Improve search function
I'm a relatively new user of MuseScore and often have to search in the handbook how to do something.
The handbook is certainly useable, and with the help of the table of content, you can, if you are lucky, find what you search for. I'm using MS 4.2.1 for which the handbook is not yet complete so in some cases, you have to go back to the 3.x handbook although I'm not absolutely sure if it's still the same on 4.2.1. This is very time consuming and in many cases unsuccessful because you simply don't know where to search.
Luckily, there is a search function but this is unfortunately not intelligent as you cannot search for an expression, just single words.
If I, for example, would like to search for the expression Select voice, you get hundreds of hits for select and voice as individual words. It doesn't help if you search for "Select voice", SelectANDvoice, 'Select voice' etc because it renders you the hundred of hits or nothing at all.
I think that one of the most important improvement for many users, particularly new users, would be to implement an intelligent search function in the online handbook. I've seen many comments on this forum, which I appreciate a lot, about how to do certain things. In many cases, the answer is, see the handbook and maybe a link.
I've, in my previous life, i.e. before retirement, in space engineering I'v been, among others, responsible for satellite operations manuals. In my last project, BepiColombo, a satellite en route to Mercury, the manual had about 100k pages plus another 1000 or so support documents. As you cannot know where to search for everything, an intelligent search over the complete manual was absolutely necessary and requested by the customer, the European Space Agency (ESA).
It should be noted however, that we had to deliver a stand alone manual. Hence, the search engine had to work locally on every computer where the "document library" was "installed".
After this long rant. Can we get an intelligent search engine?
Comments
The MuseScore provided search function is indeed very limited. If you, for example, search for tempo marking, it will show you every occurrence the individual words, i.e. tempo as well as making.
Searching for an expression is better if you use the browser. Some, you want to add above search for tempo marking, you can write the following in the browser address field
1) the complete MuseScore site, i.e. including the handbook and the forum
site:musescore.org tempo marking
2) the forum
site:musescore.org/en/forum tempo marking
3) the handbook
site:musescore.org/en/handbook tempo marking
You can use Google, to some extent:
site:https://musescore.org/en/handbook/4 "my search expression"
e.g. site:https://musescore.org/en/handbook/4 "idiomatic notation"
In reply to You can use Google, to some… by underquark
Yes, I know. However, wouldn't it be better to have this as the default search method. In Lilypond which has been my tool for engraving music for at last ten years now, this is exactly what they do, see picture.
This also finds pictures embedded in the various handbooks which might be sufficient if you search for something specific and if you click on the picture, it jumps to the related handbook description anyway.
For me, the single word search capability currently provided is, mildly exposed, not user friendly.
I often use the single page version of the MuS 4 handbook: https://musescore.org/en/print/book/export/html/329209?toc=1
There you can use your browser's seach function. If you enter 'Select voice' you will not get results for 'select' or for 'voice' but only for 'select voice' - of course only if these two words occur together.