This page is relevant for Qstit version 3, see here for the older version 2.
The information on this page can be accessed directly within Qstit, in the Help window [F1].
Qstit is composed of a textframe with the titles to be projected, a control bar (with the main control buttons) and a grid (the list of titles, and some extra buttons), all of which can be moved around on the fullscreen background depending on the desired set-up.
With version 3, Qstit introduces a better management of the screens/projectors. At startup, Qstit will detect if you have one or two screen(s) plugged in. If there is only one (or if your operating system is configured to clone the display on all screens), the textframe, the controls and the grid will be placed on this screen, above a fullscreen background. You can use this set-up for projection by covering the part of the image you don't want to be seen or selecting only the textframe part of the signal using a video-mixer.
However, the most common set-up is one computer monitor for your controls and one projector or external screen to show the titles on. If two screens are detected, the controls and grid will be placed on the main one while the textframe will be on the external screen (called "projector") on a fullscreen background. This way, you can be sure only the titles are shown to the audience and you can do what you want on the main screen, even during the projection. The fullscreen mode can be disabled on the main screen so that you can use other programs while using Qstit in windowed mode (you can switch between modes with [F11]). The opacity of the background can also be changed if you need to see behind Qstit, to check your subtitles over a video player for instance.
A 'projector preview' window on the main screen shows a small representation of what is displayed on the projector to help you set up correctly and to check if everything is running fine during the projection.
You can use the 'test card' screen [Ctrl+T] to calibrate the projector.
Controls:
Qstit can be controlled with the mouse and / or keyboard. Once your file is loaded, it is possible to fully control Qstit with just a numeric keypad (or "numpad"). An external keypad can therefore be used as a remote control.
The controls and keyboard shortcuts are detailed below. On a Mac, use Cmd instead of Ctrl.
Menu
 Settings | Show 'Settings' window | [Ctrl+S] |
 Open | Open title file (*.txt, *.srt) | [Ctrl+O] |
 Help | Show 'Help' window | [F1] |
 Quit | Quit the program | [Ctrl+Q] |
 Quit | Close focused window | [Escape] |
Titles control
 | Previous title / empty line | [↑] or [Numpad 8] | |
 | Next title / empty line | [↓] or [Numpad 2] | |
| With .txt files, also works with: | [Space bar] or [Numpad 0] | ||
 | Start / Pause timer | [Space bar] or [Numpad 0] | (.srt files only) |
 | Increase timer speed by 1% | [+] or [P] | (.srt files only) |
 | Decrease timer speed by 1% | [-] or [M] | (.srt files only) |
 | Jump forward on the timeline | [→] or [Numpad 6] | (.srt files only) |
| (Jump steps can be set in the settings, between 0.1 and 1 second) | |||
 | Jump backward on the timeline | [←] or [Numpad 4] | (.srt files only) |
| (Jump steps can be set in the settings, between 0.1 and 1 second) | |||
Display control
 /  | Hide / Show title display (When on pause, restarting makes the display reappear) | [X] or [Numpad .] |
| Move display up | [Page Up] or [Numpad 9] | |
| Move display down | [Page Down] or [Numpad 3] | |
| Move display left | [Home] or [Numpad 7] | |
| Move display right | [End] or [Numpad 1] | |
| → use [Shift] for faster movements | ||
| It is also possible to move the display with the mouse | [Click and drag] | |
Grid
 File info | Show 'File info' window | [Ctrl+I] |
 Log | Show 'Log' window | [Ctrl+L] |
 Go to... | Go to a chosen title | [Ctrl+G] |
 Find... | Find text in the file | [Ctrl+F] |
 Edit | Edit selected text or timecode in the grid (Edits are indicated in the grid and listed in the log file) | [Ctrl+E] |
 Save as... | Save modified file as... | |
 Clear | Clear display and reset file at beginning | [Ctrl+C] |
 Projector preview | Show / hide 'Projector preview' window | [Ctrl+P] |
 (Leftmost cell) | Flag current row to indicate a cue, a mistake, ... (Flags are listed in the log) | [!] or [Numpad /] |
Settings:
Various display and control settings can be adjusted in the 'Settings' window. The display can be adapted line per line or all lines together. Note that you can make a line "invisible" using the advanced settings. The full text will still appear in the grid for your control but it won't be displayed. It can be useful if the titles are one language on Line 1 and another on Line 2, for instance, and you only need to project one of the two but want to keep the translation in the file.
Settings can be saved for later use with the current file or any other.
Settings saved for a specific file will be named like it (with a .cfg extension) and placed in the same folder as the subtitle file. General settings are saved in a file named "qstit.cfg" which will be created in your home folder, in a "qstit" sub-folder (the "home" or "user" folder's path is indicated in the general settings). They will be applied automatically to any newly opened file, if it doesn't have its own .cfg file. You can also choose to save the settings under a different name, and where you desire, then load them to apply them to any file. There are also default settings built into the program that can be restored to replace your configurations, if needed.
The .cfg files can be deleted if they are not needed anymore.
It is recommended to test your settings while displaying one of the the widest lines, which are listed in the title bar and in the 'File info' window. You can also use the 'test card' screen [Ctrl+T] to set up.
Qstit's interface language can be changed. You can write your own translations by copying the "qstitTextEnglish.txt" file in the 'qstit' folder that is created in your "home" or "user" folder. Open it and translate the strings on the right, then start Qstit and select the language through the settings. The language name displayed here is the name given in the title of the file: "qstitTextLanguageName.txt". Please note your file must be saved in UTF-8 in order to display correctly.
Supported file formats:
Qstit can read SubRip (.srt) files with up to 4 lines per title and simple text (.txt) with up to 6 lines per title.
Examples are provided for reference.
Srt files are common and many softwares can convert other subtitle file formats to the SubRip format. They include timecodes, the subtitling can therefore be automated (but also controlled manually if needed).
Both file types are easily editable in any text editor or word processor. Qstit provides support for UTF-8 encoding which makes it possible to display all sorts of characters in all languages.
For both file types, the structure (detailed below) needs to be respected carefully otherwise Qstit won't be able to open them correctly. If errors are found when opening the file, a message is displayed. Some are minor errors that Qstit can correct (you can also save the corrected file for later use), and it will warn you if serious errors have made it impossible to read the file entirely. The errors encountered are listed in the 'Log window' (the log also contains information about flags and modifications made using the 'Edit' functionality). Don't forget to save the log if you need to keep a trace of flags or error indications!
If a file has problems, advanced users may find it useful to check a dump of the file to see what's wrong (you can display it with [Ctrl+D]). You can also define a maximum characters per line threshold in the settings which will warn you in the log if your file contains lines that are too long (it is just an indication for the user, these lines will still be displayed normally). For subtitles, it is usually advised to limit the lines at 40-45 characters.
Both formats can include the following HTML tags to change the style of the text in between them:
<i> italic </i>
<b> bold </b>
<u> underline </u>
<span style="..."> Text with custom style </span>
The span tag can be used to change some style attributes of the text to override what is defined in the settings. Support is only limited and it does not always behave in a straightforward manner, so run some tests before you use it in a file. The following parameters should work:
color, background-color, font-size, font-family, font-weight, font-decoration
(The deprecated <font> tag still works for the same purpose but is even less recommended!)
A tag can be applied to just one word or a whole line, it can also start on one line and end on another, wherever in the file. Whole sections can easily be turned into italic, for instance (if a tag is never closed, it will be applied until the end of the file, be careful!).
This is NOT true for the <span> tag, which must start and end on the same line.
The tags themselves are not displayed but appear in the grid. Everything written after an opening chevron (<, "less-than" sign) and until a closing chevron (>, "greater-than" sign) or a line break will be considered as a tag and will only be visible in the grid. Chevrons can thus be used to put comments and cues in the file.
Text (.txt) files:
· One line in the file = one row in the grid = one title.
· One title can be composed of several lines (up to six, usually two), they are separated by a backslash ( \ ).
· Different titles can be composed of different numbers of lines.
· Titles are only separated by a line break.
· Qstit automatically creates "empty" lines between titles so that nothing is displayed between two titles when there are no dialogues. There is no need to have empty lines in the file, they will appear as empty titles. If you prefer not to have "blank lines" between titles and directly skip to the next/previous one, you can disable the blank lines in the settings. You can also choose to hide them or make them appear bigger in the grid.
Structure
Title 1, Line 1\Title 1, Line 2
Title 2, Line 1
Title 3, Line 1\Title 3, Line 2\Title 3, Line 3
Title 4, Line 1\Title 4, Line 2
...
Example
<i>L'ENTREVUE</i>\<i>HET SOLLICITATIEGESPREK</i>
J'ai rendez-vous avec M. Ullman.\Ik heb een afspraak met Mr. Ullman.
Je suis Jack Torrance.\Mijn naam is Torrance.
Première porte à gauche.\Eerste deur links.
<i>M. Ullman?\Mr. Ullman?</i>
Jack Torrance.
Oh... Entrez donc.\Kom binnen, Jack.
Ma secrétaire, Suzy.\M'n secretaresse, Susie.
Du mal à nous trouver?\Lastige reis?
...
SubRip (.srt) files:
· Titles are numbered in the file but Qstit recalculates the line numbers to avoid mistakes (a given title line could then have a different number in the .srt file and when viewed in Qstit).
· One title can be composed of up to six lines of text, separated only by a line break.
· Different titles can be composed of different numbers of lines.
· An empty line separates titles.
· To create an empty line within one title, you can use an opening chevron (<) that won't be displayed (as explained above and as shown in the example below).
· Nothing will be displayed between the end of one title (Time OUT) and the beginning of the next (Time IN).
· If you don't want to use the automation functionalities, it is possible to manually browse through a .srt file as through a .txt file: just leave the timer on pause and use the down and up arrows to browse through the titles.
· Some SubRip files include positioning parameters on the timecode line, they will be ignored by Qstit.
(e.g. 00:00:10,500 --> 00:00:13,000 X1:63 X2:223 Y1:43 Y2:58)
Structure
1
Time IN --> Time OUT
Title 1 Line 1
Title 1 Line 2
2
Time IN --> Time OUT
Title 2 Line 1
3
Time IN --> Time OUT
Title 3 Line 1
Title 3 Line 2
...
Example
1
00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:12,477
Soon it's summer holidays!
2
00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:16,190
<
You're going with your father to your summer house...
3
00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:24,033
I want you to come with me!
I'll be bored!
4
00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:28,595
<i>Nevertheless you'll be by the
side of your beloved Mr. Togo!</i>
5
00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:32,072
That was mean!
And you're supposed to be my friend!
...
