Re: Notation Reference 1.8 "Text" : ready for review

[Valentin Villenave]

2008/10/5 Graham Percival <address@hidden>:
> Do you honestly consider LaTeX to be a "word processor"?

Well, at least my personal source of knowledge and wisdom says so:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTeX

"LaTeX (pronounced /ˈleɪtɛx/ or /ˈleɪtɛk/) is a document markup
language and document preparation system"

click on "document preparation system": it redirects to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_processor

That being said, if you do not regard LaTeX as a word processor, I can
understand while you don't want me to call LilyPond a word processor.

> {
>  \writeSomeNote \addSomeArticulations
>  \quoteARandomInstrument \RestABit
>  \putCoolSoloHere
> }
> (ok, now I actually want to write a piece like that.  This is the
> first time I've ever been tempted to write a Cage-like piece.  :)

Really? I thought you had already been working on Strasheela :-)

> That said, I don't think you need a multi-page example here.  Just
> dump the example currently in "Multi-page markup" in here.

1- ... As a duplicate of the existing example?
2- ... While people can access the already existing example and the
already existing explanations though the already existing obvious
link?

> You don't need to quote stuff that you've done.  I know that I'm
> right.  I really don't need the ego boost of having you tell me.  :)

We all need ego boosts every now and then: look, even I always get
plenty from you :-)

> characters, as mentioned in @ref{New dynamic marks} and
> @ref{Manual repeat marks}.
>
> Where's this magical comma after the first @ref{} ?!

I thought you meant the @seealso list. AFAIC(H)R, the "commas after
each @ref{}" discussion was always about @seealso lists, not plain
sentences.

> I'd actually rather kill \larger.  \smaller \bigger sounds better
> than \smaller \larger.  But yeah; either way, we should remove one
> of them before 2.12.  Take it up on -devel.

\smaller \bigger may sound better, but we already have

\teeny \tiny \small \large \huge  markup commands, not

\teeny \tiny \small \big \huge.

> - markup as variables: why the complicated example?  And why the
>  lack of [relative]?

Ever tried to define a variable inside a \relative block?

> * Selecting font and font size
> - second example: why the first note so much higher than the rest?

Because someone (can't remember who) told us to use relative=2 :-)
I've removed it now.

>  It look a bit weird, as does the a,^\markup.  Also, what do
>  the final two bars add to the example?

They make the line long enough to make sure the markup won't go outside.

> * Text alignment

> - first example: WTM are you using fifths here?  You shouldn't
>  need any ', in these examples.

Because of line-length synchronization (the first line has an "a1", so
I needed two-characters pitches :-)

I've replaced the fifths with thirds now. So long for synchronization.

> * Graphic notation inside markup
> - another "using specific markup commands".  Could you do a search
>  for any "specific" inside text.itely and fix it?  Other than
> very specific [sic] instances, "specific" is a useless fluff word.

OK, I'll use "particular" instead :-)

OK, let me see. Oh, indeed, I must like this word: I used it about 20
times in text.itely alone. I find it reassuring for the user; it means
"we know this syntax seems exotic to you, we know you won't understand
nor remember it at first, but it's normal: it's *specific*".

I replaced every "specific commands" with "markup commands" now.

As for the word-processor thingy, I replaced

Using a specific syntax, text blocks can be spread over multiple
pages, making it possible to print text documents or books (and
therefore to use LilyPond as a word processor). This syntax is
described in Multi-page markup.

with

Separate text blocks can be spread over multiple pages,
making it possible to print text documents or books entirely
within LilyPond.  This feature, and the specific syntax it
requires, are described in @ref{Multi-page markup}.

> ok, I'm bored again.

Did I ever mention you're easily bored? :-)

Cheers,
Valentin