Having completed beta testing, the "July 4th build" of DubScript, representing new exciting improvements from last year's production release, is now gradually making its way to the production track. In this new version, the code base was migrated from Java to Kotlin and reorganized, the UI was improved, many edge-case bugs were fixed, and there are brand-new features all over the place, including old style typewriter sounds when typing, Markdown formatting support (specifically the Commonmark flavor), a "Wellness Exam" (as if performed by a "script doctor", get it?) that will automatically scan your Fountain-formatted script text looking for potential formatting issues and other common "clams" and "red flags", along with suggestions for addressing them. There are 140 new writing fonts, bringing the total to over 940 fonts. And so many minor finesses and speed-ups here and there that are pretty subtle. Also the internal libraries from Google built into the app were updated to the very latest stable versions,

To try out the Markdown formatting support, just open (or create) a plain text file ending with ".md" (no quotes-- as in example.md). Be sure to read the Help & Info section for details.

Just released in the new open testing version:

✓Typewriter Sounds (Settings)
✓"Wellness Exam" automated scans for potential format issues, "clams", & red flags [beta]
✓Markdown (.md file) file format support [beta]
✓Speech now reads scene numbers out loud
✓UI improvements / new icons
✓Targets Android 4.1 -> 11
✓Internal code reorg
✓Java -> Kotlin migration
✓Smaller app
✓Library upgrades & misc. bug fixes

After dozens of beta releases, the first major release in a year is rolling out! Let's get right to the highlights!

✓ New: Dark theme (see Settings)
✓ New: Dialog browser (see Help & Info | Character Report)
✓ Refined UI, new settings screen, better "section" element view
✓ Improved pagination, speech, comments, FDX export, file size warning
✓ Android 10 ready
✓ +39 writing fonts (total: 847)
✓ Improved on Chromebook & foldables
✓ 64-bit compliant
✓ Smaller app size
✓ Misc. bug fixes & improvements

A few more details below.

After months of development, RC45 went full-release! Improvements include:

✓ Android 9 Pie support
✓ Theme improvements
✓ Better Chromebook integration
✓ Smaller install
✓ Faster performance
✓ Better support for older devices
✓ Voice-to-text now uses default system language
✓ New Jetpack/AndroidX libraries
✓ Improved stability
✓ New typefaces (808 fonts!)

Also, RC46 entered the beta channel. You'll find a new Dialog Browser to play with!

Notes & instructions here. The big improvement in RC44 is the apk size got really small :)

Like to write at the cutting edge? If you've subscribed to the beta releases in the Play store, a new version was just released. Now targeting the upcoming Android "P", the latest development version of DubScript takes a big leap forward with the newest "AndroidX Jetpack" libraries along with better Chrome OS Chromebook support and improved backward-compatibility.

There's a "common knowledge" floating around that one can deduce the approximate generation of a screenwriter based on whether they use one or two spaces after a period: Older writers who learned to type on manual typewriters usually add two spaces, and younger writers who learned on a word processors with proportional fonts use only one space and let the software manage the spacing width.

This week the Washington Post had an article discussing the classic, controversial 1-vs-2 spaces controversy. Suprisingly (at least to me), of 60 college students recruited for the study, 21 were "two-spacers". But there's more. From the article:

The researchers then clamped each student's head into place, and used an Eyelink 1000 to record where they looked as they silently read 20 paragraphs. The paragraphs were written in various styles: one-spaced, two-spaced, and strange combinations like two spaces after commas, but only one after periods. And vice versa, too.

And the verdict was: two spaces after the period is better.

As seen in RC36:

I can post these all day. But why post screen shots when you can try it yourself? There are over eight hundred downloadable writing fonts families and three new font sizes to choose from. All for the perfectly reasonable price of free. And you can play with them in the DubScript testing version, starting in six months right now. Just sign up for the beta program in the Play Store.

If you encounter any issues with this new experimental feature or with anything else in this version of DubScript please do post to the forum. Cheers and as always, happy writing!

R