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Where is Notepad in Windows 10? (2015)

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

#111

Post by nonsensed »

carapace wrote: post #90
ogre_magi wrote: post #37

I have a hard time considering people who aren't natural power-users of technology human. I recognize that this is a failing of mine.

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…

What you're describing is arrogance, not intelligence.

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

#113

Post by usrusr »

antod wrote: post #80
ilkan wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was troubleshooting WhatsApp over the phone for a relative work different hardware... Took me a bit of time to realize "solid triangle-ish" was wifi and "cup" was microphone. But for the Gen-Z and after, how would you intuitively represent Save and Call to people who've never seen a floppy disk or a phone handset?

Floppy disk, sure. But phone handset? Old movies and TV shows set in the past will keep that image alive like it did for us with knowing what phones looked like before our time. Unless you think movies/TV will go away too...

I agree that outdated symbols won't be a problem for younger generations, but for different reasons. The "save" icon has long stopped being a floppy disk. It may still look like one (to those who know the object depicted), but it is identified as just "save" and nothing more. If people would identify it with portable media instead of the act of storing the current document, they would also try to use it for loading a document. Nobody does that.

Old entertainment content however, I'm afraid that it might be pretty much lost to those growing up with on demand streaming. In the age of linear TV, back catalog content wasn't just available to consume in lieu of something new, it was actively fed to us by the fixed schedule on failure to tune in when the new stuff was aired. This introduced us to a lot of content from before our time. But with streaming, I just don't see how it would happen, not in culturally relevant volume. Nostalgia is an acquired taste. Just like so many of my generation I madly binged Friends when it appeared on Netflix, but how many streamed Friends who completely missed it's original run?

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

#114

Post by dTal »

cesarb wrote: post #87
dTal wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "Start" button was never really about starting things in the first place. After all, clicking "Start" was the first step to shutting down your computer! Perfectly intuitive... Now it doesn't even say "Start" on it, and yet they persist in calling it the "Start menu".

> The "Start" button was never really about starting things in the first place. What did you find when you opened the Start menu ( https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d3/Windows_95_St... )? Programs (click on one to start the program), Documents (click to start a program handling the file), Settings (click to start a Control Panel applet), Find (click to start a find dialog), Help (click to start the help vie…

Yes, every verb can be prefixed by "start". There's no functionality that could not be squeezed into your explanatory framework. But personally I think it's a real stretch to say that, say, viewing your collection of documents is "starting" anything (and starting the shutdown procedure is still bordering on obtuse).

No, the point of the Start menu was to provide a root node to a navigable hierarchy of all of Window's available functionality. Calling it "Start" makes sense from the perspective of the act of navigation - it is the user's "start point". While logical, I think this metaphor was subverted in many ways even when it was new; the hierarchy afforded by the Start menu was neither particularly well structured nor even the easiest way to access much of its functionality (it seemed to compete with "My Computer" for the title of "blessed root node").

Nowadays it seems that it is not even possible to navigate to all Windows functionality through the "Start menu".

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

#115

Post by banana_giraffe »

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. :/

It's limited because it's mostly just a wrapper around the default Windows edit control.

Then again, it does have some strange little features. Like if you put the string ".LOG" at the top of a .txt file and open it again in Notepad, Notepad will insert the current date/time at the bottom of the file and move the cursor to the bottom.

I can get that being a useful feature, kinda. It's like someone snuck an extra feature into Notepad and it never got caught.

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

#116

Post by [deleted] »

ilkan wrote: post #70
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…

I was troubleshooting WhatsApp over the phone for a relative work different hardware... Took me a bit of time to realize "solid triangle-ish" was wifi and "cup" was microphone. But for the Gen-Z and after, how would you intuitively represent Save and Call to people who've never seen a floppy disk or a phone handset?

[deleted]

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

#117

Post by brianpgordon »

wheelie_boy wrote: post #39
darkstar999 wrote: post #26

This is a non-story. Start menu -> Windows Accessories -> Notepad Am I missing something?

Yes, the story is not that notepad is in some weird place in windows 10 - it is still where most HN readers know to find it. The story is about how regular people deal with computers, as can be read in the comments. It's like that story about how one day the google search 'facebook login' took people to a forum page that let people comment using their facebook credentials, and we got to find out how many users just t…

Is it in a weird place though? Notepad has been under Start -> Accessories since the debut of the start menu in Windows 95. The only change is naming the folder Windows Accessories instead of Accessories.

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

#118

Post by cosmodisk »

I started using windows about 25 years ago.It was 3.1 and now my Dell XPS runs on Win 10 and my job is technical. Despite all of this,with every additional release they somewhat manage to make it less and less intuitive and more difficult. There's no logic in so many design decisions- it's mad. Anyone,who's never used a computer doesn't stand a chance nowadays.

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

#119

Post by zeppelin101 »

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.

This was almost certainly a joke comment.

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

#120

Post by cosmodisk »

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 absolutely hate the new way! Used to be so much better by just clicking Backspace. Can I have it back,please?
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