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Where is Notepad in Windows 10? (2015)

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

#121

Post by Doubl »

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 remember being called by someone to whom we'd sent a trial installation CD, this was in the days before remote desktop software. They didn't know how to insert a CD and were defensive with it Why can't you make it easy for normal people?

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

#122

Post by jahlove »

RichardCA wrote: post #112

If I have to support anyone using Windows 10 the first thing I do is recommend they install Classic Shell / Open Shell. The UX on default Windows 10 Start Menu is unacceptable. https://github.com/Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu

I love Classic Shell. Open Shell seems to not be super active though, sadly.

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

#123

Post by MaulingMonkey »

branon wrote: post #108
Agenttin wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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."

The main problem I run into with it is webcomics bind left/right to page navigation, and aren't smart enough to not do it when alt is held.

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

#124

Post by y2bd »

brianpgordon wrote: post #117
wheelie_boy wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Seems like a pretty big change to me. Not only has the folder name changed with no indicator that it has changed, but now since it's "W" instead of "A", it's near the bottom instead of at the very top. Plus, Windows 10 now has /way/ more pre-installed applications, which means you have to do a lot of scrolling before you get all the way to the "W" section.

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

#125

Post by DougBTX »

smhenderson wrote: post #82
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...

we don't know when things get moved But did it get moved? The article is from 2015 and I didn't start using 10 until 2018 so I don't know where it was then but as of today I can find Notepad on the Start Menu under Windows Accessories. I feel like that's where it's always been. It's called Windows Accessories now instead of just Accessories but surely that's not enough to confuse people so much? As with most everyone…

In the Windows 95 era start menu [1], the steps would be click "start", move the mouse over "programs", move the mouse over "accessories" then click "notepad". The start button itself was the only 3D-ish outlined button on boot, "programs" was the first entry in the list, as was "accessories", so the navigation path was super clear.

In Windows 10, the start menu button doesn't have any affordances, there's no border, just a white on black icon. On a desktop, the start menu has a uniform dark grey background, the user has to work out that there is a strip down the middle that can be scrolled. The only clue is that the bottom entry may be clipped and on mouse move a 2px wide scroll bar thumb is shown near the top. After working out that this is a scrollable pane, they need to know to scroll down near the bottom of the alphabetically grouped list of entries to "W". Rather than just moving the mouse over the entry in the 95-style start menu, the user needs to work out that "windows accessories" is clickable to show more entries, indicated only by the small grey arrow to the right of the button. Finally notepad is one of the entries once the list is expanded.

So yes, I'd say it has moved. It used to be accessed through the top entries in the start menu, now it is accessed through one near the bottom that is inside a scrollable panel with no clear indication that it can be scrolled.

[1] https://news-cdn.softpedia.com/images/news2/windows-95-start...

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

#126

Post by snakeboy »

usrusr wrote: post #113
antod wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> but how many streamed Friends who completely missed it's original run?

23 year old here. I had never seen Friends, thus I never had any nostalgic interest in visiting it.

One weekend last year I had an onsite interview in Denver just before a blizzard hit, snowing me into a Motel 6 for 2 days. No wifi, so I did nothing but watch Friends and Seinfeld reruns on the TV. Probably the first time I'd used a television in my adult life.

I also caught Forrest Gump for the first time late that night. Not a bad film.

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

#127

Post by simcop2387 »

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…

This reminds me of the best "feature" that windows 95 had to me as a kid. If you clicked the start menu, then hit alt + -, you'd get the standard menu for playing with a window. Minimize, Maximize, Move (greyed out), and a few others. Importantly though was that Close was an option. Clicking it would remove the start button. This lead to lots of fun playing with computers in stores at the time, closing the start buttons on them all.

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20120213-00/?p=83...

This was before the advent of "windows keyboards" and the menu key on them.

EDIT changed link to a better one

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

#128

Post by egdod »

cosmodisk wrote: post #118

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.

Windows 7 was pretty good. Windows 10 is a mess.

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

#129

Post by nickjj »

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 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.

Yep and sometimes it happens in unexpected places. I just went to the dentist the other day.

The receptionist accidentally moved her task bar to be oriented vertically on the left and couldn't get it back to the horizontal bottom position.

We're on very friendly terms so she asked if I could show her how to fix it which involved going around the desk. Naturally I requested she hides any windows that might violate HIPAA compliance before I swung around.

It was interesting to see her facial expressions and "whoa!" reactions when I mentioned how you can left click and drag the task bar to different spots and how to prevent this from happening in the future by right clicking and locking the task bar.

What was really interesting to me was when I said right click on the mouse, her eyes immediately looked at my hand on the mouse so you can't take left and right clicking as granted knowledge that everyone has as muscle memory.

This is someone who has been using that computer for years to manage appointments and whatever else, but things like right clicking the task bar is a move that very few people do out in the wild unless they are approaching enthusiast levels. She's not out of the loop with tech either. She has a smartphone and does a lot of things with it.

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