Re: major feature request (tablature)

[demery]

> But LilyPond already has an extensive code and data structures base.  To use
> data structures or code that are not compatible with the LilyPond paradigm
> is not wise.

What is wise is to bow to the users expectations, not twist their mind.

User of tablature is thinking of where to put the fingers, which is
a stream of

    { [flag], {fretlist} }

for italian and french notations, with the fretlist ordered by course
and a stream of

    { [flag], {fretCoursePolyphony-row1, -row2, -row3, ... }

for german, with course implied by the fretglyph encoding.

> I see nothing in this tablature that can't be done in LilyPond.  I also see
> that this tablature is much more beautiful than the current LilyPond
> tablature, and can see why you want to improve the LilyPond output.  Thanks
> for sharing the vision.

YW, please notice that besides the form differences, there have been a
number of fonts used historically, I have made replicas using
Fontographer, and will be tweaking them to serve Ly use.

> Adding the extra offset from the glyphs automatically should be a relatively
> easy thing to do in LilyPond, and might make an excellent way for you to get
> started on creating the features you want.  Looking at this output, I
> suspect that the glyphs have been offset to put them in the spaces of the
> tab

yes, I see where that could leave the stems mispositioned as they are. 
The fellow doing that illo has gone on to correct the 1 and 3 lines flags.

Once I get the docs unrolled from their tar balls... (chicken n egg
problem, libraries dont have untar utillities n frown on installs on their
virus-free machines...).

> (which is what the most common popular music

say it, Mel Bay editions :-).  I have a couple for banjo.

>>> it would seem to me to be more robust to enter fret, course, and
>>> duration.  

right, I was distracted by thoughts of german tab (ugly stuff that).

> You might consider that if you run into difficulty, if you're using the
> standard parser

yes, i see that, and it could work well for 6-course lute tab and cittern
tab (4-6 course instrument); but there will be aspects of the notation
which simply wont have equivalent data, so maybe in stages.

> If you leave the parser alone and write Scheme code

a clue to where 'scheme' code is described would be welcome, unique to Ly?
elsewhere?; in the doc package I have?, somewhere online?

> I'll look forward to seeing how you choose to move forward on this.   I
> think it will increase LilyPond's appeal as the premier music engraving
> software.

priced right I think is the major claim to fame you can honestly make, its
got a ways to go before the other is clear to all.
-- 
Dana Emery