My normal font family for scores is Mercury, which uses styles like “Text G3 Roman” as the standard style — NOT “Regular,” which is what Dorico insists of trying to use. While we can now set Default Font Family in the Preferences dialog, there’s no way to set a default Font Style. This means that we have to go through every Engrave mode->Paragraph Style and ->Font Style to change Dorico’s “Regular” to the style I need. Otherwise the “Missing Font” dialog appears every time I open the file. Filling in the Missing Font dialog apparently doesn’t redefine the styles within the score, so it’s not fixed until you find the one font you missed.
I’m not explaining this very well — but my point is that by not allowing us to set the Default Font Style in the Preferences dialog, a lot of manual work gets created. And because there’s no way to import these font choices as part of a House Style (or something similar), I have to either use my own scores as a template, or redo these changes in every new score.
Thanks for considering. I know adding Preferences is not something you do lightly, but I’m certainly not the only one using fonts without “Regular” style options.
It would seem pretty straightforward that if one wants a high degree of customization, a lot of work will be involved. And human nature suggests that as soon as the programmers make one form of customization easier, some will want to push that envelope further.
Derrek, I don’t understand your dismissal. Choosing a different font family is obviously something the Dorico developers know is going to happen — that’s why they gave the ability to choose a new default font family. There are many fonts that don’t use “Regular” for their standard — even something like Adobe’s Palatino LT Std, which uses “Roman” for its normal typeface. This is not an unusual circumstance, and the hoops Dorico makes you jump through seem unnecessary.
This is not an additional level of customization from what the Dorico developers have made easy, it’s just completing the feature they added.
These type of problems often boil down to either (1) somebody has installed a “pick and mix” selection of the variants from the font but never installed the files that define the complete family, or (2) somebody has discovered a “non standard” way to select exactly what they want that works in some software application but not in a general way, or (3) the font has never been converted to a current standard like OpenType.
Rob, thanks for trying, but your first link is not the right font at all (it’s a completely different sans serif Mercury, no relation to mine) and your second link appears to be some sort of a bootleg version of the real Mercury. Fonts by Hoefler&Co.
I admit I am frustrated that the impulse on this forum so often seems to be blaming the user. There are many fonts whose “normal” styles are not called “Regular.” In the case of this one, it is to allow the user to choose the desired grade for printing weight (basically, the entire font exists in grades 1–4). I would also run into all these issues if I was trying to use something less strange, like Adobe’s Palatino LT Std. In that font, the standard weight is called “Roman.” Many Adobe fonts were designed this way, with “Roman” as the normal style. It should be possible to define the normal style of a font and not need to change it in dozens of separate places. Not rocket science.
Quite apart from being dismissive, I merely commented that the more meticulous and granular one wants to be, the more work will likely be required.
I realize that there are folks with different goals here.
My view is that the art is in the music itself, and the notation needs to present the information as clearly as possible to produce the sounds required. (Even those who follow this approach have to work hard at present to notate boxes and lines associated with various forms of aleatory music and the like.)
Others (particularly engravers) strive for art in the look of the notation itself. This also requires a lot of specific capabilities, and in the case of defining a personal style may require a lot of meticulous work.
I have no problems with the goals of either group, but no matter the sophistication of the tools available, art requires work because artists always seem to be stretching the possibilities that exist at the time.
To the OP, I go through the same ritual with every score because I use Iowan Old Style which is the same. There is no “regular”. (It’s Roman) Curiously, if I dismiss the dialogue things usually open up just fine, but it’s annoying nevertheless.
