The Operator Console
Three whole-screen arrangements, mutually exclusive, on F1 F2 F3.
Editor on the left, an exact replica of the presenter's screen on the right. This is where a show is operated.
Everything except the script and the transport goes away. For the last rehearsal, or for a presenter who wants to read from the operator's machine.
The script becomes a rundown: every block with its word count, duration and on-air status, and a timeline across the top. An arrow beside each block jumps the reading straight to it.
Four panels toggle on top of whichever mode you are in, on F5 through F8.
| Key | Panel |
|---|---|
F5 |
Assets — chapters and the block's cards, on the left |
F6 |
Cards drawer, at the bottom |
F7 |
Settings, on the right |
F8 |
Moves the transport between the top bar and the footer ruler |
The big green button plays and pauses; so does Space, which is the largest target on the keyboard for the same reason the button is the largest on screen.
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Elapsed / Remaining | Two clocks. Remaining counts down to the end of the script. |
| WPM ruler | The pace, in words per minute. The mouse wheel changes it anywhere in the app. |
| ↑ ↓ | Jump back and forward by a few words |
| ↺ | Back to the start |
| ∞ + seconds | Loop: at the end, wait n seconds and start again |
| Target | Under the speed ruler: the duration the script takes right now. Click it, type another one, and the pace changes to meet it. |
| Go To | Jumps the reading line to wherever the text cursor is |
| CATCH | Keeps the editor scrolled to the reading position while it runs |
| FOLLOW | The opposite of Go To: the editor's caret trails the reading, and a mark shows the line being read. CATCH and FOLLOW are mutually exclusive. |
| Marker | Drops a marker at the current position — red ticks on the progress line |
Three tabs on the right.
Text — family, size, weight, line height, letter spacing, ALL CAPS, alignment, colours, presets, invert, a row of reading-contrast swatches for a quick sanity check against studio lighting, and the presenter chips.
Reading — words per line (minimum and maximum), uniform speed, margin, horizontal position of the text block, the reading line, the edge dimming, and the pacing mode.
The script fades away from the line being read, so the presenter's eye has one place to land. Two controls, and they work together:
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Reading mark | Where on the screen the line being read sits, from 10% to 70% of the height |
| Dim the edges | Turns the fade on. Off, the whole screen is at full strength |
| Dim amount | How much of the screen stays legible. Low is a wide clear window; high closes it down to a band about one line tall |
The clear window is centred on the reading mark, not on the middle of the screen — move the mark to 70% and the window goes with it. Each side spends the same proportion of the space it has, so with the mark low there is little above and much below, and neither side looks lopsided.
The default (60%) reproduces exactly what earlier versions did with the switch simply turned on, so nothing changed for anyone who does not touch the slider.
The dimming never applies while a card covers the screen — there would be nothing underneath to fade.
Output — mirror on either axis, rotation, and what the presenter's screen shows around the text.
Save as default at the bottom stores the current look as how a new tab is born.
| Mode | The clock says |
|---|---|
| Formula | Duration computed from the words and the WPM |
| Stopwatch | Real time since you pressed play |
| Free | Runs without a target |
In Formula and Stopwatch the reading auto-pauses when it reaches the end of the script instead of scrolling into empty space.
An editor for working text, not for looking pretty. Chapters are amber, stage directions blue on a tinted line.
The keys are grouped by what they act on, with a rule between each family: mark the text · paint it · who speaks · how the text looks · find · go back.
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| H | Insert a chapter mark — the same as typing ##
|
| [ ] | Wrap the paragraph as a stage direction — the same as typing [brackets]
|
| Tx | Strip formatting — from the selection, or from the whole script |
| B I U | Bold, italic, underline on the selected passage — see Marks and Search |
| Swatches | Colour the selected passage, from the same picker the presenters use |
| Person | Make the selected name a presenter — see Presenters |
| AA | ALL CAPS in the editor only — display, not content |
| Magnifier | Find, replace and paint — Ctrl+F
|
| ↶ ↷ | Undo and redo, infinite, and kept across sessions |
The marks reach the presenter's screen and the network page. They do not move a single word while you paint them: bold is drawn with a stroke rather than a heavier weight, precisely so the line cannot rewrap under the presenter's eye. Marks and Search explains why that matters.
The footer of the editor holds its own type size, its typeface — one of ten that travel inside the app — and the paper it is typed on. None of the three has anything to do with the presenter's screen; see Themes and Appearance.
Up to ten scripts open at once, each with its own appearance, markers and history. Only the active tab goes to air and to the network page.
Right-click a tab for duplicate, rename and close. Duplicating gives you the same script under a new name, with its appearance and its markers, and the copy opens with its name selected — naming it is always the next thing you do. The copy is a fresh script: it has no export path of its own, so Ctrl+S on it will ask where to write instead of quietly overwriting the file the original came from.
Ctrl+D duplicates too, but it always acts on the active tab — the keyboard has no way to point at a particular one. That is why the shortcut only appears in the menu when the menu was opened on the tab that is already active: anywhere else it would be promising something it does not do.
Drag a tab to reorder it. The gap opens where it will land while you are still holding it, so the drop is never a surprise. Reordering never changes which tab is on air.
Double-clicking a tab renames it, and Ctrl+1 … Ctrl+0 jump straight to one.
Four small keys sit together at the right of the header, and they are neighbours because they answer versions of the same question.
| Key | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Keyboard |
Ctrl+, — the full list, searchable, with a column for keyboard, mouse and MIDI |
| Map |
Ctrl+Shift+K — lights up every mappable control on the screen itself, with its key printed on it |
| Magnifier |
Ctrl+K — the command palette, for anything that has no button anywhere |
| Palette |
Ctrl+Shift+P — the app's own colours; see Themes and Appearance
|
The map is the one worth trying first. The list answers "which key runs this command"; the map answers the question an operator actually has, which is "what is this button's key" — while you are looking at the button.
A MIDI pad can be pressed instead of a key, in the same gesture. Full details in Keyboard Shortcuts.
These four never enter the map themselves. They open configuration screens, and none of that is something to reach for in the middle of a programme, let alone from a control surface.
The box at the foot of the left column explains whatever the mouse is pointing at — what the key or slider is for, and its shortcut. Point at something else and the box changes.
Tooltips stay short — just the name of the tool — because the long explanation has a home now. Buttons whose face is already a word (+ Add image) have no tooltip at all: repeating the label under the cursor teaches nothing.
Three zones, and no controls: the footer is read, not operated.
| Zone | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Left | A lamp: green while your work is being written to disk, amber the moment it cannot be. Then markers and undo depth. |
| Centre | Split · Focus · Desk. Only the chosen one stands in relief. |
| Right |
Ctrl+K, which is also a key — click it and the palette opens. |
Ctrl+Alt+= and Ctrl+Alt+- scale the whole console, for a 4K screen or for tired eyes. Ctrl+Alt+0 goes back to 100%. It is a preference of this machine and never travels inside a project.
The same is true of the theme, the background behind the chrome and the paper the editor is typed on — twenty palettes, ten of them light. All of it is on Themes and Appearance.