Inline Help file could use a fat index
I'm not a musician; I know very basic music notation; and that's perhaps what causes my failure to find the help I need in the Help menu of the app. Case in point: I was trying to find out how I set up a 4-line score, or 4-score, or 4-instrument score, or ... You see? This is my problem: I don't even know what the proper term is for having 4 pentagrams, one for voice, one for keyboards, one for guitar, and one for bass... If I don't know what to call it, then I don't know how to look it up in the Help file. You see my predicament?
But I'm sure I'm not alone. And what the Help file could do for people like me is to have an index; not just a hierarchical table of contents. Then the index could point at the right thing from many index entries representing ways of naming (or even misnaming) the given feature.
Comments
"part" is the word you're looking for ;-)
See also https://musescore.org/en/handbook/glossary
In reply to "part" is the word you're… by Jojo-Schmitz
Alright, I would NEVER have guessed that "part" would mean that; but I'll remember. Thanks. Missed the glossary somehow...
In reply to Alright, I would NEVER have… by danw58
Yes this can be confusing, especially as "part", just like" voice", has multiple meanings.
Inline help, pressing F1 with an item selected, is of limited use. The Handbook is very useful if you at least scan over it to see what capabilities MuseScore has. This will enable you to have an idea of where to look for specific items. Ideally, every new user would open the program and use the examples in the handbook to learn how to do everything. This would familiarize the new user with all of the features in MuseScore. You could skip over items you think you will never use like Figured bass or Midi import, but you would see that they exist if you later need them.
There is a search command for the handbook that works ok. It works better after you read the manual once and learn the terminology. If you download the handbook in PDF format you can use your PDF program's search feature to help you find things until you learn the terminology.
I don't know what your native language is, I suspect Spanish, French or Portuguese. The first two have nearly complete translations of the handbook. If I didn't know to set up a new score I would look at Create new score (→Getting started) which is listed first in the table of contents in the first section after instructions on how to install the program. This section tells how to set up the score in several ways. I don't think an index with misnamed features would not make finding this easier.
In reply to There is a search command… by mike320
I will definitely download the Help in PDF format.
Many thanks.
Well, maybe there should be two glossaries: one for educated musicians where everything is properly named; and one for play-by-ear musicians like me that can't tell a clef from a hole in the ground. I have no idea what the difference between ligatto, glissando, those lines and curves and arrows going up and down, and so I try them, but then nothing changes on playback... I have no idea what anything I think of is called, no idea what to think about anything that's there, and on top of it it doesn't seem to work. But yeah, maybe I need to read the manual once through for starters.
In reply to I will definitely download… by danw58
Instead of every software designer needing to do that individually, far more efficient would be for someone to simply create such a master index, showing pictures of every symbol and giving the name. No reason it should need to be MuseScore-specific. Then, armed with the information about the proper term, you could use the software's help system normally. Probably this already exists in the world...
Meanwhile, though, do check out the "Quick Answers" section of my "Mastering MuseScore" website, which does provide some help in a visual way:
https://masteringmusescore.com/go/quick-answers/
In reply to Instead of every software… by Marc Sabatella
Looks great. Picture driven. That's what I needed.
Very true.
Doing much better now.
Not quite "cruising" yet, but...