In screenwriting, font size and style are already determined so there isn’t much “creativity” allowed. For this reason, having the font type, style, size and line spacing toolbar at the top of the document isn’t much use. The script element menu, which is used a lot, is tucked away at the bottom of the document. IMO,that’s inconvienent.
I could argue that font color, highlighting are useful. A writer could use them during rewrites to make notes for themself. So, I’d leave those. That’s actually something I like and have found missing in other programs.
As a follow up thought to my another post about “Screenplay mode”, it might be nice (IMO) to display the script element menu on the toolbar when in “Screenplay mode”, and display the normal font selections when in “document mode”. This would provide a clear indication of which mode the user is in and make the most useful menu options available on the toolbar.
Having the elements in the footer bar is standard - the industry standard scriptwriting program, Final Draft, does it exactly this way, for instance. so most screenwriting pros are used to this (not that I’m trying to imply you’re not a pro, of course, I’m merely stating what most people are used to!). Along with that there are shortcuts to switch between the elements using the number keys which also align with Final Draft (or at least there will be, if they are not already in there - I’m the Mac dev and haven’t checked whether they are there yet in the Windows version).
Also, bear in mind that you can mix up scriptwriting and general formatting in Scrivener. Some scriptwiters mix up the formatting to write treatments, for instance.
So, admittedly the format bar is going to be less useful in script mode, but you can move in and out of script mode within documents and within projects, so the format bar is just a global thing. It also operates on the notes in the inspector. If you find you don’t need the format bar, though, you can easily hide it.
Ok, those are all good reason. I wasn’t aware of the keyboard format shortcuts. I tend to move toolbars around a lot, but that’s just me. I understand the Final Draft consistency idea. But I never liked FD or Movie Magic much. I find both products to be buggy, and annoying to work with; which is why I’m looking at Scrivner.
So far, I like it. The mixed mode really works for me. I’m looking forward to seeing it “bug free”.
As a professional software developer attempting to be a screenwriter, I guess i’m more particular in what i expect from software. And like I said, I’m liking Scrivener a lot, and liking it more as I use it.
