RFC: rethink horizontal alignment of mid-staff bar numbers

[Kevin Barry]

Dear Developers,

I am continuing Jean Abou Samra's work on bar number alignment
(https://gitlab.com/lilypond/lilypond/-/merge_requests/447) and would
like to request your comments on the proposed change. There doesn't
seem to be an established standard for aligning bar numbers (see the
various examples posted at the merge request link for some of the
different ways publishers do them), but there did seem to be some
consensus that LilyPond places bar numbers too far to the left.

Attached is a pdf that shows four different options: how LilyPond does
things currently, Jean's proposal, Elaine Gould's recommendation (from
the book Behind Bars), and an extra option showing things even further
to the right. I would like to hear people's comments:
- if you have a preference for one of the four, please indicate which
- if you prefer something else, please describe it
- please feel free to introduce evidence in the form of hand-engraved
  scores or recommendations by authors (e.g. Ted Ross, whose book I
  don't have a copy of to consult)

NB: I am deliberately not addressing the subject of whether or not bar
numbers should be italicised; I intend to request the list's opinions on
that after this merge request is dealt with.

Thanks all (especially Jean Abou, who did the hard work)

Kevin

mr447.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document