MuseScore 3 chord symbol layout is poor
See, using full default:
All chord symbols are at different height making it difficult to read, and sorry I can't stop thinking, ... just ugly.
That auto-layout will change the height of some chord symbols when necessary is clear, but hopefully will do so only when a chord symbol needs to be put much higher than normal. In a case like this one when the difference of minimal required height between all the chord symbols is very small, they should all be aligned to the highest one. (at least by measure)
Comments
Change chord symbol style to be higher above staff, then autoplacement has less to move up
In reply to Change chord symbol style to… by Jojo-Schmitz
" Change chord symbol style to be higher above staff, then autoplacement has less to move up "
That would solve this particular case but put the symbols too high when not necessary, defeating the goal of auto-layout. Auto-layout should keep alignment by itself in cases where high difference is small enough.
In reply to " Change chord symbol style… by frfancha
I suggested it for this particular case only.
In reply to " Change chord symbol style… by frfancha
You can't have your cake and eat it too, though. In 2.0 you'd have had to make your choice for style default and either live with it being too high most of the time or having collisions some of the time. If you choose the latter, the fix is to select the chords on that system and move them up with the Inspector. For 3.0, it's not that different, except if you choose the lower default, you don't get collisions, just inconsistent height (which is normally not as problematic as it is in this extreme example), and the same basic solution applies (raise height of chords for that system using Inspector.
In general, chord symbols are not like lyrics - most editions don't force all chord symbols to be aligned system by system. So do measure by measure, others allow individual chords to differ. I don't think there is a good way to enforce a rule all could live with. But a separate autoplace align range setting for chord symbols could help indeed.
In reply to You can't have your cake and… by Marc Sabatella
I don't get that, because here we have no cake at all, neither on the table, in the fridge or in the stomach.
Not only is the default result poor, but it takes more effort to get it right compared to version 2.
The proposition of Jojo:
"I could see it useful for individual elements, so you can set it to one value for lyrics, another for chord symbols and yet another for voltas"
would be great.
In reply to I don't get that, because… by frfancha
I don't understand how it takes more effrot to get it right. Even what you show here is better to start with than MuseScore 2, which would have had collisions/overlap. So with 0 effort, result is already better. And the exactly same method works to solve the problem - select all chord symbols on the system, change vertical offset. So with the same effort, you can get the same better results. Where is the sense in which it takes more effort?
And yes, automatic alignment, by measure or by system would be even better. But it's still already better than MuseScore 2.
In reply to I don't understand how it… by Marc Sabatella
Sorry I was not aware that the inspector is smart enough to let you play with offset AND keep the automatic placement "on".
I have tried it now and it works very well => congrats to the designer of the system, it is brightly done.
(Just keeping in mind your last sentence as well: "And yes, automatic alignment, by measure or by system would be even better.")
In reply to Sorry I was not aware that… by frfancha
The code to do this alignment looks simple enough, shouldn't be too hard to add it at some point, along with appropriate style settings. I know we're looking at doing the same for pedal lines which suffer the same issue.
Werner did indeed do a nice job with autoplacement. The concept is surprisingly simple but it works well. For more on this from a user perspective, see https://musescore.org/en/node/278908#automatic-placement
Smart Layout was supposed to align things, too... is the "Vertical align range" setting in Format / Style / Score now non-functional?
In reply to Smart Layout was supposed to… by Isaac Weiss
Vertical align range was set to system, I have set it to "measure" to test but it doesn't change anything on the test score.
In reply to Vertical align range was set… by frfancha
This Vertical align setting does work for lyrics. Not for Voltas though for example, and I'm not sure a global score wide setting is good here, I could see it useful for individual elements, so you can set it to one value for lyrics, another for chord symbols and yet another for voltas
In reply to This Vertical align setting… by Jojo-Schmitz
Hi Jojo,
"I could see it useful for individual elements, so you can set it to one value for lyrics, another for chord symbols and yet another for voltas"
=> 100% agree with your statement!