Re: [Frescobaldi] Re: ANN: Frescobaldi 2.0.4

[Wilbert Berendsen]

Hi all,

Thanks go to Valentin for taking the time for a consise first
review :-) Here are some answers to questions and additions.

Also note that F2 is only one year old and should be developed further,
I think it has a very solid code foundation right now with Python and
Qt4. :)

Op Tue, 13 Mar 2012 20:07:41 +0100
Valentin Villenave <address@hidden> schreef:

> - aesthetically speaking, the difference is huge and the interface
> looks a lot less pretty (pinkish background in the PDF preview: wtf?).

This can be adjusted (of course :-) although I'm all in favor of a
better default value!

> - the source code window sports less pleasant colors (plain
> blue/red/black instead of KDE's pastel tones).

The default colors can be changed. I based my colors on the KDE ones,
but I probably used to have a different color scheme in KDE :-)

There is theme support for the color scheme. But I probably should
implement importing/exporting schemes, so some nice color schemes could
make it to the Frescobaldi website!

> - the search function is now just that: no search&replace.

There is Edit->Replace. It also support regular expressions and
replacing in the selection.

> - no more tabs on the side and the bottom: making frames
> appear/disappear is a lot less intuitive: you have to **close**
> frames, not merely **hide** them (I was used to hiding the log window,
> but "closing" it makes less sense to me -- sure, I could just use the
> keyboard shortcut but then I'd have to learn it first ;-)

Yes the tabs were nice, but the Qt-provided dock widgets are more
flexible in layout: you can drag the tools in rows or columns, or drop
one tool on another to make a tabbed tool view.

> - no more terminal frame (unlike LilyPondTool, where the "log window"
> may be used as a terminal emulator).

There is a command Tools->Open Command Prompt that opens a terminal
window in the correct directory. But a built-in console could be
implemented, maybe even combining a operating system shell and a Python
shell to test new Frescobaldi features.

> - no more integrated file browser (the "documents" frame isn't half
> as useful)

A filebrowser would certainly be nice. Currently I just use Ctrl+O :)
and also the Sessions menu.

> - the new "Compile but don't save" behavior is quite surprising (and
> I've found myself loosing more than one score because of it). I'm not
> saying it's bad or absurd, it's just unexpected (and should be
> optional IMO).

This behaviour is the same as in Frescobaldi 1, but you can force
Frescobaldi to save a document first by checking the "Save
document if possible" option in the LilyPond preferences. This saves
the document if it is modified and has already a filename.

> - the intelligent-indenting awesomeness now looks a bit less
> intelligent. (Where's my Ctrl-I?)

Tab and Shift-tab handle the indent, Ctrl+I inserts a plain Tab.

To keep Frescobaldi simple its indenting defaults to the
LilyPond-recommended way of indenting. But you can override the
behaviour by placing document variables in the document (see
manual->editor->document variables).

> - the PDF preview offers less features than before (thanks to the kpdf
> component I could just select an area with the right-button and copy
> it as an image).

I put much love in the PDF view to make it better than the old one (I
hope ;-) You can copy images: drag a square with the right button or
Shift-left button, and then choose "Copy to Image" in the context menu
or the Edit menu. It even copies images in a specified DPI setting,
instead of the current scale! You can drag both the image or the
image's file, and also specify the antialiasing, background color
(which in the "Copy to Image" dialog defaults to white :-) and whether
to auto-crop the image.

And did you notice the magnifying glass? Ctrl+Click in the Music View!

The old pdf view did not support finding point and click objects (due to
Okular limitations), but the new one has: Ctrl+J highlights the object
the text cursor is at.

> - the MIDI player looks gorgeous (but I never use it).

It has some nice features: it displays the current measure number and
the time. You can quickly find music by dragging the timer knob.

> - the Preferences window has more colors and icons, but somehow feels
> less complete (a lot of the old one was Kate's preferences, where you
> could fine-tune your level of indenting, etc.)

I tried to make the config pages simple and not too crowded. But I think
an 'Editor' page is needed, with settings related to editing behaviour,
indenting etc.

> That being said, there still are a lot of nice touches and
> afterthoughts that embody the "Frescobaldi spirit" and show how
> generously and intelligently you care about your users' every need or
> whim: snippets, special chars, "run LilyPond with English messages",
> etc. It's so brillantly thought it's disarming.

Please take a look at the snippets manager, it is quite powerful and
also powers the File->New from template menu. It has support for python
scripts as well and some nice default snippets. A larger library could
be put on the Frescobaldi website.

Snippets enable a fast workflow: they can have a mnemonic (e.g. Ctrl+T,
mnemonic, Enter) or even a keyboard shortcut.

Snippets also power the Insert menu.

> > Many things are high on the TODO list, and all the needed
> > infrastructure is already there:
> > - folding in editor
> 
> I'd definitely put _that_ one on top of the list. Kate's display of
> nested blocks in the colored gutter was _very_ good and convenient.
> (And beautiful to look at. :-)

yes, folding and even a VI-like mode are quite high on the todo list.

> Now, I can't wait to see a Windows and Mac port (that could embed a
> ready-to-run LilyPond distribution, by the way)!

There is: see www.frescobaldi.org/download . The Windows installer
works very well! I have no Mac to test and build a Mac installer.
But users are using Frescobaldi on Mac OS X and it works.

> Good luck -- you know where to find me if you need any French
> translation (although, quite frankly, I've been feeling a bit
> discouraged when seeing the subpar work of other contributors to your
> fr.po file).

Yes there are many French translators, and I can't see which which
translations are the best. It would be nice if someone with good
understanding of LilyPond and Frescobaldi and translating desktop
applications could 'govern' the French translation :-)


Thanks for all the (highly valued!) feedback!

With sincere regards,
Wilbert

-- 
Wilbert Berendsen
(http://www.wilbertberendsen.nl)