2.4.2: broken links in documentation and in tips and some suggestions for the manual

[Nikos Kouremenos]

BUGS IN DOCS
------------
1. there is nolonger internals.html so it's dead.
a directory is in place of that (cannot remember the name) so the html
docs should be changed, or you can redirect from the DEAD intenarls.html
to the correct (i guess) index.html under the new directory.

2. in html tips tie-* is missing [another one says to look for it]


SUGGESTIONS FOR DOCS (or "the Chris Sawer, should not say the following
to everyone who asks him" :P)
--------------------

> 3. Can Lilypond do cross-voice slurs? Nobody seems to know how to do
it.

Cross-staff? Yes. Cross-voice? No.
(but voices can cross staffs, so I don't think this is a huge problem.)

[that I know, but would be nice to have it somewhere: "adding extra
offset to slurs"]

> 4.Can Lilypond make slurs more bendy (so they want go over the notes
which makes the output suck)? [VERY IMPORTANT, control path desc in
current manual VERY BAD]

Yes, it certainly can. See below.

I have had some success here in fixing the slur. I had to use the 
control points method, which is not too hard once you understand it. 
This method involves giving the co-ordinates of four points, all 
relative to the notehead at the start of the slur. I have worked out 
what the points mean by guesswork, as follows:

1st point: Start of the slur
2nd point: Control point for the start of the slur
3rd point: Control point for the end of the slur
4th point: End of the slur

1 & 4 are fairly easy to work out using trial and improvement, but 2 & 
3 require a little knowledge of bezier curves to understand. I studied 
bezier curves in my mathematics degree, but it's not necessary to 
understand the maths to be able to use the control points. If you've 
not used bezier curves before, I suggest you download some vector 
graphics software (such as Inkscape) and play about with bezier curves 
between two points. Otherwise, have a look on the web - maybe wikipedia 
has a page on them. The two control points allow you to change the 
"curve" of the slur, to make it very curved, gently curved, or even 
into an S shape.

The only problem with this method is that if the score is reformatted, 
the slurs won't fit any more, so it's best to fix slurs using this 
method (as few as possible) when the score is finished. I've done the 
slur in bar 3 for you. Let me know if you can't follow what I've 
written/done!

(comment: result-by-guess is not the best idea but the manual leaves you
helpless) 
this should be put: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Bezier.png
and even a link "for more look in: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%E9zier_curve";
now this is more UserFriendly.
IM*H*O the coordinates (even in other places) should be explained. In
some cases like the offset of the fingers, it's very good (see the
difference with an image). in other places, the reader has to guess
which he shouldn't because this is the manual!

well, I love Chris, but I wonder if he's gonna love me if the manual
doesn't get somehow better, and the above message is somehow ignored. In
that case, I really hope he can handle the 'help me' messages in similar
occusations.

The above email was written with the sense of humour in mind but what is
described (problems) is true.

Hopefully you'll have this additions done [also others report dead link
in the docs as I saw before mailing the list], so you can focus on the
real bugs.

Last but not least, I hope that soon I will have Arabesque #1 by Debussy
submited! This will be the first Debussy submission in Mutopia and I
hope that this will make everyone happy.

Ciao and happy new year (well.. when it comes)