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Topic: More control over layout (Read 2461 times) previous topic - next topic

More control over layout

I'm trying to figure out how to get more control over the print layout. I know that I can insert a bar line and specify "Force system break", which potentially adds more spacing. But how can I go the other way? In other words, how can I specify that I don't want the staff break right where NWC is doing it, but a measure later, and just scrunch everything on that system a little closer together.
(It's like justifying text -- if you only ever justify your lines by adding spaces, it looks a lot worse than when you're using a system smart enough to sometimes remove fractions of spaces.)

Re: More control over layout

Reply #1 –
NWC allows you to force a system break, but you cannot prevent one from happening when the notation extends to the margin.

If you have not done so already, you might want to uncheck "Increase note spacing for larger note durations" in File | Page Setup | Options.

Re: More control over layout

Reply #2 –
A technique that sometimes gains you extra space is to go through your staves finding things that take up space, and either do without or change the alignment attributes. For instance, you might have dynamic markings with Preserve Width on to place them without collisions; replace with Preserve Width Off and whatever alignment, adjusting manually to avoid collisions.

Another thing to keep in mind is that things on *all* staves affect space required. So if you have something "before other staff signatures" on one staff, and something else "after staff signatures" at the same place on another staff, you'll use up excessive space.

Beam notes wherever possible (and still musically correct) as unbeamed notes take up a tad more space.

HTH
Fred

Re: More control over layout

Reply #3 –
Another possibility is to set the page margins to be very narrow (large print width).

The WMF output from NWC (print preview:copy:placeable) can be scaled within a word processing document or a drawing program.

Consider using a non-standard page size (extra width) within NWC.

Random suggestions, I admit. But I have found that NWC gives me better control over printin than brand X, if one is willing to be creative.