Minor Menu improvements

[sl23]

May I suggest that you remove certain prefixes for items. The reason is that it is self evident and really it is redundant text that increases time to navigate as it increases word count to be read. I realise this is a simple point but also makes MuLab seem somehow less 'Pro' imo.

Some examples from the Project Menu:

• Edit Recording Setup - 'Edit' is not required. It is clear that by clicking a menu item called Recording Setup that you will be editing it.

• Edit Project MIDI Input Controller Map - 'Edit' again, as above.

• Edit MIDI Input Channel Targets - 'Edit' again, as above.

• Show Virtual MIDI Keyboard - As with 'Edit' the word 'Show' is superfluous. It is obvious that clicking this item will show the keyboard.

• Show Colour Picker - As above.

• Show Creator Info - As above.

The repetition of words actually reduces readability. Why? Because it means you are scanning through menus trying to avoid reading a specific repetition which can cause you to miss an item. Not so bad when the repeated word is at the beginning. But when that word is mid sentence or at the end, it can become cumbersome to read.

For example, It would be beneficial to have a Group name for some menus such as when R-clicking the + Rack button. Four menu items here have the word Rack in, which could simply be removed if that menu had a group name.

Reducing menu descriptions can make it quicker and easier to understand their meaning, thereby increasing workflow. A quick example of this is the Project/Render Selected Parts as New Sample.
This could simply be - Render Selection as Sample. It's clear that it will render what has been selected and that it will create a new sample.

If you decide to implement these ideas throughout MuLab, let me know I would be willing to do the work and submit a plain text file as a translation for you. I expect it's probably too unimportant, but I feel would improve the whole experience. I won't go as far as I did before by rearranging/regrouping items, I would simply choose appropriate names and get help with those I don't understand.

Thanks

[mutools]

Thanks for the suggestion. You already suggested this before iirc.
What do other users think of this?

[sl23]

I did suggest improvements, but wasn't sure I'd mentioned this. Sorry if I repeated my request.

[Calum]

I support s123's suggestion for concise menu descriptions as long as each item's use is obvious without the prefix (as in the examples).

[sl23]

Thanks Calum. Of course, that is the idea.

[mutools]

If this would be applied then this will not only affect the menus but also the shortcut function list. Not sure if that's ok. It would also mean that any user with shortcuts to any of the affected functions will have to recreate that shortcut. Just practical thoughts.

[Calum]

Understood. It would still be a nice refinement to make (but perhaps more suited for a major Mulab release) so I still think the suggestion is worth investigating at some point.

[mutools]

PS: There may be other related aspects, don't know, would take research. It's definitely not as simple as only changing the text and done. I think it's an ok idea to compact those menu texts, but i'm going to avoid possible complications atm, cause of the short term plans i have for the next weeks, so maybe later.

[mutools]

Yes maybe with a major update, then several aspects could be combined. Had already taken question-note about this on the long wishlist.

[sl23]

I admit, I hadn't foreseen the possible complications. But, is it really a hassle to change a list of shortcuts? How many do people have? Surely you can't have more than 40, 50 or so? It just becomes impractical to try recall those!

Sounds like a good idea to implement it with a major update though.
If you decide to change any entries I would be willing to go through everything I can find to make adjustments. Perhaps then get some feedback beforehand to see if others like/agree? Let me know...

[mutools]

I don't know if it would cause few or many complications. For reasons it's not the right time to investigate that now. To avoid confusion: I agree that it may be better if certain menu texts were more concise. (new word for me) It's one of the more than thousand possible improvements to MuLab. So it has competition. Thanks for your proposal.

[sl23]

That's ok, I understand all the issues you raised. Thank you for considering it though, I appreciate that.
Well done learning a new word
Seriously though concise descriptions make things so much easier to use. But MuLab is by far not the only guilty party when it comes to too much info in menus!

Last year I submitted a whole new English translation for Q-Dir due to the seriously poor descriptions! But, I know language often causes a barrier.

Thanks again for your time.

[Bady89]

I like the menue how it is

Need no change from my view.

[mutools]

Ok i had a better look at this and i agree shortening some of these menu items is a good thing.
See the next M8.1.8.

[Michael L]

While on the topic of menu improvement, I find this group of context menu commands in the audio sequence editor unclear. Below are the current names in Bold, followed by > my suggestions for names that are more clear. FYI, I also posted the MuLab Docs definition for each command (in parentheses) if you are not familiar with it.

Split > Split and Index
(Splits the event at the cursor position. The new audio end and audio start use a straight sample index.)

Split Markered > Split and Mark
(Splits the event at the cursor position. The new audio end and audio start use a marker)

Split At Nearest Marker > Split using Nearest Marker
(Finds the marker nearest to the cursor position and splits the event there.)

Split Using Markers > Split using All Markers
(Splits the event using all existing markers.)

FYI, a Marker is for all places that audio is used, but an Index is for that one place.

What do you think?