Add more Unicode characters to Edwin and/or show fallback characters from some base font
Reported version
3.6
Type
Functional
Frequency
Once
Severity
S5 - Suggestion
Reproducibility
Always
Status
active
Regression
No
Workaround
No
Project
OS: Windows 10 (10.0), Arch.: x86_64, MuseScore version (64-bit): 3.6.2.548021803, revision: 3224f34
In the past, it was common to see blank icons in the special characters window where the font didn't exist on the PC. But there are now very many instances where the icon is missing but the special character is still there (and can be added by clicking): For example, in the "Latin Extended-B to E" sets (Unicode tab).
There are also icons missing in the "Common symbols" tab: from 1/3 to 5/6.
Comments
Asssuming you didn't delete the font you were using previously, those symbols will still be there. They are only "missing" if you are now using a different font that provides a different set. My guess is you were previously using FreeSerif - the old default font - which had a larger number of these Unicode symbols than the new default Edwin does. So if you need symbols currently missing, just switch to FreeSerif - or whatever font you were using previously - for those specific symbols. Meanwhile, I'll leave this open as a suggestion to add more of them to Edwin in the future releases.
Marc suggested, "Add more Unicode characters to Edwin."
The issue seems to be wider than that. You also get blank icons in Special Characters with other fonts but, confusingly, although the pattern of blanks changes according to the font selected, the full range of symbols is still available.
Two suggestions: (1) Ensure that the display of icons in Special Characters is always consistent no matter what font is selected: i.e. if the symbol is present so should the icon. (2) Add an option to Special Characters to limit the displayed icons/characters to those of a selected font only (as in Windows Character Map).
Well, we have no control over other fonts, only Edwin (to a lesser extent FreeSerif). And having the table show the same regardless of whether the characters are present or not has advantages in that it makes the location of specific characters consistent across fonts. But we could provide an option to compact the display. And we could try building up a fuller table using a fallback font (presumably FreeSerif) and display those characters for any font that is missing characters - as virtually all are.