The write stuff (TextPad)

Member Name: edaross

Product:	TextPad
Date:	11/08/01 (1104 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Free updates to new versions, lots of time saving features, value for money

Disadvantages: word wrap doesn't stick, so many features don't know if I will ever find out what they all are!, Would be nice to have a new version checker

TextPad is a text editor for Windows operating systems. With it, you can edit text files (.txt), or other files containing text, such as html files and Java (and other programming language) source files. It is available in Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese (Brazilian) and Spanish versions.

I originally had the TextPad evaluation version (just about the same as full but with nag screens telling you to pay up) installed with my computer by the (local) company I got it from. I liked using it for various reasons, such as:

* Save as UNIX text. - you have to option of saving your files in the text format for the UNIX operating system. I do a bit of CGI (common gateway interface - used for interaction on the web) scripting (well, I edit files other people have written for me). These files have to be saved in UNIX text format else they don’t run properly and my web site doesn’t function properly.

* Code colouring. - If you are editing something like a Java source file, TextPad colours in different parts of the syntax with different colours. This helps me see the "pattern" of the code when scrolling through it and looks better than notepad (the text editor provided by Microsoft with Windows).

* Word wrap. - Instead of having to go to the Edit menu (in Notepad) to make the text of a long line wrap to the next, the word wrap option is on the tool bar, so it only takes one click (or a keyboard combination press) to turn it on or off. I find that it always reverts to off when I start TextPad again, which is annoying, but it is faster to than what I used to have to do with Notepad.

* Line numbers. - You can have line numbers displayed (they are shaded light grey and to the left of the page. This helps with debugging code. The debugger might say "error on line 13" or something like that, and if I was still using notepad, I would have to count the number of lines manual
ly to get to the right one. Now I just scroll down till I see the right line number. A great time saver.

* View in web browser button. - If you are editing a web page and want to see what it looks like in a web page, there is a button on the toolbar (it looks like the globe). Click it and your web browser will open with your page displayed. This is also a great timesaver - no more hunting for the file in Explorer to preview it.

So you can probably see I liked TextPad! In fact, I liked the product so much, I brought it (a copy, not the company!). The online payment system was good. Enter in your details (e.g. credit card details), and get a code number in return, which turns off the nag screens and lets you know you now have satisfaction of owning the full version.

TextPad has many other great time saving features, such as advanced text finding (look in several files at a time), a clip library (which lets you insert HTML tags, HTML characters and other non-standard characters to your document quickly, and auto-indentation (so that you don’t have to worry about making your code "look pretty" - it does it for you).

If you are a hobby coder and are fed up with the limitations of notepad then give the TextPad evaluation a try.

***11/8/2001***Update***
You can get TextPad from www.textpad.com

Summary: