Slugline Update: Fountain 1.1 and More
Slugline 1.0.6 is available now on the App Store. This is mostly what we call a “maintenance release,” where we fix all the great bugs you found in our last big update. But we also added something kinda big, which is support for Fountain 1.1.
As always, you don’t need to know anything about Fountain to use Slugline. You can just write. Slugline does all the busywork for you, automatically formatting your words as you go. So what does Fountain 1.1 mean to you? More options for Character names, and, if you’re into that kind of thing, a new Lyric element for musicals.
New Features
- In our last update, we added automatic Character CONT’Ds, for characters speaking multiple consecutive lines in a scene. Many of you asked for the option to switch them off, and because we love you, we’ve done just that. Toggle them in File → Document Settings.
- Lyrics! Fountain 1.1 supports song lyrics. Just put a tilde
~at the beginning of some dialogue, and let it go. The tilde doesn’t print, and your lyrics appear in italics. - You can now convert anything to a Character by choosing Force Character from the Format menu. This is helpful if you have a Character name that desperately wants lowercase letters, and essential for names that don’t have any roman letters. It’s an important step toward true internationalization.
- You’ve always been able to force an Action element in Slugline. This rare need is now handled in a smarter way, with a leading exclamation point
!rather than two trailing spaces. As always, you force Action by choosing Format → Force Action.
Bug Fixes and Performance Improvements
- We made it easier to insert a Parenthetical after a Character—just press Tab.
- We fixed the funky way that Character CONT’Ds could collide with Dual Dialogue.
- We added a few more transitions to the autocomplete menu. Now you’re just an F away from
FADE IN. - And when you use those new autocomplete transitions, we’ll add the extra carriage return for you, so you can just keep writing.
- Pressing Return at the end of a Note jumps you out of the Note. Neat. And we made the automatic completion of Note brackets smarter too.
- We fixed a bug where Slugline would suggest a Synopsis element at, like, totally inappropriate times.
- We fixed a thing we broke in our “conversation detector,” where we try to be smart about who we put first in a Character autocomplete list.
- And we did actually make everything a little faster.
As always, you can download a free, 14-day trial of Slugline. The trial version has also been updated with all these features and fixes.
Slugline 1.0.6 is a free update on the App Store. If you love Slugline, we’d be grateful for your rating or review. It really helps! And we talked with your manager, and agreed that it counts toward your daily page goal.