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Topic: NWC keyboard cheat sheet? (Read 6516 times) previous topic - next topic

NWC keyboard cheat sheet?

Does anyone have one? I looked in the Scriptorium, and googled ... but not to avail.
Of course, I'll write one if there is none - also in German for a pupil who wants to learn her first score editor (that's the actual reason - I hope I don't need one ...). But if anyone has got one that would nice - or a nice start ...

H.M.

Re: NWC keyboard cheat sheet?

Reply #3 –
Thanks! (I knew the latter one, but not the former).

Still, I think I'll create a more "graphical" one, which should show symbols and actions together somehow. Also, I think I'll create two layout versions: One that fits an A4 sheet (or letter format) for printing it; and one compressed one which can be placed below a smaller NWC window on the screen ... I'll see what I end up with ...

H.M.

Re: NWC keyboard cheat sheet?

Reply #4 –
I just noticed the NWC guide has the slur and tie shortcuts swapped...
I plays 'Bones, crumpets, coronets, floosgals, youfonymums 'n tubies.

Re: NWC keyboard cheat sheet?

Reply #5 –
Hi forumers -

I have now written a "somewhat musical cheat sheet" - see attachments. At first glance, it looks quite messy, but I think it is useful because one can look for some symbol on it ... I'd be happy about any comments -

  • general ones,
  • specific errors,
  • things that should be mentioned, ...

UPDATE: The finalized cheat sheets can now be accessed in this thread under Tips & Tricks.

H.M.

Re: NWC keyboard cheat sheet?

Reply #6 –
A few minor comments:
  • Since the Backspace only seems to occur once on the sheet, I would probably not use the backward arrow as its shortcut symbol, since it looks just like a left arrow.
  • Under the Show lyrics dialog, you list the _ character as "note without lyrics". You could also add "or embedded space".  Of course, either of those will only work when "Underscore shown as space" is checked.

In any case, it's a very nice reference.

Re: NWC keyboard cheat sheet?

Reply #7 –
Congratulations - this is excellent.
I've certainly learned one thing I didn't know - the access via keyboard to a 64th.

Three comments.

There are occasions that Shift and a "letter"  will enable you to do something that the letter on its own will not allow you to do.
For example:

K will bring up the key signatures, but shift and K will allow you to generate a non standard key.  Personally, I would neve use this - but I believe that some Eastern music compositions do need this.  -  and for example, D allows dynamics while shift and D allows dynamics to be modified before adding.
 
I do not think you have covered right clicking on a note in a chord in order to change, for example, an accidental on one note in the chord, or to add a tie to that note. (I appreciate that you have not mentioned mouse clicking - but I think this one is quite important)

I think that the dot explanation should say cycle between one, two or zero dots.  Otherwise it looks like it's just for adding one or two dots, rather than clearing them as well.


 
Rich.

Re: NWC keyboard cheat sheet?

Reply #8 –
Quote from: Richard Woodroffe –
I think that the dot explanation should say cycle between one, two or zero dots.  Otherwise it looks like it's just for adding one or two dots, rather than clearing them as well.
If you want to toggle between one and zero, this still works: https://forum.noteworthycomposer.com/?topic=6015.msg39599#msg39599
Registered user since 1996

Re: NWC keyboard cheat sheet?

Reply #9 –
Thanks a lot for answers/hints/suggestions - I'll tweak my contraption accordingly (e.g., call it Keyboard Cheat Sheet, so that I can happily ignore all the right-click and other mouse possibilities of NWC ... maybe a "Mouse Cheat Sheet" would also be nice, for the mouse aficionados?). And I'll test the German version tomorrow on my music theory pupil, who wants to learn to write scores - of course, I'll teach her NWC!

H.M.
 

Re: NWC keyboard cheat sheet?

Reply #10 –
I have now completed the cheat sheets - I added them in a new thread in the Tips & Tricks section, which seems better suited.

Question: Should/could the cheat sheets be uploaded to the Scriptorium - do I just send them to Richard W. for this?

Re suggestions:

- First, and generally, I think the purpose of a cheat sheet is either to remember something which one knows already, but has forgotten due to rare use; or it is used to quickly get an idea whether something can be done easily. After getting that hint, one will then either (have to) remember the feature; or make experiments to find its actual usage; or look up some documentation - help file, internet, ... - to find out more details. Hence, I don't want to give the "full details" - for example, for the "cycling dots", the cheat sheet has arrows showing the transitions 0 -> 1 -> 2 dots and a heading that says "Add 1 or 2 dots, clear dots." - but it does not say that you get from 2 to 0 by again pressing period.

- I have added a bunch of commands that should be useful, like Ctrl-A or Ctrl-Tab (actually a Windows standard to cycle through tabs, but many people might not know it, and it's really helpful in property dialogs).

- I have not added the "embedded space" suggestion for lyrics - there is almost no space there; and lyrics text needs to be assembled for the specific purpose anyway, so it seems to me that _ is not worse than embedded space (and, me thinks, even better, because one can see it ... but please enlighten me if there is some nice advantage).

- I have kept the arrow for backspace (actually, it occurs twice), but I have made it much longer - hopefully, it can now be easily distinguished from a simple left arrow.

- I have added [Shift-?] where it does something differently from ?.

- I have not added anything about right-clicking chord notes (I did not know this - thanks!) - I want to keep it a keyboard cheat sheet; and wouldn't know how to describe it with pictograms.

H.M.

Re: NWC keyboard cheat sheet?

Reply #11 –
Quote from: hmmueller –
- I have not added the "embedded space" suggestion for lyrics - there is almost no space there; and lyrics text needs to be assembled for the specific purpose anyway, so it seems to me that _ is not worse than embedded space (and, me thinks, even better, because one can see it ... but please enlighten me if there is some nice advantage).
You made a fair point about the "cheat sheet" being a reminder of what keys/characters are used to perform a particular function, and not a replacement for the user manual. I use the _ character for both of those purposes: by itself, to have a note with no syllable, or within lyric text to make two or more words occupy a single note (this is useful for "chant" parts, where multiple words are sung for one note). There is also a trick wherein you can append one or more _ characters to either the beginning or end of a word, to "uncenter" the word on the note, or force a word to take up more horizontal space than it normally would have.  Both of these usages probably fall into "special app note" usage, and don't belong on a condensed cheat sheet.

One minor correction that I just noticed: You spelled "Accaciatura.ms" wrong :)

Again, nice job on the sheet. It will be a handy reminder when I don't remember a particular special keystroke.

Re: NWC keyboard cheat sheet?

Reply #12 –
Thanks for comment - yes, _ is handy for more than one purpose. Maybe I should show an example lyrics on the cheat sheet ... I have to think about (i.e., make space for) it.
And with the latest upload, I hope I have sorted those c's and a's in the right way - in German, we have the trivial word "Vorschlag" for it ;)

H.M.

Re: NWC keyboard cheat sheet?

Reply #14 –
Richard Woodroffe said “I do not think you have covered right clicking on a note in a chord in order to change, for example, an accidental on one note in the chord, or to add a tie to that note.”

I can’t seem to do that using my laptop. Can you explain the process? Thanks!

Re: NWC keyboard cheat sheet?

Reply #15 –
If you have created a chord, of say 4 notes and after you have created it, you realise that the third note in the chord should have had an accidental (for example), you don't need to delete and re-create the chord, or delete the note out of the chord and re-enter it.

Instead, if you hover the cursor over the note in the chord that you wish to change and then right click it, you then get a small menu. This menu has options for :
Tie
Color
Courtesy Accidental
Accidentals (with an arrow for further options)
Noteheads  (with an arrow for further options)

So, now, if you hover over the accidentals entry, a further menu ill be offered which contains all the accidentals.  You can now select the one you need and the noe in the chord will now have the accidental of your choice.

From the menu I outlined above, you will realise that you can also add / remove ties,  change a note color,  add/remove courtesy accidentals and change the notehead type.

Much easier than deleting and re-creating the chord.


Rich.

Re: NWC keyboard cheat sheet?

Reply #16 –
Quote from: SEBC –
I can’t seem to do that using my laptop.
I'm not surprised. It helps to have a real mouse. Also, holding the control key down (with no selection) will highlight the chord and change the hand icon to a crosshair.
This can get a bit confusing since the flashing insertion point is ignored for right-click operations.
Registered user since 1996

Re: NWC keyboard cheat sheet?

Reply #17 –
If you are using a laptop with just the touchpad and buttons below the keyboard (i.e. no mouse), it is not too difficult to use the right-click menu. Just use the touchpad to position the arrow cursor over the notehead in question, then tap the right touchpad button momentarily (you might need to tap it twice). This should display the right click menu that Rich described, and it should stay open. Then go back to the touchpad and select the desired menu option.

As Rich mentioned, this is also useful for changing individual notehead shapes, as is required if you use CueHeads or one of the other objects that require blank space noteheads.

Re: NWC keyboard cheat sheet?

Reply #18 –
Thank you, everybody. I realize that I have been trying to highlight the chord instead of hovering the cursor.

This shortcut will save me time in the future. Thank you for the cheat sheet!

Re: NWC keyboard cheat sheet?

Reply #19 –
Success! Thanks again, everyone.