We’re happy to announce the immediate availability of forScore 2.6, a huge update bringing great new features and important fixes. Here are a few of the highlights from today’s update:
First off, we wanted to solve a problem that’s been bugging us since many popular iPad-compatible page turners came to the market. Technically, page turners are very similar to keyboards, so when the iPad detects that one is connected, it assumes that you’re using a Bluetooth or wired keyboard and hides the virtual on-screen version. Normally that’s a great feature, but for people who are using page turners it means that searching, browsing, and editing metadata are all off-limits while using one of these devices. Well, we’ve managed to find a way of using both at the same time, and we’ve added an option in the settings panel to force the virtual keyboard to appear no matter which external device is connected. We think this is an important change, and one that our competitors are still scratching their heads over.
Next, we made an important change to forScore’s bookmarking feature. One request we got very often was to allow bookmarks to overlap. We’ve done this in 2.6, but with a caveat—since one page can potentially be a part of multiple bookmarks, the app no longer inherits bookmark information automatically. If you want to use a bookmark and all of its related metadata (audio track binding, zoom, etc.) then you’ll first have to select it from the main menu or from the bookmarks menu itself. We’ve also got other features coming soon that depend on this behavior, so while it was a difficult choice to make, we think it’ll be the right one ultimately.
We’ve also taken some time to consider how we can improve overall workflow. To that end, we’ve added a centralized search panel to the app that lets you find scores, composers, genres, keywords, actions, and setlists in seconds. More importantly, you now get to choose which gesture you’d like to use to open it: a two-finger tap, or a tap & hold gesture. Both of these are configurable to a number of different tasks through the settings panel, so you can find the combination that’s right for you.
We’re not stopping there, though—version 2.7 is already in the works and brings just a few (but very important) features that we’ve been working to get right since we started last April. Thanks to everyone for your support, and for your feedback. We couldn’t do it without either!
After an unexpectedly long approval cycle, version 2.5 has gone live and brings a ton of great improvements. New settings, improved table views and animations, and setlist refinements make this the best version of forScore yet. Here’s the list of changes that 2.5 brings:
• Table views have been rewritten for better performance and smoother animations
• Setlist creator category view now includes search and keyword/genre lists
• Menu secondary controls have been lowered for improved accessibility
• Includes the ability to view setlists in their actual order or alphabetically
• Scroll to the top of most menus by tapping their title
• Menus can now re-open to their last scroll position
• Adds an optional two-finger tap in the middle of the screen to open the score menu
• Adds an option to show bookmarks in the main score menu
• Adds a debounce setting for better compatibility with some page turners
• Adds a setting to always open the score menu to the category view
• Adds support for PDF keyword fetching
• Lowers the Quick Scroll threshold to 25 entries from 40
• Improves Page Peek performance
• Extends undo/redo support to text annotation creation
• Helps prevent text annotations from being created off-screen
We’ve worked hard on this update, and also on version 2.6 that’s coming up next, so stay tuned for an exciting month of March!
The last maintenance release in our string of 2.4.x updates, version 2.4.3, is now live and resolves a timing issue with auto-turn for landscape files. We’re also working hard on version 2.5, and we’re hoping to finalize it for release later this month. We know maintenance releases aren’t very exciting, but we also know that by taking the time to weed out these bugs we’re providing a strong foundation for the many features to come. We think you’ll agree when 2.5 ships, and we appreciate the support and feedback that makes it possible!
forScore 2.4.2 has just gone live, fixing some minor bugs related to the metadata view’s auto-suggest functions, as well as resolving an issue where the browser could not properly detect PDF files hosted on a small number of websites. Thanks to everyone who submitted feedback allowing us to fix these nagging bugs!
forScore 2.4.1 has gone live, fixing an issue with BT-105 recognition after editing certain types of metadata. This minor update is recommended for all users of the BT-105, and will be followed up by another maintenance release next week with several more minor bug fixes and refinements.
In fact, the 2.4.x series of releases will all be focused on small fixes and refinements, rather than the addition of any major new features. It’s not as glamorous, we know, but these fixes will help provide a solid foundation for 2.5 and beyond. Thanks to everyone who has submitted feedback, allowing us to discover and correct these issues!
