Display label count

[steve]

(but the vertical bar makes it look ugly

Sure does

I guess we'll eventually find a use for that area of the screen*, so I'd leave it clear for now.
(*perhaps for calling up an enhanced label menu/editor. or how about scrolling the label track when there are a lot of labels stacked one above the other?)

[Edgar]

(but the vertical bar makes it look ugly

Sure does :D

Of course, I'm using a 16 point font for my labels and I have intentionally inherited this font for these count strings; the default sized font yield something usable/prettier:

default.png (2.72 KiB) Viewed 1336 times

[Edgar]

Power to the people:

preference.png (42.78 KiB) Viewed 1335 times

These are all immediately honored when you click "OK" as everything here is continuously redrawn.

[steve]

Power to the people:

but isn't that first option redundant?

[Edgar]

but isn't that first option redundant?

Probably somewhat redundant; if it is not checked then even if any of the three ARE checked they will not be displayed. Use cases:
1) I'm using Analyze Silence and know how many labels it should create; if it is something more than about five it takes more than a quick glance to see how many labels were created. The odds are astronomically small of me getting a label before time zero. The odds are small but not insignificant of me accidentally creating a region label. I turn "before zero" OFF and the other two ON. I spend a few hours processing recorded vinyl. I spend a lot of time doing this kind of thing and this is my preferred general setting.
2) I go off to a gig after processing that vinyl and record a set (one long take) for which I have a set list and a good idea of how long each tune is. After starting Audacity I go to Preferences and use the global off switch to turn reporting off because I will be creating both point & region labels all over the place during the editing process before finally getting it down to just the appropriate point labels which I will submit to Export Multiple. I've never had a rogue label (region or otherwise) so I ignore the possibility. I use an incremental save process so even if something goes wrong with the Export Multiple because of a rogue label it's rarely going to be a big problem.

[Edgar]

I've got all the preferences working now:

label.png (12.81 KiB) Viewed 1321 times

track.png (12.31 KiB) Viewed 1321 times

Ignore the split "Label Cursor and Box Color" buttons - I'm playing around with something…

[Gale Andrews]

(but the vertical bar makes it look ugly

Sure does

I guess we'll eventually find a use for that area of the screen*, so I'd leave it clear for now.
(*perhaps for calling up an enhanced label menu/editor. or how about scrolling the label track when there are a lot of labels stacked one above the other?)

+1 to finding a use for that area and not using it for label track info.

Gale

[Gale Andrews]

I see no need for the font size for the label to affect the font size of the label info. Track info font size/colour (for all track types) or global font size/colour could be in the main preferences, if this is not made part of theming.

If we want to get this feature accepted into a release (+1) then probably the simpler the better. I think three fields (Regions/Points/Before Zero) would fit default label height with the label count alongside. So there could then be a simple toggle "Label count" in the Label Track Menu to turn the display on and off.

If we want more options such as default label track height, then I suggest the count display, font choices and other options are accessed by a "Label Preferences..." item in the Label Track Menu.


Gale

[steve]

If we want to get this feature accepted into a release (+1) then probably the simpler the better

+1

I think three fields (Regions/Points/Before Zero) would fit default label height with the label count alongside.

The label track would need to be a little taller to show three lines of text. I'd be happy with that as the default - it's easy enough to resize the height if required.

So there could then be a simple toggle "Label count" in the Label Track Menu to turn the display on and off

Why not have it on permanently? We don't switch of the audio track info.

Just wondering, is this info available to screen readers? (Does not appear to be on Linux unless I'm missing a trick).

[Edgar]

I see no need for the font size for the label to affect the font size of the label info.

Monitor resolutions of 2560x1600 & 5120×2890 are out there and 1920x1080 is pretty much the norm for desktop monitors and most laptops now. The Audacity Developers have seen fit to give the user control of the font family & size when drawing labels; there's a reason for this – almost all the other text is fixed (it doesn't change constantly) so once a user gets out a magnifying glass and reads it a few times they can ignore it, however, the Label text must be easily read. (Aside – I contend that the Time Text Controls and the Rulers also fault (sic - I spoke the word "fall") into this must-be-easily-readable category.)

For Audacity the default 2.8 wxWidgets font (on Windows) is 8, 10 or 12 points (depending on where the font is being used); the 8 point is virtually illegible at 1920×1080, the 10 point is barely better and, with my reading glasses on, I still need to get uncomfortably close to a 19 inch screen to read 12 point.

[…]the simpler the better. I think three fields (Regions/Points/Before Zero) would fit default label height with the label count alongside.

As Steve points out, given the current default height of 73 pixels, the third line is only partially visible; we would need to make the default about 80 +/- depending on language localization and if there are descenders in the strings. I can also tighten up (even more - I am already subtracting two pixels between each line) the vertical spacing. Unfortunately, "Before Zero" (and probably even "Before 0", but not the very ugly "pre-0"), even at the default font size) completely fills the width of the trackinfopanel. Language localization could also impact Points & Regions in a similar manner.

If we want more options such as default label track height, then I suggest the count display, font choices and other options are accessed by a "Label Preferences..." item in the Label Track Menu.

I really hate the idea of scattering Preference editing all over the place. If we have a menu item (main or context) which brings up a dialog affecting a "sticky" preference value (one that is recalled by being stored in the configuration file) then the "dialog" should just be the proper Preference page (if it is a value which requires textual input we could get fancy and activate the appropriate field). Of course, this brings up the concept of "non-sticky" preferences; these are rightly (pun intended) the purview of a context menu and specialized dialog; however, AFAIK, there are none of these currently.