When we design a panel or a menu, we spend a lot of time thinking about the way it’s organized. We want to put the most important information and functions in the most visible or easily accessible places, and work our way out from there. This can be a difficult balance to strike, but it becomes even more troublesome when adding features to an existing interface. Maintaining familiar positioning of all existing elements while adding new elements that don’t feel out of place can be tricky, and the Setlist Editor is a good example of this.
For the Setlist Editor, we created two columns: your setlist on the left, and a score browser on the right. That score browser was essentially a duplicate of forScore’s main menu, showing all of your categories like specific composers and genres, and allowing you to select one to see its scores.
Consistent feedback from customers told us that this didn’t go far enough, however, and that more people expected to see the complete list of scores from the start. The ability to browse by category was still essential, so we blended these ideas together to try and get the best of both worlds. The main menu shows all of your scores by default, and it can show a list of your composers, genres, tags, or labels—just like you’d expect.
Things got a little more complicated because, unlike most score lists which use the sort bar at the top to let you change how the list is ordered, the sort bar in this case was already used to switch between the “All Scores” list and the different types of categories. So in forScore 10.2 we worked around this awkward limitation by adding sort options as a button in the top left-hand corner of the menu instead. When the “All Scores” list is visible in this root menu, tap this button to change the list’s sort order. It looks a little different, but it works the same way.
One of our absolute favorite new features in forScore 10.2 and forScore mini 3.2 is Dual Page Mode. This new mode works exclusively with our Cue app (version 1.4 or newer required), allowing you to see two pages side-by-side on two separate devices.
Using forScore on your primary device, tap the Cue icon and select “Dual Page Mode” and launch the standalone Cue app on your secondary device. Choose “Connect” once the prompt appears, and after a few moments you’ll see the next page appear, complete with any annotations you’ve added. Pages turn two at a time while using Dual Page mode, so you’ll go from pages 1-2 to 3-4, then 5-6, etc. If you start on page 2, you’d see 2-3, then 4-5, etc.
Centuries of precedent mean that you’ll instinctively want to turn the page by reaching for the right side of the secondary device, so we extended page turning gestures to both screens. That way, no matter which side you reach for, things will work just like you’d expect. No re-training necessary.
Since forScore is so much more than a PDF reader, there are interactive elements that we just couldn’t live without. With Dual Page mode, Links and Buttons work across devices, so you can tap a link on page 1 to see it flash on page 2, or tap a link or button on the secondary device to use it just like you would on your primary device. It’s very cool to use, and we think it’s one of those incredibly important details that really transform this nifty proof of concept into a real tool that musicians with an extra device can leverage to full effect.
Cue is one of the best examples of the kinds of things you can do with a digital sheet music reader that are simply not possible with paper. Our remote control system lets one forScore act as a leader, navigating to scores and turning pages as needed, and other users follow along automatically.
Setting up a Cue session has always been very straightforward: tap the Cue icon, choose your role, and then wait. Apple’s frameworks begin searching for nearby devices, connecting to other available forScore users as soon as possible. From there, we use these connections to make sure everyone is on the same page.
Unfortunately, wireless networking is never foolproof and sometimes connections simply fail. Even when things work perfectly, it can be helpful to see which devices are connected and perhaps even disconnect a specific one. In forScore 10.2, we added a new Cue panel that helps in these situations. It shows your device’s current status, any—if you’re leading—lists nearby devices and their current status (you can manually connect to any available device or disconnect from a connected device).
Best of all, it’s still just as easy to set up a new Cue session: tap the Cue icon once to choose your role and the system will begin browsing. Tap the icon a second time and you’ll see the new Cue panel, allowing you to change roles, manage connections, or disconnect entirely. Power when you need it, simplicity when you don’t.
Last week we discussed the variable width effect when drawing with forScore’s annotation tools. As we mentioned, drawings become slightly bolder as you draw faster with your finger, or when you press harder with Apple Pencil.
With forScore 10.2, there’s actually a little more to the story for Apple Pencil users. Now, not only does pressure matter, but so does tilt. The closer the back end of your pencil is to the iPad’s screen, the more emphatic your drawings will be (like shading with the side of a pencil’s tip). Pressure and tilt are balanced to produce a natural effect at all times, so a hard press while holding the Pencil upright produces a similar amount of boldness as a soft press with the Pencil held almost flat against the screen.
Apple Pencil is an incredible tool and we continue to recommend it very highly—if you annotate regularly it’s the absolute best option by far. Now that forScore is using all of its sensors, it’s a perfect companion for the ultimate drawing experience.
Our Annotation engine is the product of seven years of unrelenting work. It may seem simple to create a drawing feature, and on a basic level it can be, but there’s a huge difference between something that works and something that works efficiently, faithfully capturing all of the nuance of handwritten marks.
In forScore, drawing faster with your finger or pressing harder with Apple Pencil creates marks that become slightly larger or bolder. This effect has always been subtle, unlike with many art-focused apps (since big dramatic strokes aren’t typically useful in an annotation context), and its intensity is diminished for larger presets. Of course, there’s no perfect amount for everyone, so with forScore 10.2 we made added a “Variable Width” option to the Annotation section of the Settings panel.
The default setting, “Normal,” works just like forScore always has. If you prefer to maintain a consistent marking size no matter how you draw, choose “Off” instead. For iOS 10 users, a third option called “High” produces a more exaggerated effect—still practical and restrained, but definitely more noticeable.
In the end, all that matters is that annotation feels natural and that it effectively captures and conveys your intentions. Inflection is an important part of that, and now you can choose for yourself what that looks like.