I recently wrote a tiny web app called PromptDown to let me drop in some Markdown (or plain text) and use it as a teleprompter for screencast voiceovers. I wasn’t going to put any more time into it, as it did what I needed. Then it started to bug me that it didn’t work on my iPad, which could actually be really handy. So my lunch break fine, and an extra half an hour went to making it work a little more smoothly as an iPhone/iPad app. It’s also ready to install as a web app, so you can go full-screen with it.
The concept is exactly the same: tap the main text field to clear it, type or paste your text, then tap the prompt button to open the prompt view. A single tap will start scrolling, a double tap will exit, and dragging up or down will allow you to fast forward or rewind. On the iPhone, it actually works best in landscape mode, allowing the words to be big enough to see while still fitting enough on the screen that it’s not ridiculously slow. I haven’t added any speed controls to it, which I may do at some point. For now, it’s on and off.
Point your mobile browser to http://brettterpstra.com/share/promptdown/mobile.html and give it a try. Tap the plus button (on the iPhone) or the “send to” icon (on the iPad) to add the app to your homescreen and be able to use it full-screen. This version actually works well in Safari and Firefox on the desktop, too.
Neat.
