Text editing on Mac

Dorico
#1

Hi,

Selecting and editing text strings on Mac and Windows work in a different way.

  • In Windows, you click a text field, then move the input caret with the arrows. If you want to overwrite everything, you have to first select the full field.

  • On Mac, you click a text field, then start typing to replace the full string. If you want to only change something, you click the text string, and start moving the input caret around.

As a Mac user, I find the latest faster and more intuitive. Most often, I find myself having to rewrite full strings, instead of editing a part of them.

Maybe this behavior can be implemented in the Mac version of Dorico?

Paolo

#2

I don’t think it’s as cut and dried as you suggest. Different applications and different text editing fields behave differently. Where it makes sense for the whole contents of the field to be selected by default, we do that.

#3

Thank you for clarifying, Daniel. If so, may I ask you to reconsider how it works in the Setup mode > Edit Names dialog, and in the Play mode > Endpoint Setup dialog, Expression map fields?

I find that, in these case, it is more common to want to start a name from anew, or type the first characters of the xpam name to immediately see the names proposed by Dorico.

Paolo

#4

Hi,

Another thing that I would find useful is this: when editing instrument names, press the down arrow key to go to the end of the text. This is typical on the Mac (reach the last line, and then go to the end). With longer instrument names, on repeated editing, it may save more than a few clicks.

Paolo

#5

Agreed

#6

A related question:
using the tab button in edit names of course adds space. I would very well rather have it switch to the next text field, as I am never using the tab as space and don’t really see the functionality really necessary with instrument names.

#7

Or:
— tab = go to next field
— alt/option-tab = enter a tab character if you really think you need to
(in case Dorico might ever allow tab settings in a text item or text frame, maybe in a distant future?)