Re: layout tweaks

[Graham Percival]

On Thu, 15 May 2003 14:03:26 +0200
Han-Wen Nienhuys <address@hidden> wrote:
> [follow-up to lilypond-devel]
> address@hidden writes:
> > It *is* very important to have control over page breaks, e.g.
> > for orchestral parts. Usually, a page break should coincide
> > with a rest of sufficient length to turn the page (I know string
> > players have other options, but I always feel it is a bit weird
> > if half of the group stops playing to turn the page).

Oh, string players still like having rests to turn a page.  As you point out,
it isn't _necessary_, but we still complain if we don't have rests.  :)

> The most feasible idea I can think of right now, is to have a
> page-break forcing mechanism, (similar to the
> input/test/between-systems.ly), where TeX pagebreaks are implemented
> such that they will never lead to orphaned systems.

ITYM input/regression/between-systems.ly

I think the best bet for orchestral parts is to manually insert the page breaks
yourself.  Yes, it's a pain, but writing for orchestra is a major undertaking
anyway.  At least we don't have to copy out all the parts individually!  :)

I'm envisioning having a
pages = { s1*50 \newpage s1*47 \newpage s1*22 \bar "|." }
macro definition in each instrument's score file (similar to the \global macro
that many people, including myself, use).


> Basically, we need the following command:
> 
> "keep the following vbox on the same page as the last vbox"
> 
> or
> 
> "do not insert a page break anywhere before the following vbox"
> 
> Unfortunately, I don't know enough of TeX to implement it.

Possible tip for anybody who wants to look into this: there's a LaTeX function
called \protect; that might be what we want.  But I know far less TeX than Han
(I'm not even certain what the exact difference is between TeX and LaTeX :).

Cheers,
- Graham