Notepad2

I’m going to start posting reviews on software you might not know about that you really should be using, or could greatly benefit from using. There’s like 10 I’ve got in mind right now, but I’m really hoping that the list will actually increase as time goes by, since I love to use and support open source projects. Every once in a while however I’ll stumble on some freeware (but doesn’t operate under a GPL license) that deserves a mention, so you can put that into this list as well. It’s crazy what you can find on the internet.

Overview So we’ll get the first one underway with Notepad2. I originally thought it wasn’t open source however after digging a little deeper, ie in the text file, you see the following magic words:

Source Code

Notepad2 is based on the Scintilla source code editing component: http://www.scintilla.org

The full Notepad2 source code is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License and can be found at: http://www.flos-freeware.ch

I can’t stop using this little application. I use it at work as much as I use it at home and that’s really due to it’s extreme versatility.

Features: So how does Notepad2 differ from Notepad found on all Windows machines? There are a number of great features that make it different. Here’s a brief list of what I find the most useful:

    <li>No matter what type of file you open (well there are exceptions of course), it's probably built in with a colour coding syntax, so it's easier to read through</li>
<li>A great feature is that if you've got Notepad2 open, you can just drag and drop the required file into the edit area and it will automatically load the file, without having to go through the hassle, <em>open file ></em> etc etc.</li>
<li>Simple functions like, line wraping, auto indent and zoom functions.</li>
<li>It remains lightweight, for quick access, and quick edits to any file. So it'll load up even if you're on a slow machine</li>
<li>Very customisable, adding a great deal of flexibility to file editing.</li></ul>

    Rating:4/5

    Pros - Lightweight, customisable, open source code. Cons - No spell check and no plans for tabbed browsing (great little feature to have). While this would be a great feature I understand what the thinking behind Notepad2 is:

    Feature requests are always welcome, but please keep in mind that Notepad2 has been designed as a compact Notepad replacement.