Staff labelling - centered

When in Setup Mode I change the instrument name (let us say from “Violoncello” to “Violoncello e Basso”) and I put this into two text lines, like:

Violoncello
e Basso

then I make the two lines centre aligned, it will have no effect.
I do always end up with right aligned text.

Why is this?

Same for me.

This is because all staff labels use the formatting of the relevant paragraph style for the corresponding part of the staff label for their alignment. The alignment options in the Edit Instrument Name dialog don’t affect staff labels.

Thanks Lillie!

Lillie,

What is different about the styles for the Staff Names and that for Header text? I can adapt Header text from centered to left or right aligned as needed whereas experience suggest that Staff Names appear fixed, so I wonder about the difference.

Staff label text is not the same as a text object or text in a text frame - you can’t select it. Staff labels take their alignment from the paragraph style only, never from the alignment options in the Edit Instrument Names dialog, but you can use the other options to customize the instrument names that appear in staff labels, such as making individual words italic, such as “for rehearsal only”.

The text editor options that appear when you add Shift-X/Shift-Alt-X text or edit text in text frames give you full control over the selected bit of text. Paragraph styles control the formatting of all text that uses the corresponding paragraph style. Header text (and by that I assume you mean the text in the text frame at the top of e.g. the Default master page) has all the same text editor options available as any other text frame or text object.

So I suspect the paragraph strictures of Staff Names are enforced in the Staff Name editor panel rather than specifically in the paragraph style.
(Not complaining: just interested.)

If this be the case, may I politely suggest the alignment options be greyed out? Seems counterintuitive to show an option in a dialogue that doesn’t apply.

I remember this coming up before, but I’ve brought it up again and passed it along to the relevant developers :slight_smile:

Thanks!