John Ruggero wrote:For me, the best computer tool for engraving will do the things that a computer does best supremely well, but also honor and facilitate the things that a human does best.
What a beautiful statement.
The golden question, then: What kinds of things should a computer be able to do well when it comes to music engraving? Or rather, what do we want or expect the computer to do for us or take the drudgery out of? Since computers are really good at performing lots of calculations really fast, what would we expect it to calculate when it comes to music?
On the user side, ideally, the computer would facilitate *any* customization we throw at it, but practically, this may not be feasible with how software is written. So, what basic capabilities should the computer facilitate? I would love a generic alignment tool that allows you to snap two object's positions together easily, or space things evenly. I would also love a grouping/attaching function so that when one thing is moved another moves right along with it.
I think it may be helpful to enumerate the pros and cons of our favorite engraving apps, in this regard, but perhaps this is too off-topic here? I think this could lead to some very constructive discussions for the app developers to glean ideas for improving their apps.