The best compliment you can pay to a developer, besides making a good software, is that he/she listens well. Listening in a way that goes to the root of the problem instead of a knee-jerk reaction to user's complaints. Like they have done before and especially with the 0.9.7 release, Celtx developers listened a lot and quite well.

A little while back they teased me with a "three little buttons" post. It has lived up to the hype. This is easily the best new set of features since I don't know when in Celtx development. The three little buttons are 1) add item 2) add folder and 3) delete item. It seems simple enough but this little configuration opens up a whole range of possibilities. The add item list can add a script, a text document, scene or character details, schedule and even a file. And you can configure them however you'd like by placing them in a folder system of your choice. So your Celtx document is not just a script file but a project file. Very cool! Everything is in one place.
The add-text document alone solves a slew of writing problems. You can stay within the app to organize your structure. Just tab like you normally do and it will behave like any other organizational feature in a text tool. You can jot down notes and keep it organized in a way native to you. If you are like me and cannot stand a form to define your characters,  you can just create a folder of characters and use the text document to fill in the data.

Adding extra script keeps all the scripts within one project organized.  I wish there were a couple of extra buttons such as duplicate (to avoid the copy and paste step), info (gives you date and other versioning info), and compare (comparing two different scripts). These are features I expect the developers are already working on, however, I don't see it coming any time soon. But for now, having multiple scripts in one .celtx file is quite sweet. Which brings us to our next major change.

Previously, the Celtx file system work this way: project folder consisted of the main RDF file which connected the dots to other files in the folder. Now that RDF file has become a .Celtx file extension (compression, whatever). The change was made so as to not to confuse those who could not figure out what file to click on to open their script. Yes, you may roll your eyes. I preferred the RDF because it is open format that will be in use for a very long time. I would even venture to say that it is similar to XML in that it is just raw data which means it will always be easy to configure. Don't know much about software languages, so I will stop there. But suffice to say, the RDF file would have been an archivist's dream. The .Celtx file system (compressed RDF?) is still pretty good as well as it points to .html file for the raw script data. And as everybody will guess, HTML is not going anywhere soon. So Celtx is still better than say Final Draft, Montage or whatever in that way. However, if you backup your script files either to RTF or txt files, all this should not be a concern.

The other big feature is the reconfiguration of formatting keys. Before, the keyboard configuration was a two-button method. For example, formatting text as action, you'd have to choose (on the Mac side) "apple+2". Now Celtx follows the industry standards with tabs and shift+tabs. This should have been modified earlier but I am thankful nevertheless.

Other smaller changes:

• The script structure can now modified by drag and drop. Sweeeet!!
• Inline Spell-checking
• The auto complete finally works in how I expected it to. Once again, sweeeet!!
• Pagination has been implemented
• Splash page has gotten a makeover

Like I have said before, Celtx is a great software and my screenwriting tool of choice. Along with Final Cut Pro and Omni Outliner, this is one of my favorite softwares. I frankly don't know why. It is still early in its development, buggy at times and has a limited feature set. But -- I think the idea that one day this application is going to be easy to extend is exciting. The fact that it is free, works on all major platforms and open-sourced is very cool. However, I think the most exciting thing is that an entire film production could be executed within this app. It is not all there but what it does do, it does well. Pass the script to your set designer, make-up person with all the notes. No worries about whether they can read the file because all they have to do is download the application. You can send them the file, you can upload it to Celtx servers, I mean come on. What's not to like?

And unlike some other open-sourced apps, the user-interface is cohesive and makes sense. These developers have good ideas but they are also very good listeners. A lot of the problems addressed in this release I have read in Celtx forums. And it always shocks me the end solutions. It is always better than needed, addresses a lot of core issues and, this is the best part, creates a platform where it becomes more open and versatile. The "three button" feature is a great example. Instead of providing just a better organizational method within the document, they revamped the entire Celtx document so it becomes a project file. Download it, play with it and you will see what I mean.

Related articles:
Celtx 0.9.5: Delivering The Goods
Celtx 0.9.3 Review, pt two
Celtx 0.9.3 Review, pt one