ReactOS Forum

Notepad++ is the ultimate replacement for notepad. Not only is it very light weight and open source, it also contians an absolute bus-load of features despite it's very compact size. It also already runs on ReactOS.

If you use Windows and don't use Notepad++, honestly you are missing out. It is great not just for basic text editing but is a great programmers tool as well.

IMO ReactOS should ship a few best-in-class core applications to make the initial experience as good as possible, and Notepad++ is a world class replacement for the abominable notepad/wordpad combination.

when we release a distro.... not anytime soon(dont even think about it)

Same thing I always say to suggestions of straying from the perfectly acceptable default.... No!

Why? Because it's not a recognized standard Windows app. If you want it, feel free to install it in ReactOS, but it will never replace Notepad/Wordpad.

(However, it may be available via the ReactOS Package Manager)

Ok... that's good if that's the consensus being taken across the board, only it isn't. You're using different icons, your using your own implementation of various subsystems, you're not making an exact Windows clone.

It's your collective call, but I would suggest that if you have a far-superior ready-made open-source replacement for any component then you take it. It saves you time reimplementing, it improves immediate user experience, and makes ReactOS better. Notepad is dire. It is so featureless that it's actually a hinderence to use it for anything meaningful. And, what's more, it's not even that lightweight!!!!

Wordpad is just garbage too. It's almost worthless on it's own.

Build in better equivalents and ReactOS is already a step ahead on a basic installation in terms of usability and productivity.

That's my suggestion.

I know Notepad++ and use it everyday, and I love it. Still I voted no, because for many (more) novice users it may be overwhelming. It could be included (as an option, not as standard) if you ask me...

I agree, it's a perfect addon in a distro, but ros notepad is completely sufficent as default. In fact I have replaced my XP notepad with ROS notepad, because it reads unix text files

Notepad is dire. It is so featureless that it's actually a hinderence to use it for anything meaningful.

Sometimes you don't need features, but literally just a 'notepad' for editing/viewing basic text files and keeping notes.

At this moment I've got 15 instances of Notepad running, with all kinds of notes and resources I need for my projects. I can resize and move every individual window to where it's most convenient, something you can't do with an everything-in-one editor (like Crimson Editor, which I also use). Having a very minimal GUI is convenient too.

Elledan wrote:Sometimes you don't need features, but literally just a 'notepad' for editing/viewing basic text files and keeping notes.

Elledan is so right! The name "Notepad" suggests that this is a program for taking notes.

I think it's important to remember that not everyone is a programmer with the need for syntax highlightning, regular expressions, and brace and indent highlightning. Note that Notepad++ is a source code editor according to Wikipedia, not a program for simple, basic note-taking.

I suggest that the standard notepad should be kept simple. Those who needs a lot of features can install this program.

Although I also voted no and agree that a notepad app should be just a basic editor w/o all those bells and whistles, there is something to be said about a notepad for the 21st century...

I mean a tabbed multi document interface. 15 instances of notepad opened all over my desktop is not my idea of good software design unless it's for "sticky notes". Also, hooking it up with Aspell wouldn't be a bad idea either.

If your going to provide a basic editor, at least make it useful enough where most people will have no need to install a second editor. Something along the lines of Gedit for GNOME (imho).

Notepad++ is small and has a no-highlighting mode.

I use it all the time for shell scripts, php and html coding and it is equivalent to GEDIT on Gnome (which is their default text editor). and it has tabs--tabs rule.

I say use it or its equivalent (it's 800K)
http://www.petri.co.il/free_notepad_replacements.htm

If you have a wordpad with more features, it should act the same to the end user as the window's one. That means that it should be something that has features added on (and not in the way of others), not replacing ones. However, I also belive not many people use wordpad anymore with the push of MS Word and OO, and installing Notepad++ is rather easy.

I voted No, way too complex for a default notepad replacement. It does look good in its own right and I might even start using it but way too complex for people that can bearly operate notepad.

The "average joe" user doesnt even use notepad the people who do would be able to use notepad++ just fine. The average joe doesnt use wordpad at all they would use ms office openoffice.org wordperfect etc etc.

No because default must be simple and fast, if someone wants use it then replace notepad.

FORCE wrote:No because default must be simple and fast, if someone wants use it then replace notepad.

Notepad++ is simple and fast. I think a bit of usability QA would be good (reducing some of the more complex features to optional extras so the initial layout/menus is cleaner) but other than that, Notepad++ is perfect. It does the simple things very well, if not better, but then has cool features which makes it useful beyond just 'note taking'.

The Gnome team has invested a lot of effort in usability. Gedit is pretty similar to Notepad++ and it's their default basic text editor. The Gnome approach is to have "sensible defaults"... stuff people don't need to change. Stuff that just works. Notepad/wordpad barely work.