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Topic: Boxmarks will be back... soon (Read 5881 times) previous topic - next topic

Boxmarks will be back... soon

Hi to all, and happy new year to any of you.

For some reasons, Barry Graham has decided not to keep on working on the Boxmarks font that many of us use.
Before deciding this, he asked me if I wanted to maintain the font he created, and my answer is YES.

I've made some enhancements to the Boxmarks font, but before releasing it I'd like to know which chars are the most missing.

You may answer to this forum thread or, better, write me directly.

I'll try to release the new version of the font at the same time as NWC 1.70 (not beta) will be delivered.
This give you some time, and the best thing you can do in the meanwhile is to test this NWC beta!!!
It is a version that gives you more ease than ever, and the more you use it the more you like it.
This 1.70 version has been already heavily tested by some users, for more than some months. It leaded to a stable, easy-to-use and consistent program that gives you more flexibility to write your own scores.

NWCly yours,

         Dominique                     marsu@europe.com

Re: Boxmarks will be back... soon

Reply #1 –
Happy New Year, Marsu. I am glad you are taking on the Boxmarks font. The thing I want the most is a way of stringing characters together to make hairpin crescendos.

Re: Boxmarks will be back... soon

Reply #2 –
Marsu,
Thank you for continuing this great font!
My only problem with it is the multi-measure rest symbols always have a small space in the middle. This isn't a big problem but I am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to music. If there is any way to make a character the entire rest symbol (not just one side of it) I would appreciate it.
Good luck and thanks again,
Joe

Re: Boxmarks will be back... soon

Reply #3 –
I just discovered a hairpin crescendo font in the user tips at http://www.noteworthysoftware.com/composer/usertip7.htm#cresc

I wonder if what you are adding to Boxmarks is equal to or better than this? I would like to know before I commit to using another custom font in my songs (makes it harder to share files, etc.)

Re: Boxmarks will be back... soon

Reply #4 –
It's the same font, by Pierre Schmidt. Hopes are that the longer hairpins can be incorporated into Boxmarks, to augment the small ones already there. There is ongoing discussion about this, stay tuned...

Re: Boxmarks will be back... soon

Reply #5 –
With all the development and testing has anybody considered including the fontS into v1.70 release? (not beta)

Re: Boxmarks will be back... soon

Reply #6 –
I've already emailed marsu privately with one wish list item for the combined Boxmarks/Crescendo font, which is a pair of hairpins shorter than the shortest ones in Crescendo, but longer than the ones in Boxmarks. Now that I've found this thread I'll add a couple more:

1. the "snap pizzicato" symbol, a circle with a vertical line entering it at the top (see, for example, the Bartok 4th quartet, 4th movement).

2. crescendo hairpins that begin with a slight gap, to indicate continuation from the previous system (yes, I know Liquid Paper can be used to achieve the same effect, but really . . .) Also diminuendo hairpins that end with such a gap.

On the other hand, how much room is there in a combined Boxmarks/Crescendo font for new symbols? Does it make sense to combine these two fonts when the result could be an impoverished symbol set? Why shouldn't they be, in fact, two separate fonts?

Re: Boxmarks will be back... soon

Reply #7 –
add to my list:

3. an upside-down fermata until such time as NWC's own font has one.

Re: Boxmarks will be back... soon

Reply #8 –
Another two cents' worth -- I'd like to see the existing symbol mappings retained for reverse compatibility with existing scores using previous versions of Boxmarks. As to the number of symbols allowed - in principle there are just over 250 usable map positions, which should be plenty. That being said, many of them would require ALT 0xxx code entries (or click and copy using charmap.exe) so perhaps the most commonly used symbols should be mapped to the "normal" (direct keyboard access) slots. My preference would be _not_ to have multiple fonts, I'd rather put up with the nuisance of ALT mappings.

Re: Boxmarks will be back... soon

Reply #9 –
(I'll refrain from discussing the relative worth of 2 cents Canadian vs. 2 cents U.S. . . .)

Another thing occurred to me as I was looking at a set of parts today (I usually read scores, not parts). It seems traditional to represent multi-measure rests (up to a certain point) by combining symbols representing 1-, 2-, and 4-measure rests. The 1-measure rest is our familiar whole-rest sign; 2 measures of rest are represented by a 'block' the width of a whole rest but covering an entire space between staff lines; 4 measures are a similar block covering two staff spaces. So, for example, a 7-measure rest is a 4-measure rest plus a 2-measure rest plus a 1-measure rest, all within the same "visual" measure (that is, without bar lines separating them), with a large number '7' above them.

I don't know whether the 2- and 4-measure rest symbols are still in frequent use (but probably: the parts I was reading were published in 1952). If they are, Boxmarks should probably have them too.