Enable Start Center menu link when no score in MuseScore

• Dec 22, 2014 - 22:07
Type
Functional
Severity
S4 - Minor
Status
closed
Project

When there is no score in MuseScore, make sure one can still open the Start Center
Screenshot 2014-12-22 22.52.32.png

Attachment Size
Screenshot 2014-12-22 22.52.32.png 94.98 KB

Comments

Given that the start center is a relative new thing, not present in other versions, and that it's just a front end to functions you can easily access by other means (file / new, open, recent) and that you can still access it by shortcut if you like, and that it's only while no score is loaded that it is somewhat more difficult to access than at other times, I guess I don't understand why you consider it so signifcant. What I am not understanding?

Not saying it shoudln't done if there is time after fixing the critical issues and it can be done with no risk. My concern is that changing the structure of what enables what and when tends to be the sort of the thing that has unexpected side effects.

Why have a Start Center at all? I feel like it exists for this specific circumstance—you don't have a score open, but you're going to start something from this nice, convenient Start Center that you can open up this way. (Especially helpful for new users.) And there's another thing. Since we can agree that it probably should be accessible from the menu, most likely the broad user base will have the same expectations, and when they find this issue they'll feel like it's a bug that got missed—which was what I felt like.

However, I assumed that this would take about one word of code to fix. I didn't realize it could affect other things. If it's not worth the risks, then, as you say, we can still get by.

Oh, I don't *know* it's hard. But the obvious easy thing is to enable the whole View menu, and that could be bad, since much of what is one it would probably crash. So we'd have to micromanage more, I assume. Maybe just the Start Center itself, or that & Full Screen? I'm sure it's doable, just surprised it seems more important than any of a few couple dozen bug fixes we won't be getting to as it is.

I guess for me, the state of not having a score open at all is pretty rare. MuseScore starts up and shows me the StartCenter, and either I choose a score to load, create a new one, or just close it and leave My First Score up. I generally keep adding scores, seldom closing them, and rarely closing them *all*. I've come to like the StartCenter a lot - so much so that I couldn't imagine being bothered to need the View menu to open it. But for users who tend to always close scores and thus constantly find themselves with no score open, and haven't learned the shortcut, it would indeed be a shame to not be able to access the Start Center.

I was thinking primarily of the Start Center, as I gather Thomas was, but Full Screen makes sense too. Again, though, I was thinking it would be take around ten seconds to change it. It certainly should not take time away from fixing real bugs, and I'm sorry I took up your time with this discussion.

Perhaps the easier answer is to move the "Start Center" menu option to the File menu. The Start Center is mostly file oriented anyway (templates, saved files) _except_ for create from scratch.

Yeah, but it's still a thing you view. Besides, it has MuseScore Connect in it, and that's always absolutely been a matter of View, not File.

The View menu is mainly score entry and editing tools: palettes, navigator, filters, piano document stacking. Start Center is mainly a jumping-off point for loading or creating new scores, including the Online community. It may not be perfect, but it's likely a closer fit and a simpler change to make this menu item always available.

That does make a lot of sense. It really does relate to File / Open Recent, File / New, and File / Open more than anything in the View menu, and moving it there probably would make it easier to keep enabled. Let's see if lasconic has an opinion. It's probably not hard to make it work in View either; it just means changing something I'm not as confident about.

Status (old) duplicate fixed

Well, it seems lasconic's opinion is to go ahead and do it. Just as I was starting to think it really does make sense to put it under File. ;> But this is good. Thank you!