thomas@dartvax.UUCP (Thomas Summerall) (03/10/87)
Does anyone know of a good word processor to use for screen/playwriting?
It would need the ability to set a "smart tab" which would both indent from
the left margin like a stndard tab, but would also set a right margin allowing
for justification, etc. One would then be able to type in the indented area
and then outdent. For screenplays there need to be at least four different
"smart" tab settings.
I am currently using MacWrite 4.5 and setting four different tab stops.
This is a real pain, because the thing screenwriters do most is re-write.
With MacWrite I am forced to re-align the margins and remove tab stops by
hand each time each time I make a change. It's still better than a typewriter,
but just barely...
I am also an amatuer programmer, and I know that this feature would be
fairly easy to add to an existing word processor. It is basically a highly
specialized ruler insertion.
Are there any packages which exist specifically for this purpose? Are
there any which can be used for this? (I've heard Word 3.0 has a lot of
fancy features...)
This is an application for which there is a large market. Maybe some
software company will read this and do something about it...
Thanks in advance.
==============================================================================
thomas@dartvax.uucp,csnet,edu,bitnet | Thomas G. Summerall
{...}!dartvax!thomas, | H.B. 3445
"And all that the Lorax left here in this mess, | Dartmouth College
Was a small pile of rocks, with one word: UNLESS" | Hanover, NH 03755
-Dr. Seuss '25 |
==============================================================================clive@druhi.UUCP (03/11/87)
in article <5802@dartvax.UUCP>, thomas@dartvax.UUCP says: > Does anyone know of a good word processor to use for screen/playwriting? I just came into possession of a shareware item called QuickScript, $30 from Dantz Software Development, 1510 E1 Walnut Street, Berkeley, California 94704. It looks like it would do what you want and maybe more, but in a different way. You need Microsoft Word and a Laser-Writer. Imagewriter won't be usable at all, as will be clear. Expensive, but the results seem impressive. You write fairly normally in Word, and include QuickScript formatting commands enclosed in curly {} braces. When you're finished, you dump the PostScript (Laser-Writer) commands for the entire file, and run them through QuickScript. It prints, rearranging things in a fancy and (I presume since he says so) industry-standard way for scripts. This is multicolumn, with audio and video cueing, different fonts per function, time marks, etc. There's online help, and a doc package you get for the $30. If there's interest, I'll ask felix!macintosh to put it up in comp.sources.mac. Or mail if only one or two want it. Clive Steward ihnp4!druhi!clive