Re: VerticalAlignment in PianoStaff

[Graham Percival]

On Tue, 13 Aug 2002 14:01:25 +0200 (CEST)
Atte Andre Jensen <address@hidden> wrote:
> Another thing about the doc in general. I now realize the info is there
> indeed, what really put me on the right track was Grahams reply to my "A
> whole bunch of questions" mail, esp this small bit:
> 
> "Read that "fine tuning" section -- it really bridges the gap between
> novice and intermediate users."

That's pretty much why I starting to get involved in devel stuff*.  There's
lots of info for beginners, and there's lots of info for advanced users
(ie people who know Scheme or whatever the language with all the parenthesis
is :) ,  but there isn't much in between.  I didn't realise that the "fune
tuning" example existed when I decided to help out with the documentation.
I think "fine tuning" is a good start, but we need more stuff like that.
Which I plan on submitting.

* Well... ok, that isn't the reason.  I have two real reasons:
1.  Since I'll be working my way through the manual, it'll force me to
sit down and actually read it all, as opposed to rushing through looking
for a solution to a particular problem.
2.  Once I've contributed stuff back to the project, I'll feel better about
asking for certain new features.  :)


I have one big advantage that most of the developers don't have: I'm _not_
an advanced user (ok, maybe ``advanced intermediate'' :) .  A year ago I
didn't know anything about lilypond.  Since I only recently learned how to
do stuff with it, I can remember what parts I found difficult and therefore
target those areas better.  Of course, I probably found some parts quite easy
that you'll find hard, and vice versa.  So keep on commenting!

(BTW, thanks for your emails about \slurUp not affecting phrasing slurs and
the broken link.  If they're not fixed by the time I get to those parts of
the manual, I'll fix them)

> I even though that maybe what is called reference manual now is more like
> a faq. One simple way to solve the confusion for newcommers would be to ad
> - maybe as the very first item under manual - a section on "how to use
> this manual", directing people to the places that will answer their
> specefic class of questions.

I think the reference manual is fairly well-named, but a ``how to use the
documentation'' page is a good idea.

Just so you know, I'm going to be working a lot on the documentation.
- First I'll fix small, obvious things.  Typos, grammar, awkward phrases,
and the like.
- Then I'll try to fill in some more info for ``moderate'' users -- basically,
how to use \property foo.bar \override #'mao = x.   (I'll probably need to ask
to find out exactly what to stick after the equal sign.  For a single value I'm
fine -- "#'padding = 2.0", but I can never remember how to do a pair of numbers
(like in #'extra-offset), and I _never_ figured out how to do directions.)
- After that, I'll probably try writing an alternate tutorial with a very
``hands-on'' approach.  The current one is too manual-like IMO.
- Finally, I'll look at the overall structure of the reference manual.


So the manual _is_ being actively worked on.  :)

> Agree... I guess the hand-on approach favored in the doc works for some
> people, but I always end up staring at the same stupid 5 lines of code

Hmm.  I'm one of those people who favour examples.  :)   Oh well -- if you
see my new docs and decide you don't like them, we can figure something else
out.  :)

Cheers,
- Graham Percival