I’m working in play script format and have noticed that three of my scripts all display differently on my monitor, but print the same. They are all in US Stage Play format, Courier Regular 12, at 100%, and in Document display mode.
One of the scripts looks more or less centered in the display window, one is shifted slightly left and the text is about 20% smaller than the first, and the third is shifted very far left ( as if it we being formatted to leave room for script notes - of which there are none) and the text is about 40% smaller than the first.
They look identical (and normal/correct) when printed.
Any idea what box I’ve ticked to have such varying display sizes?
It’s hard to say, a screenshot showing the three might help. Could it be you used a fixed width editor setting in the Editor preferences pane? I’m not sure if that is what you mean by “document mode”, that could also be interpreted to mean View/Page View/Show Page View.
Generally speaking though, the editor is more like a pure text editing environment than a typesetting or design interface—so variance from the final output is kind of normal. With rigorous application of settings it is possible to have a consistent look between all projects, to be clear, all of my projects look the same in terms of such things as text width per line and margins. I’m just saying that with all of the various settings available to you for manipulating how the editor looks and acts in a project, it is possible to have two radically differently looking texts compile out identically.
Well, “View Mode” is a term we use to describe three different display states when the editor has been asked to view more than one item at a time. So Corkboard is a View Mode, as is Outliner and Scrivenings mode. They are all view modes in the same sense that lettuces and peas are vegetables.
The “Page View Mode” on the other hand is a specific alternate way of viewing the text editor that simulates the appearance of pages (blocks of white cut out in page sized rectangles with drop shadows), and as such it can make the text look a little different. Additionally each project can have its own page settings, meaning this mode won’t necessarily look consistent if one project uses US Letter as its page size and another uses 4x6 cards. The alternative is normal wrap to editor mode, and modifying that there is a setting that can be applied to wrap to editor mode which forces the text to wrap at a certain width no matter how wide the editor is. This option is enabled by default in 10.7+ Full Screen mode. So if Scrivener is taking up the entire desktop for one project but is in a window for another project—the text display might look different.
Finally, there is a Zoom function at the bottom of each editor (left/right/top/left splits) which can increase or decrease the visual size of the text. So one project can have two different font zooms, and naturally each project has its own zoom setting.
Beyond that there is just individual paragraph formatting, but since you are using stageplay mode, that’s most likely not a factor as formatting is all set up for you.
Thanks. I think we are definitely tarting to get somewhere.
I noticed that the zoom was different on two of the projects, so I adjusted that.
The last difference that I’m noticing is that in the center frame ( where the script text is displayed) two of the projects are just one long endless white space. The third project ( the style I’d prefer to use for all scripts) is page format with a dark grey background. By that I mean it shows a white space for each page with a grey break between pages and a grey background. Any idea how I adjust that setting on my other two scripts, and if there’s a way to set that as the standard view?
The menu command to switch that setting on for the project is View/Page View/Show Page View. This is, like I say, a project setting. Hence if you’d like to make it default you would want to make a project template to start from that has this setting already enabled. Doubtlessly you will find other small things here and there you’d like to tweak to your preference as well. Updating your default starter template with them is the way to do so. You can read about project templates in §7.7 of the user manual PDF, starting on pg. 56.
Actually I needed coffee when I wrote the latter portion of that. You can in fact set this as a default for new projects without going through the process of making a template. The setting for that is in the Editor preferences pane; lower third. Knowing how to make templates is still a useful skill, however, as there are doubtlessly things about the software that you end up always turning on or off for your projects.
You can in fact set this as a default for new projects without going through the process of making a template. The setting for that is in the Editor preferences pane; lower third. Knowing how to make templates is still a useful skill, however, as there are doubtlessly things about the software that you end up always turning on or off for your projects.