I discovered this service that converts any PDF into a slick browser-based document viewer, and immediately thought it might be a good way to present a score for cursory perusal. After playing around with it, I’m not so sure, but I’d love to know what others think. One of my complaints is that the icons are pretty inscrutable to those who aren’t up on the conventions.
Let me know what you think. Is it too confusing or slow to be useful, or is it a good stopgap to give folks a quick sense of what the piece is about? The service is called Issuu. Thanks to Lifehacker for alerting me to this.
Below is the score of my string orchestra piece Letter to Hungary. If you click the thumbnail, a new window will open (popup blockers beware) with a larger view.
My advice after you get the new window:
- Click the icon with two arrows pointing to the upper-right and lower-left corners. This will give you a full-screen view
- Click on a page to zoom
- Click the “hand” icon to give yourself control over dragging the page around.
3 Responses to “Perusal Score Viewer (Maybe)”
Nice find, I kinda dig it! I think it might be especially useful for longer scores, like the one you chose for an example. I’ll screw around with it for my shorter pieces and let you know.
Can you link me to the service?
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Oops. Sorry. I’ve added a link to the post. It’s called Issuu.
Snazzy interface! Kind of like the equivalent of audio streaming as opposed to downloading (a PDF in this case). I’m for it, although more variation in the zoom level would be nice. I didn’t find it slow - just needs a little time to load. Its certainly a better and more accessible experience than downloading a PDF, opening it, trashing it (if you don;t like the piece). Its also good for publishers since the user can’t download it - at least as far as I could tell from a quick glance. Quick, someone send the link to Boosey & Hawkes…
-steven
