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  • #16
    Re: YouMeScript.com

    Originally posted by heyheyjc View Post
    This is Jake, the guy who wrote / is writing YouMeScript. I've been wondering how I could improve Fountain support, but I don't get that much feedback, so it's hard to know what to do next...?
    I would just go here ...

    http://fountain.io/syntax

    ... to see what new features they've added to Fountain 1.1.

    (I, personally, didn't know most of these existed.)

    And, by the way, thanks for YouMeScript. I don't do much writing anymore, but I like it more than any other online screenplay formatting site -- including Amazon's.
    STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I'm a wannabe, take whatever I write with a huge grain of salt.

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    • #17
      Re: YouMeScript.com

      Gee, did Anil smash a printing press while he was adamantly declaring that Trelby was not meant to be Unicode-compliant? There is nothing like thinking small, I guess.

      Just kidding, just kidding.

      Anyway, the use of ! and @ are more helpful than you might initially think. Fountain 1.0 used two blank spaces on the spacebar<><> after a word to show that it was Action. Since the spaces were invisible, and some people are HORRIBLE about unconsciously adding spaces at the end of a paragraph, the <><> method was not working well. That method is now deprecated and has been replaced with ! as the first character on a line.

      Some special circumstances arise in which tagging something as action is necessary. The Fountain page talks about this.

      I will add that the insistence of some people on using weird formatting can throw Fountain off (maybe not all the time, but it happens).

      What look like sluglines may just be action lines that are capitalized, as in:
      He stares silently at the

      BLANK WALL

      His eyes slowly close as he falls asleep.
      I have seen Fade In (which is truly superb at interpreting all kinds of formats) read an ALL CAPS line as a scene heading when it was really just an action line that someone in love with "vertical writing" had formatted in an unusual way. I do not know if it would happen with that particular example, but it happens.

      With
      He stares silently at the
      !BLANK WALL

      His eyes slowly close as he falls asleep.
      the words BLANK WALL are interpreted as action.

      "The fact that you have seen professionals write poorly is no reason for you to imitate them." - ComicBent.

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      • #18
        Re: YouMeScript.com

        Originally posted by heyheyjc View Post
        This is Jake, the guy who wrote / is writing YouMeScript. I've been wondering how I could improve Fountain support, but I don't get that much feedback, so it's hard to know what to do next...?
        According to John August, this is what was added to Fountain 1.1 ...

        http://johnaugust.com/2014/fountain-1-1-use-the-force

        So basically the following "forces" were added to 1.1 ...

        @ -- so character names don't have to be all CAPs
        ! -- so an action line can be capitalized and not interpreted as a character name
        ~ -- so lyrics can be placed in the script (still not sure exactly how that differs from standard action lines)

        I think that's about it.

        Oh, and not mentioned in the article is dual dialog, using the ^ caret.

        JOHN
        Blah, blah, blah...

        PETE ^
        Blah, blah, blah ...

        Results in

        Code:
                         JOHN                              PETE
                    Blah, blah, blah ...            Blah, blah, blah ...
        Actually I don't even know where the dual character ^ (caret) came in. It doesn't appear in the 1.1 change log at ...

        http://fountain.io/syntax

        Also note the deprecations ...

        Character extensions no longer need to be upper case and, since 1.1 is using the "!" Action Line force, two spaces no longer force an Action Line.

        Honestly, I consider these relatively minor features.

        EDIT: Not as minor as I first thought. I'm beginning to understand their reason for existence now.
        Last edited by Centos; 07-16-2016, 11:18 AM.
        STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I'm a wannabe, take whatever I write with a huge grain of salt.

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        • #19
          Re: YouMeScript.com

          Originally posted by ComicBent View Post
          Anyway, the use of ! and @ are more helpful than you might initially think. Fountain 1.0 used two blank spaces on the spacebar<><> after a word to show that it was Action. Since the spaces were invisible, and some people are HORRIBLE about unconsciously adding spaces at the end of a paragraph, the <><> method was not working well. That method is now deprecated and has been replaced with ! as the first character on a line.
          I can see that could be a problem. I'm guessing the reasons the changes they made in 1.1 were necessary or they wouldn't have made them.

          Ah, now I see what the lyrics feature does. Italicizes and insets.

          Looks like the online site www.afterwriting.com does an excellent job with the fountain format -- even allows you to download and use offline (via your browser).

          I'm just amazed at all the screenwriting tools available online now.
          STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I'm a wannabe, take whatever I write with a huge grain of salt.

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          • #20
            Re: YouMeScript.com

            Thanks for that. Incorporating these shouldn't be a problem for Fountain import and export, other than perhaps lyrics. YouMeScript doesn't have a lyric element type as yet; I'm not sure whether it should be thought of as an alternative action, or something that's an allowable part of a dialogue block, or both (I've never written anything with lyrics, so I'm happy to defer to other peoples' judgment on this).

            I've also had a user request a Fountain 'mode' for writing, and it's certainly doable, but it seems to slightly defeat the purpose if formatting is taken care of... am I thinking about this incorrectly?

            Jake.

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            • #21
              Re: YouMeScript.com

              Originally posted by heyheyjc View Post
              Thanks for that. Incorporating these shouldn't be a problem for Fountain import and export, other than perhaps lyrics. YouMeScript doesn't have a lyric element type as yet; I'm not sure whether it should be thought of as an alternative action, or something that's an allowable part of a dialogue block, or both (I've never written anything with lyrics, so I'm happy to defer to other peoples' judgment on this).

              I've also had a user request a Fountain 'mode' for writing, and it's certainly doable, but it seems to slightly defeat the purpose if formatting is taken care of... am I thinking about this incorrectly?
              Lyrics aren't used often and a work-around would be using italics and centering ...

              >*Listen to the jingle*<
              >*The rumble and the roar*<
              >*(This makes me want to snore)*<
              >*the Wabash Cannonball*<

              Code:
              [CENTER][I]Listen to the jingle
              The rumble and the roar
              (This makes me want to snore)
              the Wabash Cannonball[/I][/CENTER]

              At least I think that would work.

              I don't know if I would worry about making another online Fountain formatting editor. There seems to be several of them already.
              Last edited by Centos; 07-16-2016, 01:24 PM.
              STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I'm a wannabe, take whatever I write with a huge grain of salt.

              Comment


              • #22
                Re: YouMeScript.com

                Originally posted by Centos View Post
                I don't know if I would worry about making another online Fountain formatting editor. There seems to be several of them already.
                One reason I am a little tempted to have a fountain mode is that YMS has the possibility of collaborators viewing different formats... one could be working in Fountain, another in standard screenplay format. Just a thought.

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                • #23
                  Re: YouMeScript.com

                  Originally posted by manfredlopez View Post
                  Wow, I didn't know about this. Seems like a really great platform. Unfortunately without a PDF export feature the platform is still kind of useless to someone that doesn't have Final Draft or similar.

                  I also find it scary that that there is no automatic backup, and that you have to pay for it by getting their Pro version. Also, every 15 minutes seems to be a bit stingy when it comes to the most frequent back-up cycle. I set my auto-save to every three minutes in Final Draft

                  But I'll definitely be recommending this as another alternative to Celtix and their watermarked PDF export.
                  Thought I'd just say PDF export will be out in the few days; it's done and pretty much fully tested (there's an issue with Safari opening rather than downloading them that I'm bashing out right now).

                  On the backups thing: once your script's in Drive, every single keystroke is immediately saved. Backups is in case there's corruption on Drive's end somehow, or, much more likely, that the file were deleted or you or a collaborator made regretted changes. They're a non-collaborative text-based file, in a different folder, really for disaster recovery, so fifteen minutes seemed reasonable. Happy to reconsider that...?

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                  • #24
                    Re: YouMeScript.com

                    Originally posted by heyheyjc View Post
                    One reason I am a little tempted to have a fountain mode is that YMS has the possibility of collaborators viewing different formats... one could be working in Fountain, another in standard screenplay format. Just a thought.
                    The more features, the better. I just thought you felt pressured into doing something you really didn't want to do.
                    STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I'm a wannabe, take whatever I write with a huge grain of salt.

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Re: YouMeScript.com

                      Well, for sure it wouldn't be immediately, there are several features much higher on The List. But there are several different layouts/formats that have been fairly often requested (BBC / Episodic / etc), so it might appear alongside them.

                      Any other requests /thoughts?

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                      • #26
                        Re: YouMeScript.com

                        PS: no, dogs didn't chase the RIOT Wheel; they have trouble slowing down to its pace, plus the racket was pretty scary. Drunk people, however...

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                        • #27
                          Re: YouMeScript.com

                          PDF Export is now released in the latest YouMeScript 0.5.1 Build 607. I'd be grateful if people could test it out, and let me know through the program of any issues they find?

                          Thanks.

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                          • #28
                            Re: YouMeScript.com

                            Originally posted by heyheyjc View Post
                            PDF Export is now released in the latest YouMeScript 0.5.1 Build 607. I'd be grateful if people could test it out, and let me know through the program of any issues they find?
                            Works well in Linux Mint Mate 17.1 -- I'll see if I can test it from my wife's Windows 7 computer. (I'll report back.)

                            EDIT: Worked well on my wife's Windows 7 computer and on a laptop that still dual boots to Windows Vista (I had forgotten that option).
                            Last edited by Centos; 08-03-2016, 12:55 PM.
                            STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I'm a wannabe, take whatever I write with a huge grain of salt.

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              Re: YouMeScript.com

                              Originally posted by Centos View Post
                              Works well in Linux Mint Mate 17.1 -- I'll see if I can test it from my wife's Windows 7 computer. (I'll report back.)

                              EDIT: Worked well on my wife's Windows 7 computer and on a laptop that still dual boots to Windows Vista (I had forgotten that option).
                              Brilliant, thank you sir. Sorry I didn't reply earlier, but it's much appreciated. Am I safe in assuming that's Chrome in all cases?

                              Jake.

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                              • #30
                                Re: YouMeScript.com

                                Originally posted by heyheyjc View Post
                                Brilliant, thank you sir. Sorry I didn't reply earlier, but it's much appreciated. Am I safe in assuming that's Chrome in all cases?
                                Firefox on the Linux machine. Chrome on Windows 7 and I can't remember for sure on Vista. But I'm pretty sure it was Firefox. I would re-test but right now I don't have Internet service. (Using my Blackberry.)

                                EDIT: Okay, Internet working ... I've tested YouMeScript on Vista (32 bit) using Firefox, Chrome and Vivaldi. All worked consistently. On 32 and 64 bit Linux Mint 17.1 and 17.3 -- on 17.1 (32 bit) tested on Chrome, Firefox and Vivaldi -- on 17.3 (64 bit), the same three -- good (and consistent) on all of them. On Windows 7 (32 bit), tested on Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer -- all consistent, no issues. So it looks like YouMeScript PDF export passes the test on Linux and Windows -- can't tell you anything about OSX on Macs.

                                I've noticed one major difference between AfterWriting's and YouMeScript's PDF output -- the page dimensions are different. Strangely, AfterWriting exactly matches my Trelby PDF output. YouMeScript matches Fade In and (comes very close) to matching Scrivener when I drop the fonts down to 9 (whatevers) in that application. It appears that YouMeScript, Fade In and Scrivener get approximately 52 lines per page, whereas AfterWriting and Trelby get about 54. (This can be adjusted in Fade In to match Trelby and AfterWriting.) I'm guessing YouMeScript comes closer to matching Final Draft. (I'm going to check some of the other online screenplay applications to see where they line up.)

                                I don't know how hard it would be to do, but AfterWriting has the ability to download to a local computer and use offline in a browser. (I got to try that feature out while my Internet was down.) If it's fairly easy to do this (I have no idea, I'm not a programmer) you might want to offer this feature with for YouMeScript (maybe exclusively in the Pro version).

                                Another feature I would like to see -- and, again, I have no idea how hard it would be to implement -- is the ability to export to formatted text. That would make it useful for posting short scripts or scenes to Done Deal (or websites or newsgroups like it).

                                Sorry to ramble. Thanks again.

                                EDIT 2: It looks like WriterDuet is right in the middle.

                                EDIT 3: Celtx is closer to YouMeScript. But I couldn't get it to print to anything but italic?
                                Last edited by Centos; 08-10-2016, 09:25 PM.
                                STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I'm a wannabe, take whatever I write with a huge grain of salt.

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