Re: [Denemo-devel] "On the note" vs "between the notes" paradigm shift

[Richard Shann]

I don't think it is useful to have an idea that the cursor is between
two notes, nor that it is on a note.
If you press Ins key a note is inserted at the cursor height into the
chord that the cursor is on. If you press a Shft-<notename> when the
cursor is vertically on a note that note is edited to be notename. What
is going to happen is indicated by the green rectangle part of the
cursor.
If you press a <notename> key the a new chord is inserted where the blue
insertion bar is, comprising this one note.

I think this complexity in the end is about music having two dimensions,
horizontal (for time) and vertical (for pitch). The green rectangle is
about the pitch at which something might be placed, while the blue line
denotes the time at which something might be placed.

The only use I have for selections is when I type a part into the wrong
staff by mistake. I have successfully cut and pasted the part in these
circumstances, and I noticed that the selection of a large portion of
music has become more difficult to do than it used to be before the
separation of cursor movements from selection extension. On the other
hand I find the accidental creation of a selection a nuisance and live
in fear that one day I will accidentally hit Ctrl-x with some off-screen
selection and have no idea I have just damaged my score. (And Ctrl-x is
a common Emacs prefix ...).

(As a slightly off-topic comment, I recall accidentally hitting
backspace on a score and not knowing what the note was I had deleted. I
was faced with either digging out the original manuscript or listening
and guessing. Then I remembered the scheme window. I got it up and typed
(d-Undo) and executed it. My note came back. So I think it was premature
to remove Undo from the available commands. It does have a limited use.)

Richard


On Tue, 2010-08-31 at 22:45 +0200, Nils Gey wrote:
> Hello list, 
> 
> historically I saw that Denemo had the cursor always "on" the note (or other 
> objects) which created some confusion because the normal paradigm in computer 
> world today is "between" objects.
> 
> Technically there is no difference except in some details. Both change, 
> delete, add chordnote on/before the current note.
> 
> With recent changes and user complainments Denemo slowly shifted towards a 
> "between" representation, too. Most important indicator is that the new 
> cursor has a clear "between" insert line now.
> 
> Also the selection cursor movement is now considered a bug by users (DanW) 
> and, after making up my mind, by me, too.
> see: https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/index.php?30939
> Its only a bug if you assume (and "feel") that the cursor is between the 
> objects, and not on them.
> 
> I call this a paradigm shift because if we agree to change the 
> cursor/selection behaviour there is not much (probably nothing?) left that 
> reminds the user that Denemo once was "on the note" and not between. 
> 
> Nils
> 
> 
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