Talk:View Menu

The History window can be kept open at all times. It can be used to preview the result of a multi-level undo. Here is how a project might look after a few edits:
 * [[Image:UndoHistoryBeforeWin7Basic.png|A Project Before Multiple Undos]]

Here is how it might look after clicking on one of the earlier entries to undo to that point:
 * [[Image:UndoHistoryAfterWin7Basic.png|A Project After Multiple Undos]]
 * The Project window has now reverted to the point at which the selected action had been applied, just as if it had been "undone" step by step using Edit > Undo.


 * Gale: I think the two new images (though not a bad idea) are too small to make their point properly. I suggest you work with a narrower window just showing the track.
 * Bill 16Dec11: I agree that the images need work. ATM they are unreadable.
 * ToDo-2 Document Undo Levels and Discard
 * Bill 19Dec11: We have the Undo, Redo and History page - would it make sense to put the gory details there, with a link here to that page?
 * Peter:Yes, I agree with Bill: the Undo, Redo and History page is the right place to the full operational details (I never knew we had that page) and that includes the two images under discussion here (suitable revised) which should be moved to Undo, Redo and History - and of course a link there from this page. We always try to avoid duplication wherever possible and this is one place where can clearly do so.
 * Peter 21Dec11: Now that Bill has more fully documented the Undo, Redo and History and provided a link to it from here, I believe that this means we can remove the ToDo-2 as it has been "done"?
 * Bill 21Dec11: Removed ToDo-2 from this page as we seem agreed that the gory details should go to Undo, Redo and History. Added a ToDo-2 to that page.

Review of Mixer Board description
Gale: 15Nov10 Pretty clearly, users who have commented about Mixer Board are not assimilating the headline point in the docs about it being an "alternative view" and are tending to ignore it or be confused by it. Below is the current text which we can use as a basis to draft a possible alternative. Bill: For example: "The Mixer Board contains the same controls found in the Track Control Panels (gain and pan sliders, mute and solo buttons), with the addition of per-channel metering and an icon that can indicate the contents of the track". Vaughan: To me "alternative view" is a brief, clear description that avoids all that verbiage. Especially because the controls track between the two views -- two views of the same data. The problem with this example is that it sounds like all the controls are just in a pool (yes, that's a slight joke), but it should be made clear that they're per track. "Mixer Board contains Track Strips, one for each Audio Track in the [TrackPanel]. Each Track Strip contains [etc]." Bill 15Nov10: I don't think you need to mention the TrackPanel for that to work. "Mixer Board contains Track Strips, one for each Audio Track in the [TrackPanel] . Each Track Strip contains [etc]."

Mixer Board...
Mixer Board is an alternative view to the Track Panel, analogous to a hardware mixer board. Each audio track gets its own meter, gain and pan sliders and mute/solo buttons, echoing the Track Panel controls. The meters are post-fade like Meter Toolbar, each being affected by their respective sliders. The Mixer Board... command is enabled whenever there's an audio track - it can even be brought up during playback.


 * [[Image:Mixer_Board.png|620px|Mixer Board window]]

All the Mixer Board controls update the Track Panel controls and vice versa. For example, muting a track in the Mixer Board also mutes that track's display in the Track Panel. As in the Track Panel, double-click in either Mixer Board slider to enter an exact gain or pan value in a text box.

You can select Mixer Board tracks by clicking their "track strip", either on the logo near the top or between the sliders and buttons. Deselect all tracks by clicking in the dark gray between track strips.

By default, the Audacity logo is shown, but if you name the track in the Track Panel with an instrument name or abbreviation (for example, "gtr"), Mixer Board automatically shows an appropriate image (an electric guitar in this case).

Mono tracks show in both track meters, as does mono in the Meter Toolbar.

Mixer Board Icons
The Mixer Board selects track icons based on a case-insensitive comparison of the track name against a list keywords for each instrument. The keywords for each instrument image are as follows:

The track name is checked to see which keywords it contains. For example: if the track name is "12dr34org56clap78" then the keywords dr, org and clap will be found.

Each keyword carries a weight depending the position of the keyword in the keyword list for that particular instrument. The number of points allocated to a keyword = 10 / (keyword position), so if the keyword is the first in the list it will be worth 10 points, the second key word will be worth 5 points, the third will receive 3 points (10/3 rounded down) and so on. For example: The keywords for the "drum kit" are drums and dr. The first keyword (drums) will carry 10 points and the second keyword (dr) will carry 5.

Additional points are then added according to the length of the keyword. These points are calculated on the basis of 2 points per character. These points are added on, so drums is now worth 10 points for being the first in the list and an additional 10 points for the word length. dr is worth 5 points for being second in the list and an additional 4 points for the its length bringing its total weight to 9 points.

When we tally the score, the track name "12dr34org56clap78" scores the following points: Hand Claps are the clear winner and that image is displayed.
 * drum kit: for the key word dr receives 5 + 4 = 9 points
 * organ: for the keyword org receives 5 + 6 = 11 points
 * handclaps: for the keyword clap receives 10 + 8 = 18 points.
 * all other instruments receive no points as they have no keywords included in the track name.

If we change the track name to 12drums34org56clap78" the score will change as follows: Drum Kit is now the winner and that image will be displayed.
 * drum kit: for the key word drums receives 10 + 10 = 20 points
 * organ: for the keyword org receives 5 + 6 = 11 points
 * handclaps: for the keyword clap receives 10 + 8 = 18 points.
 * all other instruments receive no points as they have no keywords included in the track name.

In the event that two or more instruments receive the same number of points, the last instrument in the instrument list will win. For example if the track name is "orgvox" then the score will be: There is a tie between "organ" and "lead vocal", but "lead vocal is after "organ" in the instrument list and therefore wins.
 * backing vocal: for the keyword vox receives 2 + 6 = 8 points
 * organ: for the keyword org receives 5 + 6 = 11 points
 * lead vocal: for the keyword vox receives 5 + 6 = 11 points

Translation of keyword strings
Currently the keywords are not translated and the correct icons will only be displayed if the English keywords are matched. Each instrument image is associated with a "keyword string", which contains each of the keywords for that instrument, separated by underscores. For example, the keyword string for electric guitar is "electric_guitar_gtr".

A potential problem of translation is that it will change the point weights of the keywords. Also, their could be a conflict between words and abbreviations. For example, Google Translate gives the French translation of "drums" as "tambours". Not only does this increase its point weighting from 20 to 26, but also Google translates "tambourine" as "tambourin", which if abbreviated to "tambo" only receives 20 points, so (assuming the translations are correct) a track name of "tambourin" would display the drum kit icon. Also, the order of the words is important, so if electric_guitar_gtr were translated as guitare_électrique_gtr then the weighting of électrique would be 25 points whereas electric was 26 points. Without knowing the actual translations for each of the keywords for each language I do not see how we can predict which images will be displayed.

Currently, users that have Audacity set to a non-English language may inadvertently cause incorrect instrument image to display by accidentally including English keywords in their track names. Unfortunately due to the complex method of selecting the images, translating the strings offers only a partial (but still potentially problematic) solution. Possibly the simplest solution would be if the translators could be instructed to translate each of the keyword strings as one single word only. This would probably mean that in most languages both an electric guitar and an acoustic guitar would trigger the same image, but most other conflicts are likely to be avoided. I don't see this to be a permanent solution, but it would be better for non-English speaking users than the current situation until a less problematic method of determining which image to display is developed.

Note, if translation of the Mixer Board Image keywords is implemented, changing the language settings does not affect the keywords until after Audacity is restarted.