1. Above all, flexibility. I say this because... the last two shows I did had books that were almost identical in style, but my current show is SO vastly different because this is what works for this play. So I really... need the ability to move any item to any place. I also NEED color-coding! OH and I would like tables too. Basically... I want all the same functions I always use, but I want to be able to manipulate them easily and quickly, and create a layout that fits my needs for that particular show. Rather than being married to one specific layout. ALSO there needs to be a good way to fit timings into it. Preferably there would be multiple options - you could insert the time on each page, or on each scene, or you could insert 1 minute or 5 minute times as they fall.
2. I generally keep the text on the left and cues on the right.
3. See, this is one of those questions that requires flexibility. My "normal style" is that I have the text on the left, and I use color-coded dots in that side of the book to show cues. Then on the blank page on the right, I write in my standbys and GOs, and exactly how they should be called (for instance: "cue line." (beat) GO). I tend to read the entire two-page spread from left to right, if that makes sense? However, on my current show, I'm keeping the text on the left, and then I'm writing my cues in the left margin on the same page, because my actual called cues are very minimal, and the page on the right has much more important information that is unique to this production.
4. Depends. If I'm using the same script as the actors, then I want the numbers in the top left and bottom left corners. HOWEVER if I'm using a different version from the actors, I want to have THEIR page numbers. For instance, if I had a book script that I retyped to a doc, the pages are going to be all off, so I would like to mark in where the pages are for the actors. Because if it's page 14 in my book, but page 21 in the actor's... 21 is the one that matters more, and that's what I'll use in rehearsal reports and such. So in situations like this, I just pencil a straight line across the page wherever the 'real' page break is, and number it there.
5. I'm not huge on shapes; I really prefer color-coding. Colors are much easier for me to see at a glance than shapes. If the shapes function in the app was easy to use, I would use it... but for me, the difference between pink and green jumps out at me a whole lot faster than the difference between a rectangle and a triangle.