Comments on R.15c1263, may be issues, may be ...not.
New commenter here (tho' old programmer) ... don't know if these are valid points, but if they are, I can only assume the bug handling people will know what to do ... am doing this all on Windows Vista laptop, w/SP2, 3GB ram, 32-bit OS.
Last night I used the subject build to join together two scores ... because I was too lazy to cut / paste between them (using v1.2), because you had to snip each key change, then add the new key, then the next section ... it was tedious. I am not a musician except in the broadest sense of the term ... but our choir director is a technology neophyte, so was trying to help. That's the backstory. Using the nightly build was suggested by Marc Sabatella (THANKS!!!).
Here's my list of comments on that joining process. Overall, after I found the "Album" "join scores" button ... it was BRILLIANT ... I love the feature (altho' I hope I never have to use it again!!! (but choir director now know how to change keys within one score, whew!!)).
--Could not edit formatting for dynamics text (I liked that it was at screen bottom in v1.2 ... could not find it in v2)
--Put in odd line breaks, had to manually remove all the line breaks entered in v.1.2 ...
--Save as in general did not work as expected (maybe that was design for this version) ... but I could not "save as" XML in particular, rather, I had to export.
--Printing to PDF format took Fore EVvvv er .... (am printing to PrimoPDF which I nearly always do for everything I print at home, and only actually do paper printouts when really needed)
--Screen formatting white on gray / black, hard to read (in fact, don't know how to change screen color defaults (I know how in Windows, yes), maybe I just didn't read far enuf in the manual?)
--Page navigation ribbon (??) at bottom of page seems too large, could not figure out (in 5 secs) how to resize it, was annoying.
--Palette undocked / redocked itself for unclear reasons.
--exporting to XML (for re-import into v1.2) did not go as expected ... it seemed to lose single/double/triple letter dynamics.
(this was then a tedious exercise to put the dynamics back in) ... in v.1.2, the single / double / triple letter dynamics had become these odd boxes. I had to go thru the 12-page score and delete / re-add these dynamics.
In v1.2 ...
--Could not get the font size to change across all dynamics' text ... tried styles, close / open document ... no luck (but maybe it was just me) ... had to change each bit of dynamics' text all by its lonesome ... tedious again (but hey, MUCH BETTER that cut-paste with 1.2 ... that loses dynamics too ... they just don't get selected with measures, no idea why or if I am doing something wrong when I copy)
OK, that's all.
Kind regards, GREAT program, I love it! (so far!)
SuMiche
Comments
Good list of comments! Do realize that the nightly builds are a work in orogress, so it is to be expected some things won't work correctly.
- Dynamics text does indeed to be broken right now. I know the fonts are in a state of transition for 2.0. And that's probably also why the export didn't work as well as you'd like. Most things about text handling are vastly improved in 2.0. in particular, changes to the text style actually affect existing text using that style. So it will become a very simple matter to change sizes of all elements of a given type all at once.
- For most text types in 1.X, you *can* change all existing items at once - right click, text properties, make your change, select the "apply to all" button. And changes of text style affect all elements yet to be entered. But dynamics do appear to be special cased somehow, and basically they just don't response to changes in text properties or style in any way.
- The change from Save As to Export was deliberate and correct. "Save As" is only supposed to (according to standard Windows / MacOS / Linux conventions) support formats that are actually in some sense "native" to the application. All else is supposed to be export. I suppose a case could be made that MusicXML belongs in Save As, but I think having it in export is better, as it really cannot save all score information accurately, and people shoild not be misled into thinking it can.
- Not sure if you were using Primo PDF for a reaosn, but MuseScore can export to PDF directly.
- Until a week or two ago, lone breaks in 2.0 woild definitely come out very differently than in 1.X. More recent builds shoild be much netter. So if you are still seeing significamt issues in this respect in a build less than a week old, you should post the score.
- The color scheme is controlled via Edit / Preferences. A restart of MuseScore is required.
- Page Navigator is resized by dragging the horizontal bar separating it from the main score view, same as in 1.X.
In reply to Good list of comments! Do by Marc Sabatella
I will download nightly again, and try editing / writing a new piece with that ...
Do you want my testing feedback? Do you have enuf testers? Or is all testing "kinda random" ...
(and I do know nightly builds are W-I-P, if yer still calling it a build, it is not really soup yet, right?)
(at work ... we have a semi-serious thing where I design, assign to developer, depending on outcome, one of several persons tests, back to developer 1 to fix / adjust, then final level of testing with a particular person who runs down our checklist, back to developer 1 with any final changes (and senior developer may throw in more comments in all this (she does the hardest screens, where particular finesse or unknowns are being worked with)), then either deployed or thrown to further test area for users OK (depends on what it is we are changing ... our goal at release is that users _notice_nothing_ except everything is glowing and better) ... my team is so small, that by the time something hits production, it had better work, or I can't sleep at night, since it's 24/7 software/users, and we have no official 24/7 support (if yer in NYC, I can actually point to my/our work ... output is very visible, but the inner workings are "mysterious") ... I have done this all so long ... I have only dim ideas of how other teams work ... everything we do is _very_ modular, so changes are usually coordinated within one module, or represent new functionality that has no screen to use it yet (and is thus only visible to the development team) ... we don't have a "build" ... but our entire database structure rolls over to a test area every night, so that in next working day, we have a fresh canvas against which to paint all development scripts that are ready for trial ... if we completely trash said canvas, no matter, wait a day, etch-a-sketch refresh, if serious issue arises, we can get a manual refresh from separate backup version, and we're good to go again, and never impact production at all (even with 17 years of data, we are tiny))
I cannot comment at all on the music-writing ability of the software (am simply bowled over by what our choir director has managed to write ... HE is the internationally-trained musician / composer (and I cannot post his work w/o permission, not even to get help) ... I am just amanuensis / tech support (posting my own excruciatingly limited offerings would serve no purpose in the score-combine-arena ... have written exactly 3 pages of my own simple tune)) ... but I _can_ comment on the "how" of the works / doesn't work of the interface. I should probably look and see if y'all have testing guidelines instead of blathering on.
I will look again at all the interface points you mention (color, sizing, save as (I agree, but it was just (to me) radically diff than 1.2) ... except I would put the compressed / uncompressed versions in the save as ... and leave all the exporting to the export menu. I was thinking that the XML export _was_ accurate, since that was supposed to be compatible with Finale and Sibelius.
I "print" to PrimoPDF (or Acrobat Writer at work), because that has always worked for me. I don't think of "save as" or "export to" as having PDF as one of its formats, but I will try it if needed.
Kind regards all, and thanks much again for wonderful software!
Suzanne
In reply to Thanks for feedback! by sumiche
Thanks for the feedback, never enough testers!
We normally have a test build for every commit but the server in charge is down for maintenance for a couple of weeks now. For historical reason, we call these test versions "nightlies". When you get used to the software, it's better to create one post per issue to ease the discussion. If you are sure there is an issue and can reproduce with exact steps, you can post it in the issue tracker. See
Freelinking: Unknown plugin indicator. We do not have testing guidelines and design discussion is done "organically". The project is more a bazaar than a cathedral.