iOS / Mac Bugs (Storyist) related to Screenwriting

[writeman]

Hi. I emailed support a while ago but never heard back. I love Storyist but have a few issues regarding using Storyist on both Mac and iOS in regards to screenwriting.

1. For some reason, when I open a fountain file or Storyist screenplay file on my Mac and iOS they are paginated differently. I don't see why nor a way to fix this?

2. Every time I open a fountain file on iOS it doesn't retain my cursor position of where I left off editing. It defaults to the start of the file. This can be tough if I jump around between projects and have to try to remember where I was working in the script.

3. On Mac version -- if I open the fountain project it creates a pseudo new UNTITLED file so that when I go to save it won't overwrite the very file I opened. Can we have it be that I can open the fountain file and edit it and save it natively?

4. I can't figure out a way to export a PDF of the screenplay from iOS or Mac. Help?

5. Every single time I open Storyist on Mac the "What's New" update splash screen pops up. Is there a way to disable this? I don't see a checkbox for that.

 

Thanks

[Steve]

Hi Writeman,

Thank you for the kind words and for the post.

1. Pagination - Interesting. That shouldn't be. I'll investigate. Assuming you're using the same font on each device, the culprit is usually the margins or line height. Could you let me know what versions of Storyist and iOS you're running?

2. Editing position - Plain text files don't have a mechanism for storing editing position with the file like RTF or other formats. In order to implement this, the app would either need to store this information outside of the file or include it in the text itself somewhere. TextEdit on Mac does the former, which doesn't work across devices. I think Slugline and Highland do the latter but in incompatible ways. Let me think about this a bit.

3. Projects - Yes, the Mac version doesn't support editing stand-alone text files outside of a Storyist project as the iOS version does. Instead, it creates a new Storyist project and imports the file. This is mostly for historical reasons. The functionality could be added to the Mac version if there is enough interest.

4. Exporting PDF - On Mac, choose File > Print, click the PDF button, and choose to save as PDF. On iOS, you'll need to first import it to a Storyist project and then use the Export function. Adding export support to stand-alone files is on the list for a future release.

5. What's New - The What's New dialog should only show ones (unless you reset the app's user defaults). Are you perhaps running from the .dmg file? If so, copy the app to the Applications folder and run from there.

-Steve

[writeman]

On 12/24/2018 at 8:48 PM, Steve said:

Hi Writeman,

Thank you for the kind words and for the post.

1. Pagination - Interesting. That shouldn't be. I'll investigate. Assuming you're using the same font on each device, the culprit is usually the margins or line height. Could you let me know what versions of Storyist and iOS you're running?

2. Editing position - Plain text files don't have a mechanism for storing editing position with the file like RTF or other formats. In order to implement this, the app would either need to store this information outside of the file or include it in the text itself somewhere. TextEdit on Mac does the former, which doesn't work across devices. I think Slugline and Highland do the latter but in incompatible ways. Let me think about this a bit.

3. Projects - Yes, the Mac version doesn't support editing stand-alone text files outside of a Storyist project as the iOS version does. Instead, it creates a new Storyist project and imports the file. This is mostly for historical reasons. The functionality could be added to the Mac version if there is enough interest.

4. Exporting PDF - On Mac, choose File > Print, click the PDF button, and choose to save as PDF. On iOS, you'll need to first import it to a Storyist project and then use the Export function. Adding export support to stand-alone files is on the list for a future release.

5. What's New - The What's New dialog should only show ones (unless you reset the app's user defaults). Are you perhaps running from the .dmg file? If so, copy the app to the Applications folder and run from there.

-Steve

Hi Steve. 

1. I've attached screenshots of the exact same file (sans any setting modifications on either mac or ipad). I opened the file on the Mac first (Mac OS 10.14.2 - Storyist version 3.5.2) and took a screen grab, then opened the same file on the ipad (ios 12.1 - Storyist version 3.3.8) and took a screen shot. There is a big variation in how they display pagination. Using the same font: courier. I'd look into how you handle page breaks. I see sometimes the rules of scriptwriting are broken as a Character Name will be on one page and the dialogue on the next, or it splits across -- both are wrong. Same for a scene heading being on one page and the action coming on the next page. Both are big no-no's in the screenwriting world. Perhaps that's the culprit? Either way, pagination must be the same on all devices since this is a crucial part of the writing and rewriting process (when a writer gets notes from their agent/studio)

2. Understood. No biggie.

3. You might consider adding this feature. This would be incredibly useful to edit fountain natively and it would put you in the same category as Slugline and Highland (which I own). Neither have the true WYSIWYG interface (which you do) so a distinct market advantage could be created. Not to mention the genius way Storyist can edit in fountain via Index Cards and spit out the fountain code when needed. A brilliant feature that you should tout. 

4. Cool. That works. Might be useful to simply have a save as PDF or export PDF native in the menu. All other scriptwriting software has that as a default. Just a thought.

5. Screenshot included. I am running from the Application and not DMG. Never modified settings. The pop-up occurs every time I launch, without fail. On Mac 10.14.2.

6. A few final tidbits. Take them or leave them, but they would make screenwriting much better in Storyist:

A.) Right now, when I start to type a character name and it auto-completes, I have to hit enter once to accept and again to perform a carriage return to start typing dialogue. Small change but if you had one enter key press = accepting the autocomplete and auto-carriage return, that saves a ton of keystrokes.

B.) Likewise, right now when trying to add a new scene there is a great deal of extra keystrokes. I can't simply type int. or ext. and have it know I'm starting a scene heading. That would be ideal. Right now, I have to hit enter, enter, select scene heading from pop up, hit enter again, and then start typing. I also have to type out the time of day (instead of autocomplete say after a tab or enter). These extra keystrokes add up to quite a lot and breaks the flow of the scriptwriter.

C.) I would suggest already having page numbering built into the screenplay template. Was a hassle to have to manually add it, then right align it, change to courier, then check box for different first page header. Standard screenplay format includes page numbers so might as well add it by default.

Anyway, love the app. The pagination being the same on all devices is a must have. Editing fountain natively on MAC would make your app the best fountain editor (considering WYSIWYG and your genius way that Index Cards translates to fountain). PDF export and those scriptwriting enhancements would just take this to the next level. I don't think any app could compete with those changes, honestly.

Best,

Writeman (Kevin)

[Steve]

Thanks, Kevin. I'll investigate.

-Steve

[writeman]

Hi Steve. Any update on these? Will these be addressed in Storyist 4? I'm excited!