[Resolved] Feature request : Zooming

Feedback and Discussion Forum Audacity 3.x Feedback and Reviews
1

Hi everybody

To whom it may concern :

There is a great annoyment in every audacity version that would be nice to fix :

When choosing the Spectrogram display mode and we want to zoom in/out, we have to :

  • 1- place our mouse on the left vertical scale
    2- right clic in it
    3- scroll down the menu to select “zoom in/out”

TOO many actions here, specially when you want to zoom in more than 2 times !

Why not simply do like in google map :

  • 1- double left-clic in the left scale (or directly in the specrtogram) to zoom in
    2- double right-clic in the scale (or directly in the specrtogram) to zoom out

Two caveats here :

  • 1- when clicing in the spectrogram area, you lose your selection
    2- the right-clic in the left scale is assigned to a contextual menu

Then find something else :

  • 1- keyboard ± keys
    2- shift right/left-clic in the spectrogram
    3- CTRL or/and Alt or/and shift left/right clic in the spectrogram or in the left scale

but gosh… save us from the contextual menu to do so… PLEASE !!!

Best regards
iBenny

2

I’d recommend that you consider turning on and using Advanced Vertical Zooming:
https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/vertical_zooming.html#advanced

But even better, in the future the developers are considering introducing sliders for horizontal and vertical zoo (I have seen this recently on a wire-frame prototype for changes to the GUI).

Peter

3

You can vertically-zoom on the spectrogram using the mouse scroll-wheel …

vertical zooming using scroll wheel.gif
[ BTW Audacity developers, the aggravation caused by automagically adjusting the width on the vertical scale
according to the number of sig figs is not worth the square-inch of screen real-estate saving ].

4

By and large developers don’t read the Forum - :nerd:

You need to open an Issue on GitHub if you feel strogly about this:

Peter.

5

I’d recommend that you consider turning on and using Advanced Vertical Zooming:
https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/ver > … l#advanced

Terrific Waxcylinder, that’s what we needed and… sorry for not knowing the fundamental nuts and bolts of audacity…

You can vertically-zoom on the spectrogram using the mouse scroll-wheel …

Thanks Trebor but, fortunately, as a permanent internet user, I use the BEST mouse ergonomically to save my hands/arm from ‘carpal tunnel syndrome’ that is… a four buttons Logitech TRACKBALL, which ALL program developers fail to address, audacity included (unfortunately) !

Thanks and Best regards to everybody
iBenny

6

Glad to have been able to help :sunglasses:

It’s only easy when you know how - and that advanced vertical scaling is not easily “discoverable”

Peter.

7

You need to open an Issue on GitHub if you feel strongly about this:
Issues · audacity/audacity · GitHub

Thanks for the tip Waxcylinder (two or four strokes ? :mrgreen:) BUT… going into github is SUCH a maze and head spinning hassle that… you guess what I think of it !

But with the direct link you provided, I revisited the place and it’s more user friendly that I previously thought… :smiley:

Best regards
iBenny