Re: How do new users feel about LilyPond's documentation?

[Carl Sorensen]

On 4/22/15 4:13 PM, "Eyolf Østrem" <address@hidden> wrote:

>On 22.04.2015 (21:19), Carl Sorensen wrote:
>
>> If the manual were to show you exactly how to make every possible
>> particular tweak or change every possible default setting, it would need
>> to be many times longer than it is.  The goal is to help you understand
>> how to use the manual to find your specific tweak.
>> 
>> I'm sure there is much that can be done to improve the situation, but I
>> don't think it is to develop an exhaustive list of "How do I change X?"
>
>I tend to disagree. For two reasons:
>
>1. The list (if not necessarily THAT exact list, but a list according to
>the principles lined out) would actually be quite useful, especially in
>the area of tweaking defaults.

The internals reference lists 136 different contexts, and about 200
tunable context properties.  Each context will have (by default) multiple
context proerties.

There are 139 layout objects.  There are 136 object interfaces.  I haven't
counted them, but it looks like there are about 200 properties.  Each
object has multiple interfaces; each interface has multiple properties.
All of the properties and interfaces are candidates for tweaking.

All of this means there are way more than 1,000 questions of the form "How
do I change X?"  (I think I could make a logically consistent argument for
10,000).
Once the list gets long enough, it's hard enough to search through that
you won't do it -- you'll just ask on the list.

That being said, I've found myself using StackExchange to help me do stuff
I can't remember how to do in LaTeX, so maybe it's worth setting up a
LilyPond StackExchange.

>I've been using LP for ten years now, and I still have to spend
>some time in the manual every time I want to do ANYTHING related to
>spacing or changing defaults. The reason for this may be that in these
>areas in particular the underlying language of LP simply isn't good
>enough. You shouldn't have to write scheme code just to add some vertical
>space.

I don't believe you do have to write Scheme code just to add some vertical
space.

But you do need to understand how the vertical spacing algorithm works, at
least at some level.  The complex vertical spacing algorithm is what gives
LilyPond the ability to be tweaked at a very fine level.  I don't think it
should be eliminated.

But I do think that some really nice defaults (like the OpenLilyLib people
are working on) could greatly help the problem by minimizing the need to
do LilyPond adjustments.

Thanks,

Carl