Nightly build #3953 on Mac OSX: Standard menu items in the wrong spot

• Jan 27, 2011 - 13:39

I know this is a small item, and kinda picky, butt...

The "Preferences" menu item shows up in the "Edit" menu. The standard location on the Mac is in the application menu (in this case "MuseScore".

Similarly, the "About", and "Check for Updates" menu items are in the "Help" menu, and the standard location for these is in the "MuseScore" menu.

I really like some of the new features coming in the 2.0 release that I see here! Keep up the great work!

- Mike


Comments

I'm using 1.0 pre-release 2 (3949) on Mac 10.4.11.

Preferences isn't selectable either (location is in the MuseScore tab, however).

Actually, I just took a look at that build, and the "Preferences", "About", and "Check for Updates" items are in the wrong menus there too.

I made this change recently. On windows, the preferences menu is in Edit -> Preferences. The same on Linux. So it's easier to document it there for all OS including MacOSX. Moreover, translating these menu item and keeping them in the MuseScore menu on OSX is a pain.

In reply to by [DELETED] 5

OK.

As a developer myself, I understand the reasons and the pain :-)

However, from a purely "user" perspective, this is a distraction (albeit a small one). I was looking to change some prefs, and instead of just changing them, I had to hunt around to find out how.

I have this argument (discussion? friendly disagreement? :-) with fellow developers at work all the time. I think that in general is important, in a cross platform application especially, to follow the user interaction conventions of each platform and not just do what's easier.

But, be that as it may, I love the program, and this one little thing won't stop me from using it :-)

Thanks again for all the great work :-)

- Mike.

In reply to by [DELETED] 5

I would also recommend platform conventions for menu items. Internal consistency (with other applications on the same computer) is more important than external consistency (MuseScore on different operating systems). Other big name cross-platform applications do this (Firefox, Microsoft Office, etc.).

Of course, the big names have more resources available for documentation. I still looking for Mac OS users to help with the handbook. I do what I can (based limited experience with Mac OS a few years ago), but I'm a Windows user.

Do you still have an unanswered question? Please log in first to post your question.