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Where is Notepad in Windows 10? (2015)

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Re: Where is Notepad in Windows 10? (2015)

#101

Post by mark-r »

NikolaNovak wrote: post #22
winternett wrote: post #2

Beyond saving anything bigger than a sentence it really has no use. I almost dropped dead in shock to see they updated MS paint to Paint 3D, but then I realized that Its still intentionally limited and severely clunky to encourage you to spend money on Photoshop. :/

Interesting perspective; FWIW, I have OneNote, Sublime, Word, and ToDoist installed on my computer, and use them daily. But I still fire up Notepad several times a day. It's responsiveness and simplicity still make it useful for me. Basically, if I have several screens open and need to quickly type something somewhere, I'll use Notepad; but I'll also use it for quick review of config or small log files, where again i…

To me, the most compelling feature of Notepad is that it's installed automatically on every version of Windows. It's the MVP for a surprising number of tasks.

Re: Where is Notepad in Windows 10? (2015)

#102

Post by DannyB2 »

mgraczyk wrote: post #65
DannyB2 wrote: post #52

Fifteen years ago, one of the Microsoft fanboy arguments against both Linux and LibreOffice (then OpenOffice.org) was that neither worked exactly like Windows / Office. Then Microsoft comes along and changes everything. The Ribbon instead of the pull down menus. Now which office suite works more like what users have used for a couple decades? Windows 8 comes along with a totally different UI. So different that ordina…

Fifteen years ago, Windows 95 was only 9 years old. I think changing something 9 years old over the course of 15 years is probably an acceptable speed.

Why after 9 years don't we change from a steering wheel to a steering tiller. Marketing thinks it is the bestest idea.

After 9 more years, let's change to steering pedals and use hand controls for acceleration and breaking. (pun)

After 9 more years . . .

Maybe you see a problem with this progression?

Re: Where is Notepad in Windows 10? (2015)

#103

Post by RugnirViking »

NikolaNovak wrote: post #22
winternett wrote: post #2

Beyond saving anything bigger than a sentence it really has no use. I almost dropped dead in shock to see they updated MS paint to Paint 3D, but then I realized that Its still intentionally limited and severely clunky to encourage you to spend money on Photoshop. :/

Interesting perspective; FWIW, I have OneNote, Sublime, Word, and ToDoist installed on my computer, and use them daily. But I still fire up Notepad several times a day. It's responsiveness and simplicity still make it useful for me. Basically, if I have several screens open and need to quickly type something somewhere, I'll use Notepad; but I'll also use it for quick review of config or small log files, where again i…

Yes, its one of the best places to go on an unfamilliar computer to quickly get somewhere to paste data and/or edit it with a monospace font.

I often find myself also just pasting old bits of text in there similar to how some people might leave old versions of code commented out while working on a replacement - its a sort of shelf/sidebar to place things that I might need later.

Re: Where is Notepad in Windows 10? (2015)

#104

Post by thomasz »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #53
workthrowaway wrote: post #8

wow, just realized some of us have been using shortcuts for so long that we don't know when things get moved. also the "windows" key argument was kinda moot because most keyboard have a key that isn't a "windows" key but works similar...

I've owned many a keyboard, I don't recall a single one without a Windows key.

These keys were not standard before windows 95

Re: Where is Notepad in Windows 10? (2015)

#105

Post by kaetemi »

baochan wrote: post #77
blihp wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the intent of the name was for the millions of new computer users at the time to think 'start here' when their computer booted up. And besides, if they didn't call it Start their Windows 95 ad blitz with Rolling Stones music would have made no sense at all! ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chTftktWmto )

If I remember correctly, the very first time you ran Windows 95 a little animated text box saying "<-- Click Here!" would fly across the taskbar to draw you to it. Coming from Windows 3.11 with Program Manager, it was initially a little confusing. Where was everything?

Yup, a little red airplane animation with a light yellow banner, on the taskbar, if I remember correctly. Didn't see it on all installations, though. Is it a specific version?

Re: Where is Notepad in Windows 10? (2015)

#106

Post by [deleted] »

mgraczyk wrote: post #65
DannyB2 wrote: post #52

Fifteen years ago, one of the Microsoft fanboy arguments against both Linux and LibreOffice (then OpenOffice.org) was that neither worked exactly like Windows / Office. Then Microsoft comes along and changes everything. The Ribbon instead of the pull down menus. Now which office suite works more like what users have used for a couple decades? Windows 8 comes along with a totally different UI. So different that ordina…

Fifteen years ago, Windows 95 was only 9 years old. I think changing something 9 years old over the course of 15 years is probably an acceptable speed.

[deleted]

Re: Where is Notepad in Windows 10? (2015)

#107

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

thrower123 wrote: post #44
gruez wrote: post #9

>Step 1: > Go to Start menu. > Type notepad and press Enter. >I tried Step 1 prior to posting here. It doesn't work! Works for me on the latest windows. Granted, there's no textbox to type into, but it appears when you start typing.

I would not at all be surprised if the Cortana-powered (or whatever it is) start menu search failed to find Notepad if you started typing. I don't know how they can screw something like that up so badly, but it's almost unusuable without installing Classic Shell to override the normal behavior.

I can't count the number of times I've hit the Windows key, quickly typed in "Windows Update", hit enter, and was presented with a web search result for "Windows Update".

I'd wonder what MS is smoking, but I think I know. Windows is such a low priority to them these days that they put all their most inexperienced or terrible coders to work on it. That's why it's full of webdev-flavor awfulness.

Re: Where is Notepad in Windows 10? (2015)

#108

Post by branon »

Agenttin wrote: post #81
EamonnMR wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In many applications (JIRA, Vim) typing without being in a text input field can cause all kinds of trouble. Heck, in browsers if you type 'backspace' you can end up going back and page and blowing away all of your precious form input. Not to mention the very real possibility that their work, the text they've typed, will be dropped on the floor. We have been trained by these dangers to avoid typing without a text prom…

This is why Google switched the 'Back' function to Alt+Left Arrow in Chrome. You could be trying to delete something out of a web form and accidentally leave the page.

I resisted this change (in Firefox) because I thought it was horribly unintuitive. Oh, how backwards I had gotten it.

Alt+Left arrow makes _loads_ more sense than "Backspace, but conditionally, only when not engaged in a text entry field."

Re: Where is Notepad in Windows 10? (2015)

#109

Post by [deleted] »

SmellyGeekBoy wrote: post #95
carapace wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brave of you to admit it, even here. I have a similar problem: I'm so goddamned intelligent that this world seems like the movie "Idiocracy" to me. ( I can't watch it: it's too painful. ) When I was younger, this advice from the Book of the Subgenius helped me a lot to get by, "Act like a dumbass and they'll treat you like an equal." Eventually, I calculated the existence of God, called out "Ollie Ollie Oxen Free", a…

This is easily one of the most ridiculous comments I've ever read. I hope it was intended to be satirical, for your sake.

[deleted]

Re: Where is Notepad in Windows 10? (2015)

#110

Post by usrusr »

komali2 wrote: post #29

This is a pretty fun submission. I like peering into the lives of computer users that don't have the level of computer literacy I'm used to day to day. It's a good reminder. > This answer is not helpful. There is no start button. Because it's just a little windows icon now - easy to forget that that doesn't just make sense to some people. > Thank you, Brian- I would surely never have looked there, for anything, never…

"A while ago there was an article where a woman was trying to user testing in a mall and instead found an old guy who had literally never touched a computer."

I believe that this approach to UX testing is to blame for some of the most infuriating UI changes: when you design UI experiments with actual users you do that because you want objectivity. And what could be more objective than selecting "perfect blanks" as you test subjects?

The problem with this approach is that everything you gain in objectivity is lost many times over in relevancy. Those people are not representative of your actual users, not even when you are building a geriatry self-serve kiosk.

Unfortunately, once that kind of experiment has taken place, it inevitably dominates all other concerns. Every critical voice will reliably get shouted down with "We have the numbers to prove it. We did science, you didn't. You are just a grumpy old power-user disrespecting the needs of the weak".

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