Views

Window View and Scroll View versus Page View

MidiIllustrator can format and display the current score in three quite different ways.  In summary:

You can choose to format the score making best use of space available on the screen (Window View) or you can format the score for the printed page (Page View).  When you want to compose or make significant editing changes to you score, then choose Scroll View.

Window View and Scroll View

If you are at the computer, perhaps studying or playing back a score, then you will want MidiIllustrator to squeeze as much as possible on to the visible page. With Window View MidiIllustrator paginates the score so that each page is exactly the same size as the MidiIllustrator window. This means that if you increase the size of the window each page becomes larger and the total number of pages decreases. The opposite is true if you decrease the size of the window. You can reduce the size of the window until only one system with only one measure is visible. These ‘virtual pages’ bear no relation to the number of printed pages. Window View is not a true representation of how the score will appear when printed.

MidiIllustrator stretches and/or shrinks the measures on each system so that they fit perfectly into the window space available. This makes the score much tidier.

MidiIllustrator only puts as much of the score on to each page as the screen size will allow. This means that it is generally not necessary to scroll different parts of each page into view. If the first system on a page contains too many staves to fit on to the screen, MidiIllustrator will reluctantly add a scroll bar to the right side of the screen so that the lower staves can be scrolled into view.

Scroll View

Scroll view applies the same rules for layout as Window view, except that the format for the score is a single system which scrolls horizontally across the page.  Normally when you change the score notation, MidiIllustrator repaginates automatically, reformatting the score to accommodate the notation changes (for example increasing staff/system height or measure width to house new notes).  These dynamic changes can result in quite a lot of score movement as systems are shifted about according to the new layout.  Scroll View focuses a single system on the page, restricting  dynamic changes to the score object sizes which occur as you edit.

This viewing mode allows you scroll horizontally through the score one measure at a time using the horizontal scroll bar at the base of the score window.

Scroll view does not support scrolling and fading in of the next page with Advanced Page Turn.

Note about Scroll View and Printing

Measure numbers are automatically displayed on all measures in scroll view, to make measure operations easier.  For this reason, scores may not print exactly as they appear in Scroll View and print previewing in Page View is therefore recommended.

Page View and Print Preview

Page View is essentially the same as Print Preview.

Unlike Window View, Page View sets the boundaries of each page using the current printed page configuration. This means that the larger the paper size in your printer the more MidiIllustrator will squeeze on to each page of the score.

When you switch from Window View to Page View only a portion of the screen is used to show each page of the score. The score is shown one page at a time in the middle of the screen. Pages do not fill the screen as in Window View. Page shape and size is determined by printer settings, such as paper size and orientation.

This view allows you to evaluate the score prior to sending it to print, and to adjust the page layout or printer set up as desired before printing. The score is displayed on the screen exactly as it will appear when printed.

Zooming vs Print Size

MidiIllustrator allows you to change the magnification of the current view using the Zoom In and Zoom Out commands (View Menu). Zooming does nothing to change the true physical printing size of the notation. Instead, the magnification of the current page is altered so that notes, lyrics and other musical objects appear larger or smaller.

Print size, on the other hand, physically changes the point size of the font used to print the score.  It has no effect in Window View, but in Page View, the larger the font the longer the score will become as the number of pages increases to accommodate the larger systems required to house the larger notes etc.  Print size can be configured in the Print Layout section of the Score Options dialog.  Print size changes may or may not be relative to Font sizes for certain items depending on how you configure individual score Fonts.