Is it true that MuseScore has an Edit Mode and a Note Entering Mode?
I noticed when I first create a new piece, it is in Edit Mode, I think, so anything done right now is for editing.
To enter note either by moving the note to the staff, or by clicking on the MuseScore keyboard, we have to click on the "N" button at the top left corner of the window first. And then we will be in "Note Entering Mode". Click the "N" again and it is back to Edit mode.
Is this how to understand it?
It rings a bell how the text editor vi or vim is. To start typing in a new file, we have to tap "i" to go into the insert mode, and then press ESC to go back to the COMMAND mode. It was more like emacs or Word for Windows which would directly go into the enter or insert mode... nothing wrong with vi... just a way of many ways.
Comments
Note input mode:
https://musescore.org/en/handbook/3/note-input#note-input-mode
Edit mode:
https://musescore.org/en/handbook/3/edit-mode#enter-edit-mode
When you first open a score, it's in "normal mode", not "edit mode". "edit mode" is a very special mode used only for naming fine manual adjustments to positions of notes and other elements; you get there by double-clicking.
It's true that unlike a word processor, MuseScore needs to be able to differentiate between when you are clicking in your score to select something, versus when you are clicking to enter notes (word processors don't generally allow you to enter words by clicking!). Thus, there is a need for a separate "note input mode", just as there is in most other notation programs. And yes, it's kind of similar to "vi" in that respect. Of course, for "vi" the reason for using two separate modes had nothing to do with needing to differentiate clicking-to-select versus clicking-to-enter - it was making the interface efficient on terminal displays with no mouse at all, and in many cases, no cursor keys!