FDX Reader

FDX Reader 1.0.2

June 7, 2011 FDX Reader

Apple just approved an update for [FDX Reader](http://fdxreader.com). If you’ve installed the app, it should show up in your App Store updates soon.

Version 1.0.2 addresses two issues:

* A4-sized paper.
* Final Draft’s “Dual Dialogue” option.

Our trouble handling A4 paper reveals our provincialism; all of our beta testers were North American. A4 paper is common everywhere else in the world, and should be celebrated by geeks for its [mathematical purity](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_size).

For this build, we focused on making sure A4 paper wouldn’t cause the formatting to go completely bonkers. We’re not yet paginating for the extra lines on A4, so page counts will be off for longer scripts.

(My A4 story: While in London prepping for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I had a minor battle with the Warner Bros. script department in Burbank. They reformatted our A4 script to 8.5×11, and claimed it was 10 pages too long. Ultimately, we threw their script in the trash — which we called the bin, being British and all.)

Final Draft’s dual dialogue option displays two characters’ dialogue side-by-side. While it’s often and easily abused, it is useful in the right situations.

Because we allow the user to increase the font size, trying to keep the dialogue side-by-side proved ungainly. So we’re unwrapping it, displaying the right-side character after the left-side character.

We have some ideas for indicating this dialogue is simultaneous, but your suggestions are of course invited.

Each time we update the app, our user reviews disappear from the [main screen](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fdx-reader/id437362569?mt=8). If you’ve left a comment about a previous version and want to leave another, by all means do. They help users see how the app is evolving.

Two App Stores is one too many

June 7, 2011 FDX Reader, Rant

app stores We got an email this morning from a guy — let’s call him Bob — who wanted to check out [FDX Reader](http://fdxreader.com), but couldn’t find it in the App Store. He was writing from Canada; was FDX Reader only available in the U.S. store?

Ryan assured him that yes, our app was available in Canada, and [sent him a link](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fdx-reader/id437362569?mt=8).

Bob wrote back:

> I see the app in the link you sent, but can’t access the app on the app store on my mac. See attached screen shot.

The screenshot was of the Mac App Store. FDX Reader is an iOS app, available for purchase through iTunes on the Mac or PC.

Bob had every reason to be confused.

On the iPad and iPhone, the way you get apps is in the App Store. Bob was clicking the equivalent icon on the Mac, expecting it to work the same way. That’s logical behavior.

Folks, we have a Highlander situation. There can only be one App Store.

If you’re on a Mac and click on the something called “App Store,” it should show you the iOS apps as well.

But what about iTunes? What about people on a PC?

Fine. Here’s a reasonable transition solution: have the Mac App Store show us the iOS apps, but when we go to purchase them, send us to the right page in iTunes and finish the transaction there.

Apple already has the button:

That’s what Apple shows you when looking at the [web version](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fdx-reader/id437362569?mt=8).

In the grand scheme, this should all be moot. Everything used to sync through iTunes, but now it’s all headed towards the cloud. It shouldn’t matter which app you use to buy stuff.

Amazon is happy to sell you things through any button you click in any of its apps or affiliate sites. Apple can do the same.

We made an app

May 24, 2011 FDX Reader, News

Back when the iPad was first announced, I [predicted](http://johnaugust.com/2010/how-screenwriters-will-use-the-ipad) it would become the go-to device for reading screenplays. That’s proven correct.

Most agents and execs I know have one. The weekend read, which used to involve heavy stacks of printed scripts, is now digital. The iPad is good for a lot of things, but it’s great for reading screenplays.

Correction: It’s great for reading *other people’s screenplays.*

If you’re a screenwriter working on your own stuff, the iPad can be frustrating.

Thanks to Dropbox and Mail, the iPad will let you *see* the script files you’re working on. That revision your writing partner just emailed you? It’s there, attached to the message. You just can’t *read* it. Same for all those drafts in Dropbox. They’re tantalizingly close, but inaccessible unless you first remember to convert them to PDFs on your computer.

It shouldn’t be this way.

We need an app that lets you read Final Draft files on the iPad. So my compatriots and I made one.

Does what it says on the tin
—-

FDX Reader lets you open Final Draft (.fdx) files, and makes them look nice. It’s not an editor. It’s just a reader, like iBooks or the Kindle app.

big fish page

It’s [available in the App Store now](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fdx-reader/id437362569?mt=8&ls=1).

FDX Reader is a collaboration between me, [Nima Yousefi](http://nimayousefi.com) and Ryan Nelson. Beta testers have been kicking it around for the last two months, and have found it really useful.

Rob Thomas, creator of Veronica Mars, Cupid and Party Down:

> I throw all my active script files into Dropbox already, so FDX Reader is incredibly convenient. For me, two steps have been eliminated: conversion to PDF and syncing those files to my iPad. My active scripts will always be available now.

> I read a hundred scripts this staffing season, and they were all PDFs. Sure, I’m able to read them on my iPad, but without the ability to change type-size, I find the print is slightly too small for me to be totally happy. Life would’ve been much better if I’d had this app.

We’ve incorporated a lot of feedback from film and television writers, such as a new UI for act breaks. We have a lot of ideas for the future, but the app fits a real need right now.

You can find out a lot more information about the app — including a video with me and a special guest — at the [official site](http://fdxreader.com).

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