I think this effects everyone. When you scroll down the page by swiping, the scroll bar at the bottom doesn't match. This is important for two reasons. When you swipe over to edit the scroll doesn't match and because I use a mouse with a scroll wheel it emulates that method. I have found fine tuning my pages ultra frustrating and I was going to suggest matched scrolling as a feature then I saw it was a feature that just doesn't work properly.I have a tablet. Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8 inch, Android 4.2.2. Thank you so much for this program it is amazing.
Follow up questions..
Hey thanks for writing. A couple questions--
When you talk about scrolling down the page by "swiping" do you mean the horizontal bar at the bottom of the screen? And when you say "doesn't match"-- are you saying that the text in the "edit" section doesn't match the "write" section?
If I understand you correctly (please correct me if I don't)-- there are actually two types of synchronizing going on between the read and write areas:
1. Slider syncing: If you slide the bottom horizontal slider back and forth (left/right) on either the write or edit screen, the corresponding text area on the other side will move a mathematically proportionate amount. Unfortunately, the text may not always match EXACTLY because there are inherent layout differences between the "view" rendered/formatted mode and the editing text mode. Among them are the differences in word-wrap (your screen size may not match the actual rendered page size-- so one line of dialogue in your editor may be broken into two in the rendered view, skewing the proportion), font size (determined by you), extra lines in the Fountain "header" (title page info for example), and other minor differences. Moving, say, 20% down the script in the rendered format will be very close to the original "source" text in the editor, but not necessarily 100%-- depending on how your editor is wrapping the text. Initially I never thought it would be even close, and didn't try to do this kind of syncing, but after some testing it was surprisingly close.
2. Scene matching. Once you start making changes to the editing area, the text in the write area needs to be re-generated according to the Fountain rules. Originally, the re-rendered screenplay would default to appearing at the top, scene 1, but by request a sync method was added to determine where the cursor was when you swiped to the View mode, then automatically jump to the top of that scene you were currently editing. I don't think this was the syncing you were talking about, but I figured I'd mention it, just in case it is. Perhaps you are suggesting that following a reformat it should use the % from the editor rather than the top of the scene? Maybe this should be an option? Please let me know.
The synced sliding has always been intended to help you find your place quickly, but perfectly matching the formatted and editor versions presents some issues that possibly could slow the editing experience down and was a lower priority than some of the other features. That said, if you think it's super important, maybe you could make a suggestion of how it would work ideally and maybe I'll take another look!
One last note-- you can use ctrl-F (you're using a mouse so i assume you're using a keyboard too?) to find text on the formatted view side, which is another way to quickly get to whatever it is you're looking for.
Thanks again for writing!
Or maybe...
It just occurred to me that you may mean one more thing. Do you mean that the horizontal scroller thing doesn't move on its own when you scroll text manually with the mouse (or your finger?)
Yes the second thing!
Exactly the horizontal scroll at the bottom doesn't move on its own when you scroll manually with the mouse, or finger. If it would then all my problems would be solved. But I think it should move it makes since. Thanks for helping me out.
Okay, done! :)
Pending a bit more testing, this seems to be working now, at least in kitkat and gingerbread. It actually is pretty neat. Look for it in the next release.
It took all night, but thanks for making me actually do this. :)
R
Sounds great.
Thanks Ron, I can't wait to try out this new feature. I really love this program and I love to help in my own little way.
Quick question
Hey Ron I have been staring at this scroll bar at the bottom ever since I sent you that last comment. How would you feel about just getting rid of it to make more space? Maybe put it vertical real small in place of the old vertical scroll bar? It occurs to me that anything that crosses the text you are writing horizontally takes up writing "space" but there is plenty of room, at least on my device, to place more things vertically. You could have menus that you drag out from the side perhaps. For me even though I do like the idea of writing with my device turned vertically to emulate a more page like atmosphere I find that I have to use it horizontally because of my case stand that I have. When it is turned horizontally there is a ton of dead space on the right hand side when I am reading formatted text but there is a bar at the top and bottom blocking me from reading a few more precious lines at a time. Any thoughts on modify the layout for horizontal use? Just to clarify I am looking at it right now and when my device is vertical the layout is perfect because the text only has a small margin on the sides and the only room for bars are at the top and bottom.
So it should hit the market soon...
If this hasn't hit the market by the time you're reading this, hopefully b40 will be there now. It's got the scroll feature we talked about, and a few more things.
As far as making more room vertically by removing horizontal elements-- I could make the slider and button an option in the settings, to turn it on and off. As for the bar at the top itself, there are a ton of ways to hide it theoretically-- I could make it disappear as part of teh "full screen" in kitkat for example, or I could use a drag from the top to reveal it or a bunch of other ways-- but have you tried to make room by getting rid of the green slider from the menu that says "View/Write"? Also, make sure you get rid of the yellow notice (if you haven't) by clicking on the "x". And finally, you can get rid of ads for a month which will keep it from popping up in the edit side...
That said, I'll look into allowing you to completely get rid of the entire bottom scroll/button section. It would be a setting, but be patient as far as that one showing up as I need to think about how it might affect everything else.
2.
I can't wait to test it out.
Yes I did see that option in the setting and I turned that menu off already. Do you have a tablet that you test the app on Ron?
I haven't got the new version yet. Anyone else?
I still see 39b on play store, am I crazy? I am dying to test out this new scroll. :)
No- not crazy!
The .apk was submitted on the 17th and still hasn't appeared. Something is wrong with the publishing, and I've already written and submitted a report which Google says will be responded to within 48 hours (it's been 24...)
Stand by is all I can say for now :) If I don't get a respond soon I'm going to re-upload it as a new build and see if that one goes through.
Thanks for all your hard work.
I'm working hard on my script and I'm glad to see you're working hard on your software. Now lets all try to get rich.
Well this is very strange.
So I thought maybe if I revert and put the old one back for a few hours, it'll realize it has version 34 (beta 39B) available, and then I can upgrade to version 35 (beta 40). But when I try to swap them out I get an error:
Version 20 and older shouldn't get the update, but what's different about versions 34 and 35?!
It's early in the morning and I haven't slept, so will look at maybe making a new build tomorrow. Though I have no idea what to change...
Yikes
That sounds like a computer generated error that would confuse even another computer. Maybe it is saying that the changes you made put it from api level 7 to api level 8+ and it would be incompatable for a lot of people? You said you tested it on kit kat and on gingerbread, did you test it on jellybean? Or maybe it is just saying you can't put on old build up to keep people from doing that accidentally. I have no idea and I read that paragraph 50 times. I use to be an ameuter programmer and I know how off base the error msgs can be to what they really mean. Did you try just changing something super small and posting it as a new build?
Hey they got back to me, and
Hey they got back to me, and b40 is now up! I guess something was screwed up on their side, because they said they "made some changes" and it's up there now.
Let me know what you think.
R
Major problem
Hey buddy, on my tablet it repeats the same page over and over on the formated text part. The scroll at the bottom works though, lol.
What do you mean it repeats
What do you mean it repeats the same page over and over? Can you include a screen shot or video or soemthing? I haven't seen this. What's the tablet and version and all that? Very odd.
I'm leaving town for a few days in about an hour so working on this is going to be hard.
I'm now trying it on a nexus
I'm now trying it on a nexus 10 emulator (large screen) running kitkat to see if I can figure out what you mean...
Loaded the sample fountain script "Big Fish" from the fountain.io site...
It seems to load and scroll properly... I'm not seeing the same page over and over... let me try turning pagination on... that works too.
Although the emulator itself is being a bit slow, everything seems to work as it should.
As I'm not going to be able to touch the code for at least a few days, I'm going to create a 39C, which will be identical to 39B but with a newer version number... and have it standing by to go up in the store just in case other people have this problem. Unfortunately I'm leaving too soon to do any more investigating for now...
workaround found
It only happens with page breaks on. It shows the contents for the first page over and over. It is fine with page breaks off. Ok yes I can send you a video. Where do I send it to? I am using samsung galaxy tab 3, 8 inch version. jellybean 4.2.2
My thoughts on your changes :)
Ok I only got to play with it for a few minutes before I worked today and I am still having this weird issue with the pages repeating but once I turned the page breaks off it does work great. I just started playing with it and this is exactly how a screenwriting app on a tablet should work, exactly. It is perfect now! I scroll through my pages and I look for blocky text or typos, then flip into editing mode for changes. It is so streamlined now. Great job. About the repeating pages, that does need to get fixed. I can't test it on gingerbread or kitkat I only have Jellybean 4.2.2.
thanks...
Post that to the play store reviews ;)
Not sure what this paging issue is... It works great at all screen sizes I tested... Could you provide a very almost ridiculously detailed description of the issue? Maybe something on there will help me understand what might be causing it
Out of town a week or so but will look again soon. Thanks for the nice words and glass it's useful :)
Update: got your video. Thanks. Very interesting, totally not what I seen on the emulators or on any actual devices before. You said it was 4.2 .2? What's the actual tablet device.? Also, PDF is being worked on.. the real hang up has to do with styling- that is, bold and underline and stuff, but it may get released without that initially. And I do like the idea of removing that navigation bar at the bottom completely. So I think that will go in probably in the next version as an option.
R
sorry for the typos and weird grammar. I'm on my phone
My Tablet model
I have the 8 inch version of the Galaxy tab 3.
More bug testing on same issue.
I downloaded the big fish fountain script and it has the same problem with pagination on. It repeats, my only theory (knowing NOTHING about it) is that the scroll bar link must be playing a role in the problem. The formatted text should always be linked to the editing text in my opinion. I changed all the options I could and only the page breaks made a difference.
Side rant:
The whole concept of fountain is for writing. Let me write in a simple intuative way then translate it into a formatted view and then a pdf for output. I can't really see people sending each other fountain files so we can all edit each others scripts. I have been writing my first feature length screenplay on your program and it has been a GREAT experience. When I first downloaded Dubscript I don't even know if it had a text editor I just had it sitting on my phone. Then when I was ready to write and I realized how simple and effective it was, I got hooked. It also has been a really satisfing experience chatting with you about making the editing work better and seeing you actually be so nice about it and really do it. I think the program is so much better now. I am also thrilled to see the default font is courier prime, my only problem now is when I save it to google drive and open it on my PC , I have to use Trelby to save it as a pdf and that program is a pain in the ass to change the basic font. They should open their eyes to the fact that courier prime is just better and it was made by a screenwriter who is also an amueter computer programmer.
I listen to scriptnotes but I did not know there was a written blog too, thank you for clueing me on to that.
Also I do still think the link between the editing and viewing modes could be a little tighter. In my opinion the dead center of the formatted view should link up to the dead center of the editing view. I understand there will be inconsistencies because the view part is spaced much more. I also think it might be a good idea to have some quick controls to jump to the begging in case you do want to read from the top and you were editng the 89th page. I don't KNOW if this is really a good idea but when I am just reading something that I did not write and I am not scanning for errors I wonder if a reading mode might be cool where you can flip the pages like on google play books. Just a thought. Also I know this might be waaaaaaaay out of the question but there is a real need in the app store to be able to take a pdf script and "melt" it down to a plain text format and then maybe change it to work like the epub files work. I know John August has a piece of software that does some of that but I don't know if that's something you are interested in at all. But for example I downloaded the script for groundhog day on pdf (as it should be). But I couldn't read it on my phone and even reading it on my tablet was shitty. It would be so cool if it could look as nice as the play books look or how dubscript looks. With the nice modern font and the words wrapping around the tablet. I have tried a lot of pdf melting software on the PC but they really miss the point of it. The point of it should be to make it look good and be easy to read but still in the same format. Screen writers have to worry about page counts because pages = minutes and because execs need to know that your 144 page script is longer than your 90 page script. There needs to be standards but when you are reading a script you just want it to look good on your tablet. I can use ebookdroid but it's not made for screenplays and it can act really strange. So anyways if you are interested I think dubscript could easily integrate all those features if you could melt the pdfs down to plain text the rest would just be smart programming. There is nothing on the market that does any of that. Even if it was just a pdf viewer that knew it was only showing screenplays it could be smarter than anything out there.
Thanks as always...
Good feedback. So I was playing a bit more and I think I've replicated the repeating page issue. Back in town on Friday so will take a look then. As for melting PDFs, it may be possible by extracting the text from apdf and then basically importing as text/fountain. Same as if you did "select all" and copy posted into a text file. I've never tried this... How well does it work?
Needs love to work.
I`ve done some testing on my pc with trying to convert pdf to fountain and it come out very ugly. It needs a smart person to tell it how to work right. It would be sick if you got it to work. Want me to send you some pdfs?