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Wrote a collaborative screenplay program for Google Drive, looking for feedback

J

Jake_L

Folks, I've spent the last 10-11 months writing a collaborative online screenplay program for working on scripts in Google Drive. I'm not trying to compete with Final-Draft etc, for now it's just for working together on the actual script (we use Docs for outlining). We've been using it for a while, and I'd really like to get other people to check it out, see what they think, and if possible, get some feedback and ideas?

https://youmescript.com

Thanks a lot.
Jake L.
 
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I added a few lines and tried to save. It wants permission for my drive but I thought it was a collaborative document?

Anyway I hit deny but when it takes me back to the document i can't edit because that 'continue' button is still hovering over the page.
 
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Google asks permissions for anything to be saved in your Drive - which it has to be in order to share/collaborate. Really sorry if you're having some other problem, though. May I ask what's your browser (and version)?
 
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sfoster, I did find a problem that wasn't letting people through that if they hit "Deny"... it's all fixed now, in build 292. Please give it another try if you like, and sorry for the trouble.
 
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Jake_L said:
Google asks permissions for anything to be saved in your Drive - which it has to be in order to share/collaborate. Really sorry if you're having some other problem, though. May I ask what's your browser (and version)?
Click to expand...

It took me straight to a document about a scary forest that was dark and stormy.
I am using safari 6.1.6 - I should abandon this thing altogether. It won't let me update it without updating my OS and breaking my software. I really hate apple and regret ever buying an apple product.

As a collaboration why would we both need to save separate documents to our individual drives? I thought the doc already existed.. it certainly had text in it. And that I was a collaborator and I could save your doc rather than make my own copy.
 
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sfoster said:
It took me straight to a document about a scary forest that was dark and stormy.
I am using safari 6.1.6 - I should abandon this thing altogether. It won't let me update it without updating my OS and breaking my software. I really hate apple and regret ever buying an apple product.

As a collaboration why would we both need to save separate documents to our individual drives? I thought the doc already existed.. it certainly had text in it. And that I was a collaborator and I could save your doc rather than make my own copy.
Click to expand...

Ah... Well, this feedback is EXACTLY why I posted, so thank you. That "Scary Forest" is the default text for any new empty script (a reference to "It was a dark and stormy night"). I see how it could mislead.

When you save your script to Google Drive, just like with Google Docs, you're the owner. You can share it with anyone you like, either as a Reader or a Writer. And just like in Google Docs, when two (or more) of you are working on it at the same time, you see their cursor, and see any changes as they are being made.

And much as I hate to defend massively successful corporations, your problem wasn't Apple's fault, it was mine :blush:
 
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sfoster said:
Cool, glad I could help.
Want to post a shared document ?
Click to expand...

Er, yeah, I think so... I've never actually tried a publicly, as opposed to individually, shared script, but YouMeScript should work with up to 50 people at the same time, then go read-only for any more above that.

I'll post one here once I've checked into it and any possible repercussions.
 
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sfoster said:
Cool, glad I could help.
Want to post a shared document ?
Click to expand...

Actually... I think the trouble with doing that is that the very first thing that the user would have to do is to grant Google Drive permission - Drive's collaboration engine doesn't work with anonymous users, period. This is pretty off-putting for a lot of people, so I think it might be better to let people play with their own script for a bit (but make it clearer that that's what's happening) and only when they want to save it to Drive do they see the permissions request.

Also, a new feature has passed testing and been released: Comments now can contain links.
In a comment or reply, when you paste or type a URL, it's shown as "[link]". The URL shows when hovered, and it opens in a new tab when clicked. Nice to be able to show a picture of exactly what you mean, for instance.

Love to hear some feedback on it, or ideas for improvement...?
 
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Hello. Congrats on a job well done. Neat how the buttons, left, blend in (low contrast).

I tested how the formatting works when I copy-paste plain text and it works fine. The only time it goes wrong is when I have caps on a new line (for instance a gunshot)
BANG
Then it (like always) doesn't know what to do - understands BANG to be a character. Would be brilliant if I could change BANG to action, simply by pushing ENTER as well, eh? -maybe?

But the text looks good and airy on the page. Very good. Less gray would make it look less depressive and more expensive.

Thought about INFO-BUTTONS to in just a key-words guide which moves to make to make what you write available for your writing partner(s)? Only nerds are curious about what Google Drive has to do with saving and stuff. I'd just write SAVE - explain more on some homepage.

Those are my first thoughts.
 
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Filman said:
Hello. Congrats on a job well done. Neat how the buttons, left, blend in (low contrast).

I tested how the formatting works when I copy-paste plain text and it works fine. The only time it goes wrong is when I have caps on a new line (for instance a gunshot)
BANG
Then it (like always) doesn't know what to do - understands BANG to be a character. Would be brilliant if I could change BANG to action, simply by pushing ENTER as well, eh? -maybe?

But the text looks good and airy on the page. Very good. Less gray would make it look less depressive and more expensive.

Thought about INFO-BUTTONS to in just a key-words guide which moves to make to make what you write available for your writing partner(s)? Only nerds are curious about what Google Drive has to do with saving and stuff. I'd just write SAVE - explain more on some homepage.

Those are my first thoughts.
Click to expand...

Filman, thank you very much for that feedback, and I'm glad you (mostly?) like it.

You're right, of course, that there are some things that may cause trouble for pasting plain text. When it does go wrong, you can change the element type by pressing TAB or shift-TAB anywhere in an element, and it'll cycle through the possible choices.

Do you think you would prefer less gray for the page background, or in general? I'm thinking of adding color to the buttons, showing only when they are highlighted/high-contrast. I've tried to keep the whole page as simple as possible when actually writing... just you and your script.
 
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Amazon's Storywriter has the paper almost white and a lighter gray in the background. Their is pretty optimal.

TAB or shift-TAB. Good solution. Didn't test it yet.
 
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It's all the little bells and whistles that make screen writing software great.

Exporting to PDF yeah definitely.
Also to be able to create a breakdown. Like grouping all the scenes by location, showing what actors are needed, etc.
 
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sfoster said:
It's all the little bells and whistles that make screen writing software great.

Exporting to PDF yeah definitely.
Also to be able to create a breakdown. Like grouping all the scenes by location, showing what actors are needed, etc.
Click to expand...

Yep yep. Breakdowns and production versions will certainly arrive, but I'm trying to avoid anything half-baked. What we've been going with is the idea that whatever it does, it should do well - so #1 priority was making the actual screenplay writing smooth and pleasurable.

I'm currently testing direct PDF export... For now hit cmd-P or "Print..." from the YouMeScript menu (not the browser menu which just prints the webpage, scrollbars and all). In Safari on a Mac, you can then select PDF (bottom left on the print dialog), and the same is true for Chrome. For non-PDF-printing browsers, things like Bullzip PDF printer driver work well, too... But like I say, direct PDF export's coming soon.

Would those be your #1 and #2 requests?
 
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yeah PDF is definitely the #1 request, if you can't provide a PDF of your script to actors they aren't going to take you seriously.

A breakdown would be great. I've tried using breakdowns in other software and it's come up short for me. I did my last breakdown by hand unfortunately.

When you have something that's 45 pages with 15 actors it's a lot of work to organize the shooting schedule.

I know 'scope creep' is a dangerous thing! Makes plenty of sense to focus on getting the writing to work first.
I just wanted to make sure you knew what you were signing up for in terms of your competition.
 
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This is really good and very professionally done. I also like the way you've responded to people's feedback on here – all very good signs.

For what it's worth, my only concern is that I don't know whether I'd start writing a project into a web-browser. I'm one of those people who's had their fingers burnt by writing stuff out (on forums like this) and then accidentally clicking off too many times to not want an offline version. I guess my feeling is that it would be great if it could import .FDX or .CELTX files and then we could work collaboratively there. But I'm not sure I'd sit down and start writing a script in my browser, simply because I prefer writing offline.

Not sure if that makes sense – and I don't appreciate that it can be saved to the Google Drive as often as possible – just wanted to convey my feelings. Regardless, you've done a damn fine job and there's definitely a market for something like this!

EDIT: I TAKE IT ALL BACK! YOU CAN IMPORT STUFF! YOUR PROGRAM IS PERFECT AND I ONLY LEAVE MY MESSAGE HERE AS A DISPLAY OF HUMILITY!
 
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NickClapper said:
This is really good and very professionally done. I also like the way you've responded to people's feedback on here – all very good signs.

For what it's worth, my only concern is that I don't know whether I'd start writing a project into a web-browser. I'm one of those people who's had their fingers burnt by writing stuff out (on forums like this) and then accidentally clicking off too many times to not want an offline version. I guess my feeling is that it would be great if it could import .FDX or .CELTX files and then we could work collaboratively there. But I'm not sure I'd sit down and start writing a script in my browser, simply because I prefer writing offline.

Not sure if that makes sense – and I do appreciate that it can be saved to the Google Drive as often as possible – just wanted to convey my feelings. Regardless, you've done a damn fine job and there's definitely a market for something like this!

EDIT: I TAKE IT ALL BACK! YOU CAN IMPORT STUFF! YOUR PROGRAM IS PERFECT AND I ONLY LEAVE MY MESSAGE HERE AS A DISPLAY OF HUMILITY!
Click to expand...

:) NickClapper, I really appreciate you taking the time, and for the humbling and humble comments. Having now discovered the features that pushed it over the edge for you, do you have any ideas or requests to help it reach that elusive "actually-maybe-a-bit-more-perfect-than-before" category?
 
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