Key signature formatting?

Wiki Discussion
1

TL;DR: at bottom

We have a lot of music across both wikis, and I've noticed recently how inconsistent the notation for the key signatures are (Edit: on Deltarune Wiki. Undertale Wiki is consistent on the style "A-flat major"[1]).
For example:

The major inconsistencies are mostly over the use of fancy Unicode characters. I'm posting here to see about standardizing some of these decisions.

First: should we use "B♭" (e.g. BIG SHOT) or "B-flat" (e.g. Dating Start!)? (The way Gingerbread House uses a normal hashtag # symbol instead of Unicode MUSIC SHARP SIGN ♯ isn't really an option--it looks okay for sharps but terrible when replacing ♭ with b.)

Second: should "cents" use the symbol ¢ or the word cents? (Finale's usage should not be what we standardize to IMO, saying "pitched up/down" is unnecessary, +/- is fine)

Third: should the type of key be capitalized? (i.e. "D major" vs. "D Major"). I would say no, but what about other scale modes that the reader would presumably be less familiar with, like "B♭ Mixolydian" (MIKE, the BOARD, please!), "F dorian" (Knock You Down !!), or "E Phrygian" (SPAWN)? What about alternate types of minor, like "C Harmonic Minor" (Bonetrousle)? (All capitalizations here are what the respective articles currently use.)

TLDR: Which style is best? (Using Rude Buster as an example.)

  1. F♯ minor (+45¢)
  2. F-sharp minor (+45¢)
  3. F♯ minor (+45 cents)
  4. F-sharp minor (+45 cents)
  5. F♯ Minor (+45¢)
  6. F-sharp Minor (+45¢)
  7. F♯ Minor (+45 cents)
  8. F-sharp Minor (+45 cents)
  9. Something else? (reply)

  1. although the scale mode is occasionally capitalized ↩︎

2

Personally, I think #1 is the best—the words "sharp", "flat", and "cents" just seem unnecessary when we have perfectly good symbols to use, and

(I don't really agree with the above anymore, see my below post. The below point on capitalization still applies)
Capitalizing the key just... looks bad? It isn't as obvious with the ♯ in between, but compare "B major" to "B Major". (FWIW, Wikipedia's articles on the keys are not capitalized: B major - Wikipedia)

3

I think we should stick with the format we had on UTW and use “F-sharp minor (+45 cents)”.

As for mixolydian/dorian/etc., I have no comment.

4

After you pointed it out, I realize that UTW does always spell out "sharp"/"flat". (And I've updated the OP to reflect that.) Capitalization, like on DRW, is almost always lowercase. (counterexamples: Spear of Justice[1], Song That Might Play When You Fight Sans[2], and Alphys[3].) (These all use the Dorian or Lydian modes, so it might just be because of that?)

UTW only has a few songs with +/- cents, so there's no standardization. I see:

  • "D major-36c", along with a trivia point noting it's tuned at A=431Hz (Fallen Down and reprise)
  • No note except a trivia point "The song is detuned 35 cents flat" (Bonetrousle)
  • "F minor (pitched up 20 cents)" (Finale)

  1. G Dorian
    G-sharp Dorian
    G-sharp Minor
    G Minor ↩︎

  2. G Dorian ↩︎

  3. B-flat Lydian, B-flat Major (yes, the article uses a comma instead of a newline) ↩︎

5

I feel like I need to update this. Mostly because "F-sharp" looks better than it did last night, especially since it's effectively the current standard on Undertale Wiki. And if ♯ is spelled out, then ¢ logically should be too. So I'm more in favor of option #4 now. (But honestly I don't really care what's standard as long as it's consistent)

6

I agree with Hinikimori on the formatting.