Abandon Status Bar?

• Aug 8, 2011 - 01:12

I'm not sure the Status Bar is required anymore - it still feels like a superfluous feature taking up space.

1) The inspector (currently experimental though) will allow you to offset positions of objects.
2) If you want details on beats/bars, go to Play Panel.
3) You can see the Play icon change in the Transport Tools, to notify you the score is playing.

I'm not sure what enabling the horizontal and vertical rasters do, or 'default'.

Using MuseScore 2.0 Nightly Build (4651) - Mac 10.6.8.


Comments

I think the play panel should be integrated into the status bar. That way, you can have one less window open and you don't have to obscure part of your score with the play panel.

In reply to by duck57

Might be a better idea - thanks.

The things currently missing from the status bar are 'Straight/Swing/Shuffle', volume, tempo, position bar, and the speed listings (BPM and percentage).

Status bar could be remove, if the better player panel is replaced and has an option for user to display in the status bar.

It may be a personal perspective, but I find the new inspector window MUCH less convenient than the original coordinate boxes in the status bar.

1) It takes MUCH more screen space

2) It is less direct: to work on the offset of an object, pressing "Apply" is required to see the result; previously, the object was moved "in real time" while changing the offset(s).

3) It is always shown (or has to be turned on and off manually), while the status bar boxes appeared when needed and disappeared when not needed.

As I use the offset coordinates quite a lot, I find this a noticeable step back in usability.

In general, I do not see the need for getting rid of the status bar: it is a very convenient way to have some info at hand; most programs have one and it is an established part of the UI.

In particular, coordinates are commonly shown in status bars; in addition, MuseScore offset coordinates were shown in the status bar only while editing an object, i.e. only when needed, otherwise not taking any screen space.

So, for what is worth, I vote for restoring the offset boxes back into the status bar.

As an alternative, they could be shown in a "temporary status bar", as it is the case for text parameters while editing a text.

Thanks,

M.

In reply to by Miwarre

I had hoped the new inspector panel could replace the status bar position boxes.
The difference is that the status bar coordinate boxes work only in input mode whereas the inspector works in normal mode on selected elements. The apply button was an design decision as otherwise every parameter change in the inspector would produce an undo action which maybe is less convenient. So only the "apply" is undoable.

The inspector was more meant to replace the various element property dialogs. Its much faster to use if you want to change the properties of more than one element.

I am in favour of reimplementing the object position boxes in an context toolbar like the text toolbar or the drum entry toolbar.

In reply to by [DELETED] 3

"The inspector was more meant to replace the various element property dialogs. Its much faster to use if you want to change the properties of more than one element."

This seems promising, but I am not sure I understand it: do you mean that, for instance, the inspector would (will) contain a visible/invisible check box and, by selecting several elements, maybe of different type, and checking/unchecking the check box all those elements will become visible/invisible?

I assume the inspector will not contain item-specific properties if items of different types are selected: visible/invisible and colour are more or less the only non-item-specific properties, IIRC.

Thanks,

M.

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