Re[2]: Make dynamic script with long text

[Trevor]

Andrew, you wrote 11/01/2019 00:50:24

Subject: Re: Make dynamic script with long text

Here is an interesting technical documentation issue, which is that I had no idea this has anything to do with extra-spacing-width, and only hit on it after long searches of the web and the archives, then based on somebody's guess. Somehow there needs to be some _explanatory_ document that actually explains these concepts in lilypond, because in this case and others, it's non-obvious (to my dim consciousness). I'd seriously offer to write such a text, but I am exactly the wrong person to do so because I am the one that is baffled still in general by these internals.

You're right that there is little specific documentation about extra-spacing-width. It is mentioned only briefly in the Learning Manual:

see http://lilypond.org/doc/v2.19/Documentation/learning/moving-objects

The problem is that there are far too many of these properties to document any but a tiny fraction of them with detailed explanations and examples. The approach we, the documentation writers, adopted was to attempt to teach people through the Learning Manual how to find pertinent properties for themselves by using the Internal Manual. Pretty well the whole of section 4 of the LM is devoted to showing users how to do this.

For example, look up TextScript in the All layout objects of the Internals Manual:

http://lilypond.org/doc/v2.19/Documentation/internals/textscript

There you'll find extra-spacing-width and Harm's recipe for setting the width of an object to zero.

Reading and understanding section 4 of the LM will greatly help you with your understanding (I hope; at least that was my objective!)

Actually, as to your last point about being baffled, it was my being in exactly that position several years ago that prompted me to write most of the LM. I reasoned that as I was in the same position as most new users I was well-placed to document the initial stages of learning to use LilyPond as I myself discovered them. That gradually lead to an understanding of the internals and the LM was the result. 

Trevor