Yes, I see similar topics to this going back almost ten years.
But it’s really annoying to to open the lines panel on the right and have my score jump to the first page.
It’s really annoying to delete some notes on a stave and have the score jump back a page or two to where the instrument last played.
It’s annoying to be adjusting something in Write mode and have the score jump back a page when I switch to Engrave mode.
I’ve been scrolling and moving around in my notation scores for over 20 years now. I really don’t need someone (or something) to do it for me. This causes way more problems than any possible assistance. The only benefit I get from it is during note entry, when the score moves to the next page as I continue entering notes. Other than that, it’s a real nuisance and hurts productivity.
Is it not possible to have Dorico stay put and only move pages for note entry?
Is it not possible to have Write and Engrave modes fully sync their locations?
If View > Zoom has been set to Page Height, the view jumps to the first page in the project when a hidden/collapsed/minimized panel is opened. The fix is to set the Zoom percentage manually.
This did the trick, thank you. I had to alter my macros to not use page width (which causes the same problem as page height) but to enter a manual percentage.
However, this is a workaround for what seems to be a bug. Here’s my issue:
I use my computer display in portrait orientation when I’m working with a big orchestra, and the manual zoom setting can always be the same.
But I also work with smaller theater orchestras (4-7 players). These scores are done in landscape mode. The piano-playing conductor uses a full score to perform (we make their staves bigger). So I rotate my display and work in landscape orientation. Now I will have to go to all my macros and change the manual Zoom setting.
So basically the height and width settings for Zoom are unusable since they cause this jumping behavior from opening panels. Can that be fixed?
Yes, I try to stay away from panels and use the pop-ups. But that’s not possible for the line panel which seems to be less integrated into the user interface than the other panels.
And here’s the other problem with this workaround - it breaks something I really liked in Dorico -
When I choose to “Zoom by height”, and then open the lower panel, Dorico handily keeps my full score in view by lessening the Zoom, and then bringing it back to size when I close the lower panel. Using a manual Zoom amount breaks this feature and I start to lose some of my staves under the panel.
I was really referring to what Daniel wrote a few grafs down in that post, but linking to a post only shows the beginning of it. Here’s the relevant part:
Edit: Oh, look, Discourse formats “Copy Quote” the same as a regular post link. Never knew that!
Stepping back a bit - I find everyone pushing A.I. on me - my accounting software, my search engine, my word processor … don’t get me wrong - I’m all for intelligent machines and smarter software. But only when I need them and they are helpful.
There’s a point where there’s too much help and the machine is guessing what I need and want, and often getting it wrong. This feels like one of those spots. I work on one part of score at a time. When I want to work elsewhere, on my own I can navigate with the Goto commands or keystrokes for advancing or skipping to the end or the start.
(Again, the one exception to this is note entry - advancing to keep the entries in view is helpful.)
Thank you, but I’ll walk to the corner to get the train … you don’t need to carry me there.
Are you suggesting that Dorico is trying to guess where you want to be? I don’t think that’s true at all—the intent is to keep you where you were, but it doesn’t always work out that way.
You mean that all the movement of the score we’ve been discussing in this thread is unintentional?
There seems to be a lot of work that was done to guess where I want to go in Dorico. For instance if I have just drawn a slur (and it is still selected), hitting a right arrow will take me to the next slur - and not to the the next entry which is where I want to go. Dorico is assuming that since I have a slur selected I only want to go to the next slur, not to the next (slurless) entry. So I have to deselect the slur to go to the next (slurless) entry. The same with dynamics.
There was a suggestion earlier in the thread that I ‘deselect’ before I navigate. I find I’m hitting the tab key (to get back to the notehead from the slur) or the escape key often instead of just arrowing to where I want to go next. There’s A LOT of deselecting in my work flow. Does it have to be that way?
There’s an assumption here that I want to stay focused on dynamics or slurs after entering them. I do everything at once - notes, slurs, articulation and dynamics. I’m creating an orchestration, and like a painter I work on different parts on the canvas at different times - sometimes the rhythm section first, sometimes a piano part, sometime some string writing. For me, a notation program starts as my sketch pad, capturing my ideas.
Some of us are writing and creating music, not engraving. The two workflows are very different from each other, and I think the organization of Dorico is slanted more towards one than the other.
I’m a workflow nerd and NONE of this is to say it’s not something I can live with (though I will grumble every time my score jumps, or a back arrow take me to a slur two pages earlier.) This program is miles and miles beyond the others and I’m thankful for that.
If there was never any intention for Dorico to be moving my score to different spots, then this is a bigger bug than I thought it was.
Yes, definitely. If you look at the graf from Daniel I quoted above, he’s clearly talking about behavior that is not intended.
I wouldn’t say that Dorico is “assuming” that – it’s just the way that navigation is built. The arrow key will take you to the next item of the type you have selected; the tab key will take you different items at the same rhythmic position.
I don’t think any guessing or AI is going on with the navigation within Dorico. I think somebody with access to the source code could exactly say why something happened.
There may be unintended behaviour though (might be called bugs)
I’m sitting in the kitchen on my phone (and I’m not getting up to check) but is there even an available combination of modifier keys + arrow that we could assign to a “go from whatever is selected to the next note” function (if it ever becomes possible)?
If it did, I’d actually switch the key commands so that a right-arrow takes me to the next note no matter what is selected, and the modifier takes me to the next same notation.
I encounter the “jumping” usually during note entry (using trackpad and duration before pitch approach) when I notate a voice in Galley view. It occurs when I scroll back (to the left) to start note input on a second voice on the same staff and use V or Shift-V to start the new voice.
If you only have one notation then, yes, I concur.
However, if you have something like a slur, playing technique and dynamic at the same rhythmic position, and you have the playing technique selected, you actually have to press TAB three times to get back to the note - and then right arrow to get to the next note.
Don’t get me wrong: pressing a key three times isn’t going to break my finger, but it would be nice to just press right-arrow and go to the next note.
Exactly - this is the constant argument about user interface - more ability versus simplicity of use. I grant that the use of the tab/right arrow combination gives more ability. But it slows down note entry by removing the simplicity to just go to the next note.
I hated that Apple simplified the operating system over the last few decades - I lost the ability to have greater control through the System Extensions (anyone remember System 9?) But they were turning their platform from a tool for graphic artists and musicians into a general user/business platform. I favored Finale over Sibelius for a long time because I could get under the hood more easily (and tolerated its inferior user interface for that reason.) So usually I’m on the side of greater user ability. But in this case …
The problem with having to deselect items is not about ‘breaking my fingers’ - it’s about interrupting my work and train of thought to think about the interface instead of the string line I’m struggling to shape.
