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

[Kieren MacMillan]

Hi Larry,

> I get frustrated when I'm looking for something to answer the question "How 
> do I increase/decrease the space between the bottom system and the footer?" 
> ...and cannot find an answer that begins "Here's how to increase/decrease the 
> space between the bottom system and the footer.”

When I Google “lilypond space footer”, the third hit is 
<http://www.lilypond.org/doc/v2.19/Documentation/notation/flexible-vertical-spacing-paper-variables>,
 in which section I find both an example of setting a spacing alist 
(specifically score-system-spacing) and the description

    last-bottom-spacing
    the distance from the last system or top-level markup on a page to the 
bottom of the printable area (i.e. the top of the bottom margin)

Now, from there you definitely need to put 2 and 2 together to get 4… which I 
understand to be the big stumbling block for many new users.

The difficulty is that there is neither time nor space nor contributor interest 
in developing “full answers” for all of the spacing questions that could 
possibly be asked — even just addressing the eight spacing items in that 
section would be overwhelming for both writer and reader.

> If Lilypond such a complex program that I should not expect it to meet me at 
> the intersection I just described?

Yes, unfortunately.

What we *can* do is, like a librarian, tell anyone where to find the books they 
need to build a deck; what we *can’t* do is provide the design for every 
conceivable deck configuration that someone might want to build.

Best,
Kieren.

________________________________

Kieren MacMillan, composer
‣ website: www.kierenmacmillan.info
‣ email: address@hidden