


 Cheers,
 - Graham

Trevor (D)






___
lilypond-user mailing list
lilypond-user@gnu.org
http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/lilypond-user


Re: GDP: partial rearrangement done, technical problems

2007-09-21 Thread Trevor Bača
On 9/20/07, Graham Percival [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 People who offered to help: I'm sorry I still haven't started the actual
 documentation work yet.  However, these stupid technical problems need
 to get sorted out -- or at the very least, I need to be certain that the
 technical issues _can_ be sorted out -- before I'm going to commit hours
 and hours of documentation editing.  I don't want to waste your time.
 -


 I've rearranged the non-instrument-specific portion of the docs; you can
 see them here:

 http://opihi.cs.uvic.ca/~gperciva/lilypond/


 KNOWN ISSUES  (don't bother pointing these out)

 - the subsections in vocal music and ancient music are messed up.

 - some HTML links aren't working.  See below.


 GENERAL DISCUSSION

 - I still like the division of musical notation / instrument-specific?
 No?  Nobody else?  ok, I'll divide up that chapter and stuff it all into
 the monster Musical notation.

The notation / instrument-specific division is fine, imo. But it does
seem odd to have Chord names as part of the instrument-specific
stuff. Are chord names instrument specific? If you think of chords
names as primarily useful in theory class, then Educational use
might make sense; on the other hand, if you think of chord names for
lead sheets, then maybe they should just become their own chapter in
the notation section. Either way, maybe move Chord names to the
notation section.

Also, I agree with an earlier comment (somehow lost it in the thread)
that both Strings and Bagpipe should promote to full sections in the
instrument-specific part. It's OK that they be small; they can just
function as placeholders until more such content shows up later. That
will get rid of the other instrument stuff junk drawer.



 - Assuming that the technical issues are solved, how do you want these
 merged subsections to look?  Specifically, consider 1.2.3. Displaying
 rhythms.  There's

 Time signature
 - @commonprop
 - @seealso
 - @refbugs
 Upbeats
 - @refbugs
 Unmetered music
 - @refbugs
 ...
 Automatic note splitting
 - @refbugs
 - @seealso


 Do you like this format, or would you prefer one @commonprop at the end
 of each page?  Do you want links to LSR stuff at the end of each
 portion, or just one set of links at the bottom of the page?

 ... and are you guys _sure_ you prefer the manual like this?

Ew. I don't like. Reading 1.2.3 is choppy. And the bold subsection
titles hurt rather than help. Here's an extraction of the 1.2.3
subsection titles right now:

1.2.3 Displaying rhythms

  Time signature
  Commonly tweaked properties
  See also
  Bugs
  Upbeats
  Bugs
  Unmetered music
  Bugs
  Polymetric notation
  Bugs
  Automatic note splitting
  Bugs
  See also

Doesn't flow. And makes us look like we have an undue preoccupation
with bugs. A better structure would be:

1.2.3 Displaying rhythms

  Time signature
  Upbeats
  Unmetered music
  Polymetric notation
  Automatic note splitting
  See also


We don't need but bug subsections printed as separate subsections with
separate headers. Just format the content of the @refbugs as regular
old paragraphs with no special headers. The chunking will then look
like the revised ex above (focusing on the musical ideas), and we
won't appear to be so wrapped around the axle about bugs.

As far as the LSR stuff, maybe include all external links (whether LSR
or see also, or whatever) in a single See also section at page
bottom?




-- 
Trevor Bača
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
___
lilypond-user mailing list
lilypond-user@gnu.org
http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/lilypond-user


Re: partial rearrangement done, technical problems

2007-09-21 Thread Graham Percival

Trevor Daniels wrote:

Well, yes - at least one other likes it.  But only if every
sub-section within it concerns an actual instrument, and the
list of instruments is complete (at least as far as the
instrument-specific parts of LP are concerned).


There's wide support (well, two people) for promoting Strings and
Bagpipes as main sections, so I'll reinstate them.

Remember that I'm totally open to renaming this chapter name (if we keep
it as a chapter).  I'll do it as soon as I get something better than
Purpose-specific notation.


 So the
sub-sections should not include Chord Names nor Ancient
Notation - these should be sections in 1. Musical
Notation.

...

Why do I prefer it?  Well, it separates out those parts
of the manual which are of interest only if you are writing
for that particular instrument.  Others can simply ignore
sections that don't concern them.  In effect it shortens
the manual without removing anything.


I completely agree with this reasoning (that's why I did it in the first
place)... but this applies to Ancient and Chord names.  As a string
player, I've never used that stuff, so IMO they make sense to be in
chapter 2.  Whatever we end up calling that chapter.


If this is technically possible and does not give
rise to serious maintenance issues maybe this could
be extended to chapters too.


In theory, it's technically possible.  In practice, it isn't.  Sorry.  :(

- Graham



___
lilypond-user mailing list
lilypond-user@gnu.org
http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/lilypond-user


GDP: partial rearrangement done, technical problems

2007-09-20 Thread Graham Percival
People who offered to help: I'm sorry I still haven't started the actual 
documentation work yet.  However, these stupid technical problems need 
to get sorted out -- or at the very least, I need to be certain that the 
technical issues _can_ be sorted out -- before I'm going to commit hours 
and hours of documentation editing.  I don't want to waste your time.

-


I've rearranged the non-instrument-specific portion of the docs; you can 
see them here:


http://opihi.cs.uvic.ca/~gperciva/lilypond/


KNOWN ISSUES  (don't bother pointing these out)

- the subsections in vocal music and ancient music are messed up.

- some HTML links aren't working.  See below.


GENERAL DISCUSSION

- I still like the division of musical notation / instrument-specific? 
No?  Nobody else?  ok, I'll divide up that chapter and stuff it all into 
the monster Musical notation.


- Assuming that the technical issues are solved, how do you want these 
merged subsections to look?  Specifically, consider 1.2.3. Displaying 
rhythms.  There's


Time signature
- @commonprop
- @seealso
- @refbugs
Upbeats
- @refbugs
Unmetered music
- @refbugs
...
Automatic note splitting
- @refbugs
- @seealso


Do you like this format, or would you prefer one @commonprop at the end 
of each page?  Do you want links to LSR stuff at the end of each 
portion, or just one set of links at the bottom of the page?


... and are you guys _sure_ you prefer the manual like this?



TECHNICAL PROBLEMS

This version of the manual was produced by abusing some texinfo 
constructs (ie removing @node -- I tried replacing with them with 
@anchor{}, but those don't do much ).  I've discussed the matter with 
Karl Berry (the texinfo guy), and apparently this was really not the 
right solution.


As I understand it, there are three possibilities:
1)  @node Foo @unnumberedsubsubsec Foo: this will split the manual into 
small HTML pages, which apparently is overwhelmingly hated by users.


2)  @anchor{Foo} @unnumberedsubsubsec Foo: this is the version that is 
currently online; some links don't work.  This kind-of abuses the 
texinfo format.


3)  @subheading Foo: don't print the smallest portions in the table of 
contents.  For example, Clef or Ties won't show up; users will only 
see Displaying pitches and Curves.


Karl suggested that we could use a post-texinfo script to add these 
items to the TOC.  If somebody wants to play around with python to get 
this working, I'm definitely interested in this possibility.


4)  Use texi2html instead of makeinfo --html.  I've spent an hour trying 
to get this to work; apparently texi2html parses the manual in a 
different way than makeinfo, because our manual compiles with makeinfo 
but not with texi2html (it complains about node / not in a menu stuff).


Even if we get texi2html to work, we might need more custom tweaks to 
get texi2html to produce exactly what we want.  It's written in perl, so 
in theory it should be easier to modify than makeinfo (which uses c). 
Another plus is that it looks like development recently re-started on 
texi2html, and they're preparing for a big 2.0 release, so they might be 
more interested in patches that add new functionality.


While we're at it, this could be a good way to produce that frame / 
CSS-not-frame-but-like-a-frame thing that people were talking about a 
week ago.


I'm quite willing to use the CVS-version of texi2html to compile the GDP 
docs.  So if you're a perl developer and interested in this stuff, speak 
up.  I haven't looked at the source code myself, so I don't know what 
kind of perl it is, though.  :)



Cheers,
- Graham


___
lilypond-user mailing list
lilypond-user@gnu.org
http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/lilypond-user


Re: GDP: partial rearrangement done, technical problems

2007-09-20 Thread Eyolf Østrem
On 20.09.2007 (00:55), Graham Percival wrote:

 GENERAL DISCUSSION

 - I still like the division of musical notation / instrument-specific? No? 

I have nothing against it, as long as vocal music isn't stuffed in
there. :-)

 - Assuming that the technical issues are solved, how do you want these 
 merged subsections to look?  Specifically, consider 1.2.3. Displaying 
 rhythms.  There's

 Time signature
 - @commonprop
 - @seealso
 - @refbugs
 Upbeats
 - @refbugs
 Unmetered music
 - @refbugs
 ...
 Automatic note splitting
 - @refbugs
 - @seealso


 Do you like this format, or would you prefer one @commonprop at the end of 
 each page? 

I think it should be next to where the properties that are commonly
tweaked are described. 
That particular section reminded me of something that's been bugging
me before: Lilypond has many defaults, which is fine, but somehting
like:

  Setting it to #'() uses fraction style for 4/4 and 2/2 time,

just makes me wonder: why!?! This is one of those cases where the
middle ground is missing between the beginner (who would take it as a piece of
information and that's that) and the programmer (who would know how to 
look up the program reference. 

 Do you want links to LSR stuff at the end of each portion, or 
 just one set of links at the bottom of the page?

I don't mind. 

 ... and are you guys _sure_ you prefer the manual like this?

Other than that I still don't like the headings Displaying ...
Thanks to the defaults, you are, for all intents and purposes,
displaying a rhythm by writing c8, aren't you? For some of the
topics something like Modifying the display/presentation... might
work, but I'd like to see the reader who would go to a heading like
that to find out how to write a key signature.

Eyolf

-- 
Q:  How many mathematicians does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A:  One.  He gives it to six Californians, thereby reducing the problem
to the earlier joke.


___
lilypond-user mailing list
lilypond-user@gnu.org
http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/lilypond-user