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NotepadNext – a cross-platform reimplementation of Notepad++

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Re: NotepadNext – a cross-platform reimplementation of Notepad++

#111
post #49

Notepad++ (and this one here) are based on Scintilla [0]. It's worth pointing it out because it is a high-quality open source code editor component. SciTE [1] is the "official" demo-editor for Scintilla and was last updated on March 9th 2024. The history reaches back to 1999. [0] https://www.scintilla.org/ [1] https://www.scintilla.org/SciTE.html

I really like geany, which is also based on scintilla

Re: NotepadNext – a cross-platform reimplementation of Notepad++

#112
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once you learn a toolbar, it just becomes visual and muscle memory. Not unlike using hotkeys to access something hidden under a couple layers of menus.

Sure, but that's very different from "feature discovery". I totally get this with the floppy-disk icon (which is, ironically enough, now a terrible visual metaphor for persisting to local storage outside of cultural context), but I have no clue what "up arrow on top of down arrow" means, nor what the ¶ icon would do—start a new paragraph? Select the current paragraph? Open some kind of paragraph outline? Granted, I d…

The toolbar buttons all have hover text to ease the learning, ¶ is "Show All Characters" where "characters" mean stuff like Carriage Return and whitespace. Microsoft Word users are probably familiar with this meaning.

I have no idea what "up arrow on top of down arrow" is though, because I don't have that button.

Re: NotepadNext – a cross-platform reimplementation of Notepad++

#113
post #71
post #14

Why would I choose notepad++ over something like vim or emacs? Is there a compelling differentiator?

Is there a point in comparing CLI-based, primarily-*nix-userbase editors with a GUI-based primarily-windows-userbase editor?

Of course, to signal your leetness.

Re: NotepadNext – a cross-platform reimplementation of Notepad++

#114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I greatly miss those tool bars. I think it's ironic that modern UI strives to be less cluttered than ever before while computer monitors are larger than ever before. * They encourage curiosity about previously undiscovered functionality. It improves feature discoverability. * It's way easier to find the correct tool bar icon than trying to hunt for a feature inside the menus. * If some toolbars are highlighted or dis…

The problem with tool bars is that usually you cannot guess what 80% of the icons mean.

If you hover over the icon, a tooltip pops up to help remind/train you on what the icons represent.

Re: NotepadNext – a cross-platform reimplementation of Notepad++

#115

Npp (Notepad++) is my go to text editor for windows. It has been actively maintained for 20 years. It’s lightweight with a super responsive UI. I love the text search/replace interface. I keep a copy of the portable version on my keychain thumb drive because I never know when a friend or family member will have me muck around with their pc. Npp Version 7 runs splendidly on wine. I prefer it over the linux desktop tex…

I also love Notepad2. Both are awesome.

Re: NotepadNext – a cross-platform reimplementation of Notepad++

#116
post #49

Notepad++ (and this one here) are based on Scintilla [0]. It's worth pointing it out because it is a high-quality open source code editor component. SciTE [1] is the "official" demo-editor for Scintilla and was last updated on March 9th 2024. The history reaches back to 1999. [0] https://www.scintilla.org/ [1] https://www.scintilla.org/SciTE.html

As much as I love npp, really all I need is sessions, tabs and spellcheck. Maybe a few other minor features.

I've been wanting/meaning to make a new text editor using SciTE as a base, just adding in that core functionality that I need, but I haven't got around to it.

If this NPN uses flatpacks I'm not really interested though. I want something super lightweight and fast that can be run as close to standalone as possible.

Might be time to move the text editor project to the top of my list, since it seems other people would probably also appreciate it.

Re: NotepadNext – a cross-platform reimplementation of Notepad++

#117

Npp (Notepad++) is my go to text editor for windows. It has been actively maintained for 20 years. It’s lightweight with a super responsive UI. I love the text search/replace interface. I keep a copy of the portable version on my keychain thumb drive because I never know when a friend or family member will have me muck around with their pc. Npp Version 7 runs splendidly on wine. I prefer it over the linux desktop tex…

I was not expecting much, but AppImage startup time and responsiveness looks promising. Memory usage in GNOME System Monitor looks decent (AppRun.wrapped - 13.9MB, NotepadNext - 876.5 kB). Typing feels much faster than Linux version of VSCode, maybe even reaching levels of SublimeText? Need to test with much bigger documents with complicated syntax highlighting to make sure. Overall, the major Notepad++ selling point - autosave on exit - is not implemented here, so until then I'll be going back to Geany, but will keep my eye on this. And forgot to mention that it decently integrates into GNOME desktop as well, no issues with decorations and missing app in Alt+Tab list.

Re: NotepadNext – a cross-platform reimplementation of Notepad++

#119

Just to provide a diversity of opinion: I've heard basically nothing but positive feedback about Notepad++ over the years. However, I tried it out for about 10 seconds before closing it and never looked back. The, what I call "millions of tiny buttons" interface is ugly and distracting. I've never liked IDEs or other apps with this UI style. I use a JetBrains IDE now that has just as many features but the UI is not c…

I hate cluttered flat surfaces as much as the next guy, but I don't put my toaster away when I'm not using it. It's stays right on the counter because it's convenient for it to be there.

Re: NotepadNext – a cross-platform reimplementation of Notepad++

#120
The startup speed for this app is really good. From my quick testing it seems like it is as fast or slightly faster than npp. I am surprised that QT can be that fast. I recall this line from the Sumatra PDF developer on why he chose win32 only:

>The only way for one person to even attempt cross-platform app is to use a UI abstraction layer like Qt, WxWidgets or Gtk.

>The problem is that Gtk is ugly, Qt is extremely bloated and WxWidgets barely works.[0]

To be fair, a PDF reader and a notepad editor are two different things, and startup speed is only one metric which is the only one I tested. But I always assumed npp was also using win32 APIs only for similar reasons. (I don't actualy know what GUI toolkit npp uses.) And "bloated" could perhaps mean a lot of things. Perhaps QT takes more memory or something. But I always assumed npp's unbeatable speed was due to native APIs.

[0] https://blog.kowalczyk.info/article/2f72237a4230410a888acbfc...

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