The downside of selectors

Topic: The downside of selectors (Read 4026 times) previous topic - next topic

The downside of selectors

2014-10-31 05:06 pm

Quote from: Warren Porter – 2014-10-31 03:50 am

For me NWC is just a little harder to use. I used to have the dynamics all separated on a toolbar and it was one stop shopping when I needed one. With the current version, all dynamics are done after picking a generic dynamic, then choosing from a drop down.

I don't mind jumping through some extra hoops to get an unusual feature, especially one with a lot of options (mpc for example), but for routine dynamics?!?!?

This observation from Warren in a different thread matches my experience, and I'd like to start a discussion of it. The selectors have been good in that they have organized the button bars better, and have allowed more individual notations of each type to be accessed by mouse: e.g., time signatures were limited to a few standard ones before selectors, but now just about any signature you want can be made accessible in just two clicks. The problem is that they now ALL require two clicks, and that's a genuine pain (think carpal tunnel syndrome) when you need to insert them into an orchestral score with 20 or more staves.

There are, of course, a couple of ways around this. One is to create your own selectors for the notation elements you use the most, one per selector; this is limited by the fact that the total number of selectors available is limited. Another is to place one time sig (or dynamic, or other notational element) on one staff, copy it, and paste it into the rest of the staves. I use this method a lot, but it also has its disadvantages, mainly that when a bit of notation is copied and pasted, its vertical position and justification come with it, and these may not fit in the new location.

Bottom line, here: the selectors need improvement. Really.

Several of us have suggested that the selectors should remain open instead of closing after a selection is made, allowing the action to be repeated in different positions in the score without reopening the selector. This would solve most of the problems with them. This suggestion hasn't been adopted, and doesn't appear to be in the pipeline for future adoption, either. There may be other ways to go - maybe button and/or a hot key for "repeat previous action"? Maybe something I haven't thought of? Can we put this back on the table?

Regards,

Bill

Re: The downside of selectors

Reply #1 – 2014-10-31 06:07 pm

Would it help if you could tear them off as their own palettes a la what The Gimp does?

I personally don't ever use the toolbars, so my reaction to selectors was "Huh? ... well, whatever", but I understand that not everyone wants to adopt all of the keyboard shortcuts.

Re: The downside of selectors

Reply #2 – 2014-10-31 09:52 pm

I think this may have been discussed in a previous thread, but here is something that might help.

The selector for dynamics has a keyboard shortcut of "d". Typing this key brings up the graphical menu, at which point you can use the arrow keys to highlight a particular dynamic, and press "Enter" to insert it. This means that if you are using a program or keyboard driver that supports user-defined macros (such as IntelliType or AutoHotKey), you could create your own macros for each dynamic, and assign to the hot key of your choosing. For example, "d <down> <down> <down> <Enter>" would insert a "p".

While a selector can have a master keyboard shortcut, the individual selections within it can also have a keyboard shortcut assigned, although that would be a second key following the selector shortcut. Not all selectors have these secondary shortcuts; the dynamics selector does not. However, the barline selector does have them, so pressing "b s" will enter a single bar line, "b d" enters a double bar line, "b 1" enters a 1st ending, etc. It's been previously documented that the selectors can be customized by the user, so it would not be difficult to add custom shortcut keys to the dynamics selector.

Also, the "Insert > Dynamic" menu selection has a keyboard shortcut of "D" (shift-d). This brings up the older dialog, where there is a drop-down menu to choose the dynamic type. Of special note is that this dialog will "remember" the last dialog that was inserted, so if you want to insert a bunch of "p"s at various spots in your score, you can insert the first one via shift-D, making the selection, and then insert additional dynamics of the same type by typing shift-D <Enter>.

Per Francis' comment about "tearing off" toolbars, NWC toolbars allow this (assuming we are talking about the same thing). You can create also create custom toolbars and assign commands or selectors to them.

Now, all of the above assumes that the user is okay with inserting objects using keyboard shortcuts. I try to do this when possible since it's usually faster for me than moving the mouse for every operation.

Re: The downside of selectors

Reply #3 – 2014-10-31 10:55 pm

Quote from: Mike Shawaluk – 2014-10-31 09:52 pm

The selector for dynamics has a keyboard shortcut of "d". Typing this key brings up the graphical menu, at which point you can use the arrow keys to highlight a particular dynamic, and press "Enter" to insert it.

You can also 1-9 instead of the arrow keys. Dot will bring up the standard popup on the Time Signature Selector.

Assuming that the "upside of selectors" is topical here, there are more shortcuts for selectors if anyone is interested.

Re: The downside of selectors

Reply #4 – 2014-11-01 12:10 am

I'm comfortable turning this thread into "tricks for working with selectors." It might help some users. My own use of the program is pretty mouse-heavy, so awkward mouse commands get my attention right away. I do use some keyboard shortcuts, but I don't usually bother to set up my own, and I don't use shortcuts for dynamics; and multiple keystrokes to do a single action strike me as every bit as bad as multiple mouse clicks to do the same thing. Not suggesting others must do as I do, only explaining where I'm coming from.

Bill

Re: The downside of selectors

Reply #5 – 2014-11-01 10:06 am

Quote

It's been previously documented that the selectors can be customized by the user, so it would not be difficult to add custom shortcut keys to the dynamics selector.

I know that the shortcut for bringing up a selector can be customized in the selector file via "Title(&s)" in File info.

But how can I assign shortcuts to the individual items in a selector?

Re: The downside of selectors

Reply #6 – 2014-11-01 10:18 am

Quote from: Opagust – 2014-11-01 10:06 am

I know that the shortcut for bringing up a selector can be customized in the selector file via "Title(&s)" in File info.

But how can I assign shortcuts to the individual items in a selector?

Go to the Staff Properties for a particular item, and go to the General tab. The shortcut is specified in the Staff Label. As for your example, it will use the character after the & if one is present, otherwise it will use the first character. Look at the Bar selector for examples of this.

Mike

PS - I've noticed your signature before, here's my reply:

Code: (nwc) [Select · Download]

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Re: The downside of selectors

Reply #7 – 2014-11-03 09:31 am

Thanks, Mike.

P.S. Just purse your lips and whistle, that's the thing.

Code: [Select · Download]

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