Renewing my use of Musescore

• Mar 31, 2015 - 21:30

After a long illness I decided to start using Musescore again. First thing that happened was a splash screen telling me there was a new Windows version (2.0) which I have installed. I'd like to know if that is the latest version, and how Ii can check that I do have the latest version. Also, the interface font (for menus, etc) (not the scores font) is quite small for me. On the previous version, I was able to change the font size in the "General" tab in the preferences panel, but that option isn't there in Version 2. I would appreciate any help about these two items, so I can get back to using Musescore. Thanks in advance.

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• Mar 31, 2015 - 23:39

MuseScore uses the font sizes from your OS, so it should look the same size as other applications on your system. The way to make the text larger, then, is to make it larger in your OS.

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• Apr 1, 2015 - 11:51

Marc, if there is a way to post a photo here, I will. On the previous version of MuseScore (1.3 rev 5702), under the "Edit" menu is "Preferences". When I open that, under the "General" tab, in the lower left corner is a pull-down box labeled "Application Font" and next to it a pull-down for the point size of the font. The font I had chosen was not at all the OS font, but a different one at a larger size. In the new version (2.0.0 rev 6e47f74) that option simply is not there. I thank you for your help, but the old version definitely did not use the OS font, and that box was clearly labeled "Application Font" so it was able to be different from the OS font. I will post screen shots if that would help, but I don't know how to post photos here. Thanks again.

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• Apr 3, 2015 - 01:40

Mark, it didn't work. I changed the system font (which I'd rather not do anyway if I don't have to) but in any case, the font under the palette menu didn't change. Perhaps it's been hard-coded into the program. I don't know why the same font option as in version 1 wasn't kept in version 2, but it would be great if they could bring it back in a future revision.

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• Apr 3, 2015 - 02:38

I don't quite understand what you mean. Why would you not want to change your font OS-wide? Do you want everything else to be too small, and only MuseScore to readable? What purpose would that serve? Wouldn't you want *everything* to be readable on your computer? Why wouldn't you want MuseScore to be the same size as everything else on your system? This is an *improvement* over 1.3, which wouldn't pay attention to your OS font and thus required you to have to mess with an option within MuseScore. That should no longer be necessary now. I can only guess maybe you change the wrong font option?

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• Apr 3, 2015 - 16:52

MuseScoreScreen.jpg Mark, If I change the OS font, I can make text larger for the menus and menu items (all those along the top of the MuseScore window) such as "File, Edit, View", etc. But the font size of the "Palette" menu and it's items do not change. I have tried changing all the options that the OS allows, but none of those affect the palette menu/items. I've added a screen shot. Note that the Main menu items (top of window) ARE the larger OS font size, but the Palette window still retains the small size.

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• Apr 3, 2015 - 17:11

Hmm. Unfortunately every OS is different in what controls it provides and in how Qt (the framework we rely upon to get us info on such matters in an OS-independent way) present the information to us. And also, it appears from your screen shot that you are perhaps using a high resolution (>> 96 DPI) monitor, which si the main reason for your wanting larger than standard fonts Even more unfortunately, OS support for high resolution monitors in particualr is especially inconsistent.

The palette text *should* have scaled with the overall text font, and does for me on Ubuntu (the system for which I have a high resolution display).

Could youshare more details about your particular system configuration - OS version, monitor resolution (in DPI, if you know it, otherwise size and # pixels), which specific font options you have changed, etc?

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• Apr 3, 2015 - 18:21

MuseScoreScreen2.jpg Mark, I have Windows 7 Home Premium, an HP 2207h monitor (22in. widescreen) and the resolution is 1680x1050). The monitor can go higher, but this resolution is fine for me. I have changed the font options for my desktop, message box and palette title.
Another interesting thing is that if I display the "Master Palette" (under "view"), that box has yet another font size.........somewhere between the other two in size, and also in boldface. See the image.

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• Apr 3, 2015 - 18:31

Hmm, something definitely seems wrong, but not being an expert in such matters, I can't say exactly what. 1680x1050 at 22" is not high resooution at all; standard or maybe a little less if I'm doing the math correctly. So I'm not sure what might be going on. What specific font size are you trying to set?

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• Apr 3, 2015 - 22:13

Mark, I've tried setting many various fonts, sizes, even colors and styles (bold, italic etc.) and while any/all these change the MuseScore window font (for the top menu, etc.) NONE of these changes affect the palette menu/items font, nor the master palette/items font. They remain as they look in my last image posted.

Actually, I can continue to use the old version of MuseScore which I had customized to my liking already. Do you think there are significant differences or improvements or added features to make the switch to 2.0 worthwhile?

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• Apr 5, 2015 - 01:55

Mark, it is minor since I can use the master palette and be able to see it. Maybe when you're older you will have better vision than I have. :-) Seriously though, I think I am not advanced enough to appreciate the added features and changes in version 2. To be honest, I don't even know what half of the things that are listed in that link are, and the others I probably am not able to use yet. I had only been using MuseScore for a few months before my illness forced me to stop, and now just getting back to it (although I recently found out that I need another surgery...) But thanks for all your help and responses. I'll keep plugging away and get better at it!

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• Apr 5, 2015 - 04:13

No, I should know better than to call this "minor" - we do take accessibility seriously, and if something is preventing the fonts from being readable, we definitely want to fix it. Problem is, I still don't have enough information to reproduce the problem. What is supposed to happen - and does for me - is that all fonts within MuseScore - including the Palette fonts - scale according to the overal system font. I just tried it with several different sizes, and it definitely scales for me. That's on my Linux machine. I will try testing again with Windows when I am back in front of that machine, but it will help to know *exactly* which settings you changed and exactly what you changed them to (which font, what size, etc).

EDIT: one thing to try - your picture shows the palette undocked. You might try returning it to its normal docked position and restarting. Also try reverting to factory settings (run from command line with "-F" option).

As for 2.0, it's really not a question of being "advanced". Actually, many of the improvements in 2.0 are specifically intended to make it easier to do basic things. And the improvements in the quality of the printed score and of the playback sounds benefit everyone without anyone needing to do a thing.

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• Apr 6, 2015 - 18:48

Mark, I did try docking the palette and restarting, but it remained the same size. I really hope that in future releases, or even a nightly build, the ability to control fonts is restored, since systems and personal configurations can vary so much. It would be great to be able to customize more components of the interface.

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• Apr 6, 2015 - 20:06

The ability to control fonts *is* present. It just doesn't seem to work in the case of the palette specifically, at least on some system. We still could use help in understanding the problem, since as I mentioned, it works as expected for me. I could still use help understanding *exactly* which settings you are trying to change and *exactyl* what you are trying to change them to. I can't help fix a problem I don't know ho to reproduce.

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• Apr 6, 2015 - 20:30

Mark, I had mentioned the settings I changed a few posts back here, as well as my system info. Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, I go to Start>Control Panel>All control panel items>Personalization>Window Color>Advanced Settings
A window opens with dropdown menus to select teh item(s) that I wish to change. I tried changing fonts for the following items from that list: Menu, Desktop, Message Box and Palette title. None of the other choices seemed that they would affect text. So, while some of these changes DID appear in various windows and areas, both in MuseScore and some general Windows programs too, none of them had any affect on the MuseScore "Palette" window or its contents, whether docked or now. I don't know how much more detail I can supply. I hope this helps. Meanwhile, I can do OK by using the "Master Palette" displayed under the "View" tab, since this one displays with a slightly larger font, and it's boldface too. Thanks again!

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