Public Display Mode

I’m currently living abroad, and there are many times when I need to show a few words to someone on my phone. It’s awkward, because, at normal font sizes, the other person needs the phone right in front of their face to read, even if it’s just a word or two.

This even comes up sometimes back home. Say I’m in a crowed, noisy bar and don’t feel like shouting. I might prefer to hold up my phone with the words “Gin & Tonic, Please!” on it. Or if I need to show someone a phone number or address.

It’d be great if Drafts had a public display mode option for short bits of text blown up to the largest font size that would fit the text on one screen. Maybe white lettering on black background, and definitely purge UI elements (tap to return to standard display mode).

Two suggestions:

First, Drafts preview actions use templates that layout the content using a web browser. They can be modified with only a very basic knowledge of HTML/CSS to control font sizes/styles. This Large Print Preview might suit your need to easily display the content in a large format. The only difference in this version from the standard “Basic” template is the following:

html {
    font-size: 300%;
}

That should be adjusted up and down by changing the percentage to scale the text.

The second suggestion is to use a different syntax. Each syntax highlighting definition in Drafts stores its own set of font selections, sizes, and other editing options. For example, I have the “Simple List” syntax configured to use very large type to make it easier to tap off checkboxes. Say if you normally use the default “Markdown” syntax, you could select “MultiMarkdown” as the syntax on a draft, change the fonts to very large sizes – then change to a larger display temporarily would just require you change the syntax of the draft (tap and hold the Aa for quick change options).

4 Likes

Thanks!

Plus >13 characters!