Coda with text
Can I add the text "Coda" after the Coda symbol?
I see that different software supports the appearance of Coda differently. Some software, like, MuseScore, have just the coda symbol, while some have just the text "Coda", and some other software have both the symbol and the text.
For educational purposes, I do want to have the symbol and the text after it. On MuseScore, I have tried different methods/hacks.
Method 1: I have tried editing the Coda text box and add the text "Coda" behind the symbol. However the text is not in the same format/style as the other parts like the out-of-the-box default "D.S. al Coda". I then tried selecting the text and changed the format but formatting partial text wouldn't work unless the format for the whole textbox is applied. Formatting the whole textbox, unfortunately, would affect the original format/style of the symbol.
Method 2: Add a staff textbox with text "Coda" behind the symbol. This method does remove the problems with separate formatting, but it creates another problem. The symbol textbox position is basically locked to the measure, while the staff textbox is anchored to a note of the measure. Some people may think this hack is OK, but I don't think this is very reliable. Since the two things are anchored to different things, if the layout of the documents is modified later, then the positions of the two textbox may become unaligned. That will require attention to fix it occasionally.
There are other hacks I have tried too, but they are far more unreliable.
I hope there are options in the inspector for us to show/hide the symbol/text.
Comments
Method 1 is the way to go. Add a Coda, double click it, change to whatever text you want, leave text edit mode, change fontsize in Inspector.
If you need the same text often, add that to a custom (Repeats & Jumps) palette in a custom workspace.
In reply to Method 1 is the way to go… by Jojo-Schmitz
Yes. Method 1... That's what I experimented. When the textbox is in edit mode, I select the text and change the format in inspector. I exit the edit mode and boom, the format is applied to the whole textbox instead of the selected text. The symbol is mistakenly formatted too.
May be this is a bug in formatting instead of an unsupported feature?
Yes, changing text and settings in the same step doesn't work (and that much is a bug, see #295544: Actions applied during text editing more automatically revert on return to normal mode), that's why I said that you need to leave text edit mode and then change format.
Hmm, hold on, you want to change the format of only a part of the text? In that case in text edit mode use the text toolbar at the bottom of the screen, not the Inspector. That much is be design, Inspector changes work on the whole (text) element
In reply to Yes, changing text and… by Jojo-Schmitz
Oh I see... that works. Thank you very much.
Didn't know I have to change the text using the bottom toolbar instead of the options on Inspector... That was kind of confusing. haha...
After changing partial textbox, I see another potential issue though. Since the font sizes are different within the same textbox, the line heights have become different. I might want to vertically center align the text... I don't see any relevant button on the bottom toolbar, so I click on the vertical center align button on the inspector, but that doesn't work....
So have I broken something? Or is that a feature not supported yet?
I think it alignes to the fonts' baseline. I don't think you can change that
To be clear: the Inspector is for setting properties on the text as a whole. The toolbar is for setting format on individual characters/words within the text.
So there are no new features needed here, correct? Editing the text works as it should. And you can also add the edited symbol back to a custom palette (possible already, but about to become much simpler in 3.3).